A JOINT meeting between the Western Border Football League board and club delegates Tuesday night has seen sanctions for players not being available for interleague competition overturned.
After the Limestone Coast Regional Carnival on Saturday at Naracoorte, the WBFL board suspended five players for one match each for not being available for selection.
That included West Gambier’s Steve Wenman and Lawry Bradley-Brown, North Gambier’s Fraser Marshall, Casterton Sandford’s Will Macdonald and Millicent’s Dylan Tincknell.
All five were deemed to have breached a new rule brought in for the 2019 season, which stated players must be available for interleague representation, unless a valid excuse was provided.
The WBFL board believed those five players did not provide a valid excuse.
However, the joint meeting Tuesday night between the league board and delegates from each club saw a split vote.
The board held strong to its stance, but delegates from the majority of clubs voted not to impose the sanctions in the first year of the new rule.
As a result all five players will be clear to play for their respective clubs this weekend.
Board member Grant Humphries said the rule was originally put in place by the club delegates and he could not understand why they would have a rule, then not follow through with the sanctions.
“We met (Tuesday night) and the delegates did not want to proceed with the rules they put in place last year,” he said.
“The delegates put those rules in place and we just followed through with what the rule said.
“However, an agreement was reached that in this first year we will not impose sanctions.
“But we will put all players on notice it will be followed through in future years.
“We are serious about playing interleague football.”
Humphries said the delegates wanted some lenience in the first year of the new rule.
“In the discussions the clubs said they supported the rule, but wanted a bit of concession in the first year,” Humphries said.
“One of their arguments was the whole process probably was not clear to all the players.”
The sanctions affected some of the best players in the competition, which Humphries said showed the board was serious about the rules.
However, the final decision came down to the club’s delegates.
