Scottish Golf chair makes sexism claim as fee increase is rejected

Scottish Golf chair Eleanor Cannon. Picture: Jon Savage

Eleanor Cannon, the chair of Scottish Golf, has claimed that sexism towards her was part of the reason a proposal to increase the affiliation fee paid by golf club members was rejected. Men involved in the process that led to a bid to increase that payment by Â£3.75 to Â£15 being tossed out have also been told by one of Cannon's closest allies that they should be 'ashamed at some of their behaviour' towards her.

To what was described by Cannon as “a groan of disbelief” in the room at the governing body’s twice- delayed annual general meeting at Dalmahoy, the much-publicised proposal resulted in 235 for but 270 against in a vote by shareholders, a group that consists of men’s Area and women’s County associations as well as the near-600 clubs in the country.

The rejection means that a figure of between £300,000 and £450,000 will need to be slashed from Scottish Golf’s budget, which has already been cut by around £700,000 due to a drastic reduction in sportscotland funding, over the next 18 months, with Cannon admitting that job losses are now inevitable.

“The result is massively disappointing, particularly for the team at Scottish Golf,” she said afterwards. “We have already cut costs to quite a dramatic extent in the last two years. I think the number was just short of £700,000 and, as a result of today, we have an even bigger challenge of somewhere between £300,000 and £450,000 that we will have to cut. That will be almost £1.5 million over the course of the last two years. That’s a pretty savage cut in a game that needs to grow in Scotland and we all want it to grow.”

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