Harbour will contest the premier grade this season, despite concerns being raised about its eligibility.
Otago Rugby Football Union general manager Richard Kinley said the issue of Harbour’s eligibility had been raised during a Dunedin Metropolitan Rugby Committee meeting on Monday.
It was thought the constitution stipulated that a club must be able to show it could support a premier team by fielding either another two senior teams or a senior team and a colts team in the season before entering a premier team.
The Hawks fielded a premier and a premier two team last season but had to pool playing resources with Green Island to enter a combined senior team.
However, Kinley said no reference to that rule could be found in the new constitution.
"We’ve looked back through the constitution and we think people are referring back to an old constitution," he said.
"[We] can’t find where that is written down in the current constitution, which was adopted [in 2012] and rehashed in 2014.
"'From a union perspective, I’d never want to see people talking about rules, and the rules aren’t there anyway, to stop teams from being able to enter a premier competition.
"The last thing we want is for the premier competition in the future to be five or six teams. That is no good for development pathways or anything."
Harbour Rugby Club chairman Lance Spence felt there was an element of spitefulness about the whole issue.
The club is battling to put together a premier two side this season and Spence felt that gave Harbour’s detractors the leverage to "kick Harbour for touch".
"They were informed that we might not have a B side and I just think it was the opportunity to stamp the little guy out," Spence said.
Spence accepted Harbour was "light on numbers" but the Hawks hoped to field a combined premier two team with Zingari-Richmond.
The club also has a senior side made up of "old guys that just want to play for fun".
Last week Pirates pulled out of the premier grade this season. That decision was more or less forced on the 135-year-old club when it only had 18 players available for its premier one and premier two teams before planned pre-season games against Dunedin earlier this month.