Kelmscott Football Club will take on Scarborough this Saturday at John Dunn Oval after the WA Amateur Football League lifted its ban on them yesterday.
Last Friday the WAAFL sent an eleventh hour memo to the club saying they were banned from playing in the first round of the season because of concerns about the club’s plan to curb players’ bad behaviour.
The club resubmitted a more comprehensive player management plan on Monday and it was accepted by the WAAFL.
In an email sent out to club presidents today WAAFL General Manager David Armstrong said they were satisfied with the plan.
“The Kelmscott FC team nominations for 2016 were subject to several conditions including a written player management plan signed by the club’s coaches and at least two duly authorised officers of the club being submitted and approved by the WAAFL,” he said.
“The WAAFL received the signed plan from the club Tuesday 12 April 2016.
“The WAAFL Board and myself are satisfied with the initiatives that are to be pursued by the club as part of the signed plan and commend the club’s commitment to the culture first, football second vision outlined at their recent AGM.
“Accordingly the Kelmscott FC were advised Wednesday 13 April 2016 that their team nominations for A Grade, A Reserves and Phil Scott Colts were accepted and the Club permitted to play from round two this weekend.”
Club spokesman Peter Quinn said the club was happy.
“We’re obviously pretty happy about it but we don’t detract from anything we’ve done or said to get our argument up and out in the broader public because we think they were wrong,” he said.
“We say we’re playing for the whole season, up and to and including the finals if we’re good enough.”
Tensions have been high between Kelmscott and the WAAFL since the club received Friday’s memo.
In the memo Mr Armstrong said Kelmscott had failed to comply with a request to submit a player management plan following WAAFL concerns over red cards received in 2015, including two incidents subject to criminal proceedings.
Mr Quinn said the WAAFL had ‘messed the club around’ by breaking a verbal agreement they made for them to submit a simple plan at a meeting in March.
He said a few days after the meeting they requested a more comprehensive plan – something the club was reluctant to do because they didn’t have the experience or resources.
Kelmscott’s league team takes on Scarborough at 2.30pm at John Dunn Oval, Third Avenue, Kelmscott.
