We will all have
faced the class divide at some stage in our lives but I wonder if the gap is
getting bigger?
I’ve never
been to the ballet or opera and I’ve never had afternoon tea at the Ritz. I
read constantly but I’m bored to tears by the theatre. Some of my family are
lawyers and the like, others are on benefits. I went to a state school in
Newcastle, started full time work at 16 and I’ve never signed on. My father
worked for the post office, my mother kept house. I’m better off than my
parents I suppose, buy we were perfectly comfortable when I was growing up. We
didn’t have much but we wanted for nothing.
And then
there’s golf. An elitist sport? I’ve seen it with my own eyes – the class divide
is exemplified beautifully in golf. It’s true, golf is perceived as expensive
and middle class. A set of clubs and assorted attachments can set you back a
tidy sum, and a round of golf at a municipal course might cost over £20. But in
many areas, the nearest course would be a private club which would cost an awful
lot more.
Some say it
isn’t class that divides golf, it’s just that the history, etiquette and proud
traditions of the great game must be maintained. I can see their point if I’m
honest but if that’s truly the case why does ‘Artisan Golf’ – a system that
gives the ordinary working man the chance to play golf affordably – promote, in
some cases, separate changing rooms, limited tee times and certainly more
modest club house facilities? If golf has ambitions that transcend above the
class divide then surely we can all drink at the same bar!
As with other
leisure fields, sport and its participation is intertwined with social class.
In a world where political tolerance and inclusivity are championed and the
notion of equality, a thing of the past. Why did it take over 250 years to
allow female members into the Royal and Ancient HQ? As of February this year, a
historical moment in the history of the game unfolded with the inclusion of
women into the fellowship of St Andrews Golf Club. This has been treated, and
rightly so, as a major breakthrough in opening the game to females and executing
any notion of inequality. But, whilst breaking down one much needed barrier
they have essentially reinforced a much greater one, one of social class. Take
a look at the first female member of the club, The Princess Royal!
Is this a
clear message as to the orientations of the game as we move further into the 21stcentury – the fact that a member of the aristocracy is the first women patron
of this much loved course? We can all welcome the inclusion of women by the
R&A and in time it should open up the game to more female participation. My
fear however, is that it will just reinforce the growing class inequalities
already present in the game and strengthen the unease at what appears to be
institutional inequality. As we move
towards greater levels of clarity in the game, it is difficult to envisage a
future whereby golf can truly free itself of elitism.
Steve - August 2015
