Pundits’ lavish golf day riles Beeb staff
BBC World Cup football presenters and pundits have upset colleagues and viewers by promoting themselves playing golf on a course owned by Roman Abramovich.
The Beeb golfers who seem to have made a number of visits to Skolkovo Course in Moscow include Alan Shearer, Jermaine Jenas, Danny Murphy, Dan Walker and Mark Chapman, as well as ITV’s Ian Wright and Lee Dixon.
Walker posted a picture of him taking a shot with the sun setting over Moscow and wrote: ‘For those asking... the course is @SkolkovoGolf. This is the 17th — a 188yd par 3. It finished two and a half feet away for a birdie and the match. Ask @alanshearer.’
No wonder someone tweeted in reply: ‘Is the taxpayer paying for that then?’
Shearer tweeted: ‘Thanks to the brilliant Skolkovo golf club for allowing us to play their incredible course on our day off. Players beat the presenters.’
The tweets have caused fuss on a number of fronts. Firstly Shearer and Walker boasted about playing golf while based in one luxury hotel in Moscow while most of their exhausted colleagues have been working 24/7 across Russia, with no days off let alone time for playing golf on a prestige course.
Then there’s the question of high-profile BBC stars taking the benefit of Abramovich’s largesse at a time when the Government have refused the Russian oligarch a working visa in the UK.
It is understood that former Chelsea star Frank Lampard, who was part of the BBC team earlier in the competition, helped arrange the outing.
Abramovich is reputed to have spent around £1billion through his investment company Millhouse on Skolkovo Park, which includes the Jack Nicklaus- designed golf course, housing and a business park. BBC say staff can do what they want on a day off but wouldn’t comment further.