By Roy Ward
DOVETON Eagles will play in the Southern Football League this season after a majority of the clubs voted for their return.
The Eagles, who play in division 3, were suspended from the SFL in February after the league found they had failed to address serious racism claims from their elimination final loss to Southern Dragons last season.
But attending clubs in a league meeting on Monday night voted to let the Eagles return under a set of “strong recommendations.”
The Eagles have a new club administration and have offered to protect umpires with security guards and ground marshals.
SFL football operations manager Matt Duck said the Eagles administration was “adamant’ about providing better protection for umpires.
He said any security guards would appear at the club’s expense while ground marshals would come from club supporters who went through a screening process.
Duck wouldn’t reveal the full result of the secret ballot of clubs or how many division 3 clubs supported the Eagles’ return. “It was a majority but not a landslide,” he said.
Duck said the SFL had asked for a series of measures from the Eagles involving behaviour, player education and safety of umpires.
The SFL division 3 schedule had retained the Eagles in the event they were allowed back into the league.
Duck said only one or two players had transferred away from the club so he expected it would field both seniors and reserves sides when the season begins on April 14.
Duck said he understood the Eagles had told some supporters to leave the club. “To the best of my understanding a few supporters were essentially given their marching orders but that would need to be clarified by the club,” he said.
“It’s about drawing a line in the sand about what the club stands for and what behaviour is acceptable.”
