BBC apathy for women’s game is just astounding
➤ Hiding Open highlights away after 11pm goes against supposed commitment to equality and inclusivity
Exposure, that is what female golf needs. When my husband, Justin, and I set up the Rose Ladies Series last year, his goal was short-term and predominantly performance-based, giving the women pros environments in which to compete in the blank coronavirus summer.
But there was and remains a bigger picture, and my ambition was to showcase their quality by giving them the coverage they warrant. Justin’s initial aim was a success, with the RLS growing to such an extent that the R&A actually used an event of ours to act as a stage of qualifying for this week’s major at Carnoustie.
That is a tremendous thrill, for we are unashamedly backing Gemma Dryburgh, the three-time winner on our series who is in the field thanks to coming through our qualifier. We wanted the RLS to help players such as Gemma, and providing a springboard for her career is what this is essentially all about for Justin.
However, there is a wider cause and there was always going to be as soon as we got involved, using Justin’s profile to try to make a difference.
The RLS was intended as a one-off, a stopgap. Last year, after the initial lockdown, we read a Daily Telegraph article and realised women pros had nowhere to play. We wanted to rectify that and did so, but as the series went on, people kept asking: “Will you do it again, as it’s been so successful?” We waited until we saw this year’s
Ladies European Tour schedule to see if there were any gaps we could play a useful part in filling.
This year we created another series more spread out across the season, added three more events to make a total of 11, with each tournament doubling the firstplace cheque to £10,000. We were also excited to include one of Justin’s sponsors, which was keen to create more excitement with the Slync Slam – a £50,000 bonus pot.
The expansion has been wonderful but, ideally, we would prefer for the RLS to be redundant. If more tournaments could emerge and more sponsors come out of the woodwork, we would be delighted for the RLS not to be needed at all.
There is a long way to go. We have hardly scratched the surface of what we want to achieve. One aim was to ensure women had access to incredible courses and we have emphatically ticked that box.
Next we would like bigger prize funds, and the R&A’S announcement of the huge rise in the Women’s Open purse (up by more than £1 million to £4.2million) is fantastic. But if this is to be replicated across the Tour events in Britain and Europe then that ‘E’ word is paramount. The
RLS has found exposure far harder to achieve than we thought. We wanted the series to be seen, but have had to pay for TV coverage and put it on Youtube for free.
It is great that all these women’s events are on Sky Sports but that means we are not growing the game as much as possible, because you are expecting the women at home and the next generation to be in a position to have a subscription. Growing the game means growing it across the board, not only in households which can afford it. So I look at this week’s television schedule and see the highlights are on BBC Two after 11pm. Fine, they are on the red button and iplayer earlier, but the fact the coverage is being tucked away on free-to-air is a statement of indifference in itself. In this day and age, it astounds me.
I have written to everyone I can think of at the BBC. I want to meet them and understand why they seemingly have something against golf. You cannot find a sport that is going to demonstrate the BBC’S avowed commitment to equality and inclusivity more clearly.
Show me another sport where a child can play with a grandparent, where girls and boys can compete together so easily, because of the handicap system. It is completely inclusive.
The average age of the top-10 female golfers is younger than the top-10 female tennis players. No longer is this an old man’s sport. These young female stars are athletic, inspirational, and come from so many different backgrounds. I am baffled why there appears to be a black mark against women’s golf at BBC HQ.
What more do we have to do to persuade terrestrial channels to show women’s golf at times when young viewers can actually watch? If the women‘s Hundred cricket matches can be shown live, why not golf? We will continue to seek an answer.