I WAS asked to participate in an interesting interview this week on Radio Scotland regarding golf’s 145th Open, which will take place at Royal Troon in July.
The Ayrshire course is one of only two Open Championship venues in Scotland – the other being Muirfield in Edinburgh – that has yet to allow women to become members. We have been advised that both are reviewing this stance with a view to deciding whether or not to change that policy.
One chink of light is that, for the first time, Royal Troon is working hand-in-hand with The Ladies’ Golf Club in Troon to co-host The Open. Both clubs currently have a single-gender policy and both must consider whether this is the way forward for golf in Scotland in 2016.
The biggest draw when hosting events of this magnitude for most sporting organisations is the benefit it can bring to the sport.
While The Open does not rely on sponsorship, we all appreciate that the global exposure and enormous financial investment gained through sponsorship deals are the lifeblood of many organisations. Hosting The Open is an opportunity for the golfing world to get its message across about the benefits of playing golf and increase its membership numbers. This will have an effect, not just at a local club level, but throughout Scotland.
The decision to award the tournament to a venue that doesn’t allow female members is wrong. It sends out the wrong signals, not only to young girls and women who feel excluded, but to young men who might think it is acceptable and normal.
There were 215,000 female golf club members in Great Britain and Ireland in 2006. Ten years later, there are about 158,000. Embracing and including women at all levels in the game will help increase membership numbers again and bring spin-off benefits for all golf clubs.
Royal Troon’s procrastination is in direct contrast to the awakening in the US, where they seem to moving forward at speed. There was an interesting article published in America this week on a change of attitude within the advertising industry. The five ways historically male brands are now reaching out to women was written by Kim Getty, president of Deutsch LA agency. She said: “For years, there was the old adage that if you advertised to men, the women would come – but if you advertised to women, the men would stay away. That doesn’t hold true anymore. Men are more comfortable with women being part of the brand tribe.”
Major brands are now making commercials that appeal and relate to all. This allows companies an opportunity, in some cases, to as much as double their audience reach. To see this converted into sponsorship for sports and advertising in Scotland by the major influencers and investors in sport could be the catalyst required to change the face of sport in our country.
Major commercial organisations that invest in sport must start taking a more socially responsible attitude to the sport they invest in and make lack of diversity a deal-breaker.
Those responsible for awarding major events and those who run our major tournaments must also get their house in order and ensure that they prioritise equality.
Maureen McGonigle is the founder of Scottish Women in Sport
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