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THE Bendigo Bowls Division board has reiterated to its selection committee that Brad Marron not be selected in representative games until the end of the 2019-20 season.
Marron sought to have the sanction lifted via an appeal last week. However, the BBD remains firm in its stance that the Bendigo East skipper not be picked to represent the association.
In February last year Marron received the sanction of not representing the Bendigo Bowls Division until the end of the 2019-20 season.
The sanction followed an off-green incident when Marron was representing Bendigo in the 2018 Provincial Championships at Ballarat’s Central Wendouree.
Marron appealed the sanction via letter ahead of Sunday’s Provincial Championships – which were cancelled due to the heat – but the directive from the board to selectors not to pick him remains in place until the end of next season.
“When the incident happened 12 months ago I was prepared to let it go, but if the Provincial Championships came around this year and I was still suspended then I was going to re-raise the issue, which I’ve done,” Marron said on Sunday.
“What the BBD is doing is wrong… it has no power to suspend me and therefore has no power to prevent me from playing.”
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However, BBD secretary Geoff Howes says that Marron isn’t suspended as the BBD in its constitution doesn’t have the authority to do so.
Only Bowls Victoria or a club has the capacity to suspend a player.
“It’s not a suspension… the BBD by our constitution can’t suspend or ban anyone,” Howes said.
“All we have done is request the selection committee not to pick him and it’s up to the selection committee as to whether they pick him or not.
“He hasn’t been banned or suspended by the BBD.
“Brad appealed recently via letter and we had a meeting about it, but decided to go ahead with telling the selection committee not to pick him until the end of April next year.”
As well as the recent letter, Marron also tried to appeal the sanction last year after it had initially been imposed based on:
1 – No representation at all at the initial enquiry; No advocacy allowed when writing letter of apology; No advocacy allowed at appeal hearing; and
2 – No grounds for action to be taken by virtue of BBD Constitution clause 10 that states: “the board has no power to discipline members”.
The action taken by the BBD board stems from the way in which Marron addressed a female from the Central Wendouree Bowls Club on February 4 last year.
“The run down of what happened that day was a lady member at the club told my wife to take my kids outside the club because my daughter, who at the time was 18 months, was running around with other kids inside,” Marron said.
“At the time my wife was trying to feed a four-week-old and was being made to take him outside on a 35 degree day.
“I went inside, went into the kitchen and said, ‘which one of you ladies has the f…… problem?.
“A lady came over and told me she had asked my wife to take the kids out of the clubhouse because they don’t like kids in the clubhouse because of the noise and if they hurt themselves.
“I then said if this wasn’t such a f…… old fuddy duddy club you wouldn’t have a problem and is this not a family sport where families can come and watch?
“I was frustrated and said ‘get back in the f…… kitchen’ because that’s where she came from; I did not say that’s where she belonged.
“I swore four times at her, said to get back in the kitchen where she came from and now I’ve been made out to be sexist and that females belong in the kitchen.
“That’s definitely not the case… myself and Leeroy (Lee Schraner) are always in the club kitchen doing bistros, I’m always playing mixed bowls, so I don’t have a problem with females or believe they belong in the kitchen.
“It was just a statement because that’s where the lady had come from.
“I rang the lady from Ballarat a couple of weeks later and apologised.”
Howes said the BBD would reiterate its stance on Marron to the region selectors when picking its Region Sides Championship team.
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