Women’s professional golf made a monumental error in judgment recently when it announced a new rule requiring that all its players must speak English to be eligible to play.
Golf Magazine reports that by the end of 2009, the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) will require all players who have been on the golf tour for two years to pass an oral exam to prove their English skills. Those who fail will not be allowed to play. The LPGA has 121 international players, and by all accounts several dozen are from South Korea.
Such a rule is an embarrassment to the LPGA. It reflects poorly on a sport that historically has battled an image of elitism and for so long has been slow to gain widespread popularity, particularly the women’s tour. Golf Magazine senior editor Michael Walker, Jr. – who decries the new rule – writes on-line that the motivation behind it is apparently an LPGA desire for players to be more marketable and enhance the tour’s appeal as entertainment.
Apparently, the thinking is that players who do not speak English cannot as easily conduct media interviews, give victory speeches, interact with amateur players who pay to play with the pros, and otherwise be sold commercially to market the tour in the United States.
As a golf fan, I don’t care what language a player speaks. I want to see the best players compete. Surely, translators and creative marketing can overcome the most important language barriers.
The new rule poses all sorts of issues:
- If a good player is suspended from a tournament because she cannot speak English, will fans feel cheated out of not seeing the best compete?
- What if a player is mute? Is her inability to speak at all – and therefore her inability to speak English –grounds for suspension?
- Is the rule legal – or is it in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of many things, among them national origin?
- Does the LPGA know or care that such a rule smacks of ethnocentrism and projects an “ugly American” persona to its international audience? The whole dictatorial tone of the edict certainly runs counter to the melting pot image of the United States.
Perhaps most sad and ironic is that a women’s sports organization would erect such an arbitrary wall to exclude others from participating, given that women have fought so hard for the right to participate in all areas of life, including sports.
Don’t be surprised to see this rule repealed before it takes effect. To attract the most fans, women’s golf needs to open its arms to the world’s best players. This rule is an embarrassing step in the wrong direction.
Posted by robertpeek 
Posted by robertpeek 
