Monday 15 July 2002

The beautiful game

I drove past Muirfield on Saturday on the way to the airshow at East Fortune and saw the preparations being made for the Open. I hope that the golfing establishment continues to reject the politically correct nonsense coming from the "sports minister."

Peter Dawson, secretary of the Royal and Ancient, says robustly:

We do believe in rights of assembly and feel there's a place for all-male clubs and all-women clubs.
And Gillian Stewart, winner of the 1984 Women's Euro Open, says:
I have absolutely nothing against men-only clubs, and think it would be very wrong if they were forced into accepting women members merely to be politically correct. If I had the wherewithal to start a club of my own and decided I wanted to have a women-only club, why should I not be allowed to do so?
Absolutely correct. What the Royal and Ancient should tell the government is that they won't hold the Open ever again should they be forced into accepting mixed-sex golf clubs. Let the politicians then explain the loss of "£80 million in the long term to the local economy".