Paul Pignatelli and Andrew Farquhar: Right approach key to Olympics

GOLF has its game teed up for Rio, say Paul Pignatelli and Andrew Farquhar

WITH golf and rugby sevens both scheduled to return to the Olympic summer programme in Rio 2016, the home country golf associations (from Scotland, Wales and England), together with the Professional Golfers’ Association, have stolen a march on their rugby equivalents by coming up with a solution that ensures that British golf is appropriately represented and governed at Olympic level.

The key challenge for the golf associations was to create a national governing body (NGB) for the sport, capable of discharging the roles and responsibilities required of it, including the nomination of players for Team GB selection, and which met the requirements of the British Olympic Association (BOA). DLA Piper, working with all the associations, set about developing a solution to enable this goal to be realised.

We began by liaising with the BOA to determine its requirements and to find out what exactly it wanted to see from the associations by way of deliverables. Using this research, the firm produced an advice paper for the associations which outlined the two main options available to them by way of corporate structure, and the pros and cons associated with each.

The first option involved all the associations coming together as a group, with one nominated by the others to take the lead and to act as the sole representative of British golf. This “lead body” approach is adopted by the British football associations, where the English FA is the representative body on the National Olympic Committee.

The second option (adopted by British hockey) was that a new company would be incorporated by the associations with the sole purpose of acting as the NGB for British golf. The associations would all be members of the new company (akin to shareholders in a conventional limited company) and would then enter into a side agreement to document the rights and responsibilities of each association to the others and to the new entity itself.

Following careful deliberation, the associations decided to adopt the second option, believing it offered more advantages than the first. In particular, adopting the “new company” approach would place each of the associations on an equal footing in the venture and make corporate governance, financial regulation and British golf-related branding issues far simpler to manage going forward.

The next significant challenge for the associations was to create a side agreement to document the rights and responsibilities of each association to the others and to the new entity. One of the most important issues was antidoping regulation, a key concern for all parties, including the BOA, the regulatory bodies and the associations themselves.

This concern was exacerbated by the fact that the organisational structure of golf is such that neither the new company nor its member associations would have regulatory control over all of the golfers who are eligible to represent Team GB. However, through continued dialogue with the BOA, we were able to agree a standardised approach to antidoping regulation that was acceptable to all stakeholders.

After the associations had reached a consensus on the terms of the side agreement, DLA Piper arranged for the incorporation of the new company – the British Golf Association Limited (BGAL) – and for a formal application to be put to the BOA for consideration. On 18 April, the BOA formally approved the appointment of the BGAL as the NGB for Olympic golf and an officially recognised member of the National Olympic Committee.

With the home country rugby associations still to agree an approach with the BOA for organising Team GB teams to compete in the rugby sevens tournament at Rio 2016, the experience of the golf associations in setting up the BGAL could provide a useful blueprint for rugby to follow.

• Paul Pignatelli is partner, corporate, and Andrew Farquhar is solicitor, corporate, with DLA Piper Scotland LLP