Wake-up call for the clubs

Irish golf clubs are set for a very sharp wake-up call on the issue of equality. Starting tomorrow, the Equal Status Bill 1999 is scheduled to pass through the Dail this week and is expected to become law during the first six months of next year.

So, after years of scoffing, stonewalling and general procrastinating, rebel clubs are about to be called to heel. And for a change, it seems that the Government have done their homework on the issue, which means that club may no longer look for an escape route in the constitutional right to free association.

The recent farce at Mullingar GC reflected a persisting ignorance of the issue among golf club officials. Granted, many of them have taken the necessary action to concede the principle of equality, through changes to their constitution. But elsewhere, enlightenment remains very thin on the ground.

The situation in Mullingar GC concerned a decision by outgoing president Jack Foy to invite Ita Wallace to succeed him for millennium year. Though it could be argued that Foy should have known better as an officer of the club, he made the not unreasonable assumption that despite her gender, Wallace was eligible for the post, given her status as an honorary life member.

Her name was there on the honour board, along with those of Joe Carr, Albert Reynolds and Dr Patrick Hillery, among others. But what the club really meant to confer on her was honorary life associate membership, which was as far as they could go under their own constitution. For it is implicit in the granting of honorary membership that the recipient would have the same status as a full member. And Mullingar GC don't have any women as full members.

When the proposal was put to the GUI, they quite correctly informed the club that they weren't empowered to do anything of the sort, under their own constitution. All of which meant embarrassing a former president of the ILGU.

As it happens, Mullingar GC are in the process of changing their constitution to the recommended three-tier model and it is expected to go before an extraordinary general meeting in the New Year. But there are numerous other clubs who persist in dragging their feet, presumably in the belief that if they continue to ignore the issue, it will simply go away.

That may have been true 10 years ago, but not any more. According to a Government official, the constitutionality of the new bill has been verified by their legal experts. Granted, the same was said of the 1997 bill, which came unstuck in the Supreme Court, but it seems unlikely that mistakes will be made a second time around.

As far as golf clubs are concerned, the key elements are contained in Sections 8 and 9. For instance, 8-2 (a) states that a club shall be considered to be discriminatory if - "(i) it has any rule, policy or practice which discriminates against a member or an applicant for membership or if (ii) a person involved in its management discriminates against a person or an applicant for membership in relation to the affairs of the club."

The bill goes on to state that a club is guilty of discrimination if it provides different terms and conditions of membership for members or applicants for membership. Which shoves our dear old "associate member" right into the spotlight, unless, of course, the same category is applied to men.

The situation with regard to all-male clubs is covered under the term "applicant for membership." And the bill points out that any applicant may seek a District Court ruling on whether a club has been guilty of discrimination.

Section 10, which deals with the Registration of Clubs Acts of 1904 and 1995, points out that any club guilty of discrimination, may have their certification of registration renewed by the courts. But - and here's the sting - it shall cease to be in force at the end of one year after the date of renewal.

It follows that any club which forfeits its certification of registration, would be ineligible to seek a liquor licence from the Revenue Commissioners. On that particular point, a case against a proprietary club would be heard by the Equality Authority, whereas a case involving a members' club would go before the District Court. This, I understand, has to do essentially with the nature of the licencee.

In the event, the GUI are unhappy with this particular situation and informed the authority to that effect during a recent meeting with them. Otherwise, they have no problems. "We are supportive of the legislation and are ready to give our clubs any help they may require," said GUI honorary secretary, Gerry O'Brien, yesterday.

Certainly, the GUI have not obstructed progress on the issue. Indeed the former honorary secretary, Des Rea O'Kelly, did tremendous work towards healing wounds, especially in drafting the model, three-tier constitution whereby the average members' club was split into three separate clubs: one involving the GUI members; the other for women affiliated to the ILGU and the third covering the running of the actual facility, i.e. course and clubhouse, in which both men and women would be involved.

One feels they might have been more proactive, however, in urging clubs to make these necessary constitutional changes. Their claim that they have no right to interfere in the way clubs are run, is not entirely true. The GUI could make a certain form of club constitution a requirement of affiliation to the union, if they so wished.

Meanwhile, the onset of the a.g.m. season may be somewhat different this time around. It is certainly to be hoped that proposals regarding "these women" will not be taken under any other business, when members are ready to settle for any old quick fix, before heading for the bar.

Hopefully, the discussion may be somewhat more enlightened than the mouthing of such familiar mantras as "if these women want full membership, let them form their own club", or "our women don't want equality, we asked them." Either way, it might be no harm for club officers to note that the Government clearly mean business.

Christy O'Connor Jnr will be defending his Senior British Open crown when the £400,000 championship has its millennium staging at Royal Co Down on July 27th to 30th of next year. O'Connor gained the distinction of becoming the first Irish winner of the title for its Royal Portrush swansong last July. Now, as already indicated, it has moved to another great Northern venue.