Eleanor Cannon, the chair of Scottish Golf, has claimed “disgraceful” behaviour and sexism has had a part to play in the governing body’s failure to win a vote on increasing the affiliation fee at Saturday’s AGM at Dalmahoy.
The proposal to raise the annual subscription paid by club members from £11.25 to £15 was rejected by a vote of 270 to 235 (with 10 abstentions) and leaves Scottish Golf needing to make further, sizeable cuts to the £700,000 they have already shaved off the budget over the past couple of years.
While accepting the results of the AGM, Cannon responded with defiance and stated she would not step down from her position. Cannon, as well as out-going board member, Malcolm Robertson, both aired their disappointment at the attitudes from certain unnamed Area members who have a sizeable influence on voting procedures.
Cannon said: "I know it’s nothing personal, it’s to do with the fact that the chair of Scottish Golf is a female. The only way to deal with it is to out it and confront it. I’d love to tell you some of the things but I will sort this out inside the tent. Those who have behaved badly know they have behaved badly. My plea is that as officials of the game, can you please respectfully lift the phone when you have an issue and don’t go into legal speak, don’t go into writing and certainly don’t let yourself down by going onto social media. What is said on social media is disgraceful."
The AGM was postponed last week due to the weather which crippled great swathes of the country but Cannon revealed that one Area had mounted a legal challenge which resulted in her having to go to Dalmahoy and wait for the Area in question to turn up.
"I was forced to come here in the snow to start the AGM and to adjourn the AGM, to sit and wait for an Area who had told me, on social media, that I was breaking the law and compromising the organisation in the full knowledge that I had behaved utterly honourably and legally," she said. “I had to come and sit here for six hours, waiting to see who turned up. It cost the company £10,000 – well done you. Did they turn up? No. Did they reply to the letter I sent them? No. How many affiliation fees did that cost? It isn’t hard to do the math."
Robertson, whose time on the board has now finished, added: “Some of the behaviour, particularly directed at the chair, has been disgraceful. I’ve been ashamed by the men in particular. That culture has to change. We talk about the etiquette that is demanded of golfers on the golf course – and that should apply in the governance of the game too. But it doesn’t in many instances.”
Asked if she would walk away from her role in the wake of another major set-back for the governing body, Cannon, who will welcome new chief executive, Andrew McKinlay to Scottish Golf in May, said: "Absolutely not. The reason I am doing this job is because of the situation we find ourselves in. I’ve been there in the business world and you need to be resilient and strong. You need to keep believing. The people who brought this vote to where it is today are getting in the way of the people we want to reach in terms of the legacy we want to leave to the game. We made a commitment as a board that we would leave this game in better shape for our grandkids and their grandkids and we are determined to do it. The reason I am doing it is because I knew it would be tough."
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