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| Muirfield and Millwall sing from the same hymn sheet | Muirfield and Millwall sing from the same hymn sheet |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Millwall football club and Muirfield golf club don't have much in common. In class terms, they are light years apart. Yet the former, once a byword for football racism, and the latter now a byword for golf sexism, both sing from the same hymn sheet: "No one likes us, we don't care." For despite the avalanche of criticism that Muirfield is continuing to receive for its exclusion of women members, the reaction of golf's top brass has been to pretend this is all a media construction, ie an artificial one, and thus to be addressed as simply a PR problem. | Millwall football club and Muirfield golf club don't have much in common. In class terms, they are light years apart. Yet the former, once a byword for football racism, and the latter now a byword for golf sexism, both sing from the same hymn sheet: "No one likes us, we don't care." For despite the avalanche of criticism that Muirfield is continuing to receive for its exclusion of women members, the reaction of golf's top brass has been to pretend this is all a media construction, ie an artificial one, and thus to be addressed as simply a PR problem. |
| Though the truth is that if they wanted the world to butt out of their silly little all-male clique, they shouldn't have agreed to host a golf tournament called The Open, for open they are not. But their line is simple: it's our club and we can do what we like with it. Excuse the pun, but the bunker mentality now being adopted by the members of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers is totally pathetic. | |
| Golf, of course, has form on exclusion – especially racial exclusion. One of the founders of the Augusta National golf club, Clifford Roberts, became notorious for his view that: "As long as I'm alive, golfers will be white and caddies will be black." | Golf, of course, has form on exclusion – especially racial exclusion. One of the founders of the Augusta National golf club, Clifford Roberts, became notorious for his view that: "As long as I'm alive, golfers will be white and caddies will be black." |
| And in this country, in 1958, when Margaret Thatcher became MP for Finchley, one of her first political campaigns was to target the local golf course for its exclusion of Jews. This was common practice in many London clubs, forcing Jews to set up their own clubs in response. | And in this country, in 1958, when Margaret Thatcher became MP for Finchley, one of her first political campaigns was to target the local golf course for its exclusion of Jews. This was common practice in many London clubs, forcing Jews to set up their own clubs in response. |
| But when asked at a press conference earlier this week, Peter Dawson, chief executive of the The Royal and Ancient Golf Club (golf's governing body), scoffed at the idea that the exclusion of racial minorities and the exclusion of women has anything whatsoever in common. It was, he said a "ridiculous question". "There's a massive difference between racial discrimination, antisemitism, where sectors of society are downtrodden and treated very, very badly. To compare that with a men's golf club is frankly absurd. There's no comparison whatsoever." | But when asked at a press conference earlier this week, Peter Dawson, chief executive of the The Royal and Ancient Golf Club (golf's governing body), scoffed at the idea that the exclusion of racial minorities and the exclusion of women has anything whatsoever in common. It was, he said a "ridiculous question". "There's a massive difference between racial discrimination, antisemitism, where sectors of society are downtrodden and treated very, very badly. To compare that with a men's golf club is frankly absurd. There's no comparison whatsoever." |
| Well, of course there is. But the big difference is simply that casual or structural sexism continues to be socially acceptable in some quarters in a way that racism no longer is. | Well, of course there is. But the big difference is simply that casual or structural sexism continues to be socially acceptable in some quarters in a way that racism no longer is. |
| Racism continues to exist, of course. But racists know that they cannot get away with repeating their views in polite company without being challenged. The same is not true of attitudes towards women. From the Church of England to the Garrick club and beyond, the idea that women require some form of separate treatment is still clinging on by its fingertips, justified by the weasel idea that men and women are fundamentally different, and that this difference justifies different roles in society or the need for different spaces in which men and women can be more fully themselves. | Racism continues to exist, of course. But racists know that they cannot get away with repeating their views in polite company without being challenged. The same is not true of attitudes towards women. From the Church of England to the Garrick club and beyond, the idea that women require some form of separate treatment is still clinging on by its fingertips, justified by the weasel idea that men and women are fundamentally different, and that this difference justifies different roles in society or the need for different spaces in which men and women can be more fully themselves. |
| The same argument was long used to justify racial segregation. Furthermore, if Peter Dawson doesn't think that women are treated "very, very badly" he really ought to look out a bit beyond his pink gin and leather armchair. | The same argument was long used to justify racial segregation. Furthermore, if Peter Dawson doesn't think that women are treated "very, very badly" he really ought to look out a bit beyond his pink gin and leather armchair. |
| The trick when playing links golf is to keep the ball low and thus, as far as possible, under the wind. This has been the R&A's strategy when dealing with criticism. And the so-called honourable company of golfers will, no doubt, be delighted when the cameras leave their exclusive club and attention switches elsewhere, leaving them to retreat back into the weird cultural micro-climate they call tradition. But as anyone who successfully navigates the course at Muirfield knows, one really has to appreciate from which direction the wind is blowing. | The trick when playing links golf is to keep the ball low and thus, as far as possible, under the wind. This has been the R&A's strategy when dealing with criticism. And the so-called honourable company of golfers will, no doubt, be delighted when the cameras leave their exclusive club and attention switches elsewhere, leaving them to retreat back into the weird cultural micro-climate they call tradition. But as anyone who successfully navigates the course at Muirfield knows, one really has to appreciate from which direction the wind is blowing. |
| On the course, it's a deceptively gentle 10 miles an hour. Off the course it is blowing a hoolie. | On the course, it's a deceptively gentle 10 miles an hour. Off the course it is blowing a hoolie. |