The Scottish Football Writers’ Association has bowed to widespread pressure and voted decisively to allow women guests to attend its annual dinner, writes Hamish Mackay.
At an extraordinary general meeting in Glasgow on Monday, members voted 27-14 to purge a clause in its constitution barring female guests.
It brings to an end a long-running and bitter saga in which the SFWA has repeatedly failed to overturn the ban – the last time being in September when its AGM voted 21-20 in favour of retaining the rule.
The association’s continued ban on women guests had been greeted with universal disapproval in Scotland.
Tennent Caledonian Breweries, which sponsors SFWA events to the tune of about £20,000 a year, said it would honour its obligations for the annual dinner in May, but would not review its four-year contract this year unless the association lifted the ban.
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