Lothians golf clubs in vote against their association

Denys Flaherty, president of the Lothians Golf Association, revealed to The Scotsman yesterday that a vote taken at a special general meeting attended by representatives of 41 clubs in and around Edinburgh at Newbattle on Tuesday night had resulted in opposition to that organisation's view on how the proposed Scottish Golf Ltd should be structured. "The Lothians Executive were looking to have a two-tier structure, retaining a Council with three of its members being elected to the board, but the clubs have spoken and they don't want that," he said.

The meeting, which was held hours after details of the proposed amalgamation between the Scottish Golf Union and Scottish Ladies Golfing Association were outlined at Dalmahoy, had been called to gauge how clubs in the Lothians felt about a step that will result in a major shake up in terms of voting power at grassroots level.

A present, the 16 Area associations in Scotland are the stakeholders in the SGU, but the proposed scrapping of the Executive Council will leave them on the same footing as the 580 clubs when it comes to having any sort of input into the amateur game at national level in the future.

Among those present at the meeting was Alan Grosset, a former Duddingston captain and ex-lawyer who has experience of amalgamations in other sports through sportscotland. He said he was strongly in favour of the proposal, insisting it needed to happen to bring golf into line with other sports and that he believed the recommendation of a company limited by guarantee was the correct vehicle for managing sports bodies.

"It was a fairly amicable meeting and it is fair to say that there were some good contributions from the floor," added Flaherty. "Some people felt it was better for clubs to be represented themselves rather than through the Areas, but others were critical of the SGU for increasing the per capita fee with no regard for the difficulties being faced by some clubs and also accusing it of a lack of transparency."

Also present, in his capacity as captain of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, was Alistair Low, the former chairman of the Scottish Golf Union. He also claimed the proposed changes were the right way for Scottish golf to go forward and later claimed that people had been talking "nonsense" about some matters related to the SGU.

Asked if they were in favour of the amalgamation, the answer was a unanimous 'yes' before a second motion regarding the retention of an Executive Council as a second tier was defeated by 46 votes to 32, with one abstention."We will now need to have another special general meeting to see how the clubs want us to vote," said Flaherty, who revealed his personal concerns. "We are being asked to make a leap of faith. What if we make that leap of faith and, in 15-20 years time, there are two or three strong individuals who force things through and things perhaps go wrong," he added. "We'd then be asked why we let it happen. It is a step into the unknown and a lot of trust is being asked of people.

"The Areas will still be in existence but won't have a say in the running of Scottish amateur golf. We will be happy to run competitions and foster the game in the Lothians but it is going to be an adjustment that will be very difficult for some people. We will continue to support golf the way we have done in the past but it's going to be a different world and something people are going to have to adjust to."

Fife Golf Association also held a special general meeting recently to discuss the proposal, but a vote was not taken then due to the fact only 21 of the 48 clubs in the Kingdom were present. "We expressed our concerns about the proposal at that meeting," said Fife secretary Jim Scott. "Those main concerns are a lack of democracy and accountability. It is going to be difficult for the 600 clubs when it comes to checking and balancing procedures. What if they only hold one meeting a year and it is too late to address something?

"All the Fife clubs are now being asked to get back to us with their views by early May and our vote will be based on that return. If our clubs are in favour, we will vote accordingly and then keep our fingers crossed that it works out."