Monday
25Aug2008
Brand Lady: Learn English Or It's Sayonara!
This story has the potential to explode into one of those Jimmy The Greek, Ben Wright-style clashes where the PC police take on the perpetrator, in this case, the LPGA Tour. Frankly, I might actually not blame the PC police on this one. Beth Ann Baldry reports:
At a mandatory South Korean player meeting Aug. 20 at the Safeway Classic, the tour informed its largest international contingent that beginning in 2009, all players who have been on tour for two years must pass an oral evaluation of their English skills. Failure would result in a suspended membership.
“Hopefully what we’re talking about is something that will not happen,” said Libba Galloway, the tour’s deputy commissioner, of possible suspensions. “If it does, we wouldn’t just say, ‘Come back next year.’ What we would do is work with them on where they fell short, provide them the resources they need, the tutoring . . . and when we feel like they need to be evaluated again, we would evaluate.”
Galloway said the policy takes effect immediately, but the “measurement time will be at the end of 2009.” There are 121 international players from 26 countries on tour; 45 are South Koreans.
Hilary Lunke, president of the Player Executive Committee, said much of this initiative stems from the importance of being able to entertain pro-am partners. Players already are fined if the LPGA receives complaints from their pro-am partners. Now the tour is taking it one step further.
“The bottom line is, we don’t have a job if we don’t entertain,” Lunke said. “In my mind, that’s as big a part of the job as shooting under par.”
Okay, so they learn some rudimentary English, which actually gives them a leg up on the Commissioner.
Is the pro-am conversation really going to get beyond "good shot" and "left edge" and "nice meeting you"? Unbelievable.
This, is going to get ugly.
Monday, August 25, 2008 at 09:20 PM
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Reader Comments (23)
- Did Brian Watts and Todd Hamilton get kicked off the Japanes Tour for not speaking Japanese?
- Does peppering your English with 2,5 "you know"s and 3,8 "like"s per sentence count as good PR towards Pro-Am partners?
- Does anyone understand Carolyn Bivens?
BTW i don't think marketing and promotional interest, (read advertisers) had anything to do with this - do you?
frankD
Penalizing is just CRAZY.............
Bottom line: don't blame the LPGA tour as much as the fans.
If it's like the military and the "weight management program" they had when I was on active duty, enforcement can be made very flexible.
I wonder if this truly came from the commissioner, in response to a complaint from the corporate sponsors, or whether it came from the anglo players via some sort of players' committee grousing.
It might offend some people to picture an innocent, young, female asian athlete losing her "right" to play on the LPGA, especially when it's the, uh, less than seductively feminine commish lowering the boom. Fine. But let's be honest, the LPGA is a business. Nobody has any right to play on the tour. I doubt Bivens would risk alienating star players if there weren't a real perceived problem from the sponsor side. If they feel it's important that all players be able to be conversational in English, I have no problem with that. Professional sports are not pure competition and are surely part (all?) traveling show, after all.
Maybe anglo players make better TV, but I have alot of trouble believing Bivens would use this to try to elbow asian players out. How do they know it would be successful, even if this were the goal?
Now, I could certainly buy into the idea that there are some cranky, ticked off anglo pros who are looking for a way to make a backhand swipe at the asian invaders. And even if the tour's by laws give a players' committee the right to do something like this, I'd find it hard to believe it they could get a rule like this past Bivens.
I hope the French give all the players a French test before allowing them to play in the Evian.
Question: Does this mean that mutes are not allowed to compete on the LPGA tour?
And again, it depends what they mean by "suspension." From reading the article, it sounds more like a threat than some sort of hard and fast, swift judgement, no tolerance rule.
We had a nice argument along these lines a few months back on drug testing--vis a vis whether it was proper or constitutional to demand something like this. Bottom line is that the LPGA is a private club and can do as it pleases. Many will feel it's a violation of their rights.
I don't have much sympathy for an athlete who willingly tries to gain membership to an American golf tour, and carps at a requirement to demonstrate a basic ability to speak English.
Perhaps.
LPGA President of the Player Executive Committee
RE: the importance of being able to entertain pro-am partners.
Forget instituting an offical language spoken.
Chang the dress code instead .
May I suggest the Olympic Beach Volleyball team uniforms.
That worked wonders in getting NBC record rating in the 2am-5am EST time slot and was a big hit with those advertising sponsors.
If your going to set back equal rights for women - then go all the way baby !
frankD
PS i've attended enough HOOTERS "charity" golf tournament to know what i'm saying is valid. It didn't matter a wit to sponsors and supporters that some "participants" didn't speak a shread of english.
To me this is simple: The LPGA does not like the Korean or other Asian players and this is one veiled way to show that dislike. Can quotas or an outright ban be far behind? The same resentment happened when Europeans came into the NHL.
If amateurs don't want Koreans in the pro-ams, then don't have them play. There must be enough dyed blonde American players they can round up for the day.
I am pretty surprised by Se Ri Pak’s take on this stance but I think she is being politically correct. It is terribly unfair to tell these players, more important than winning a tournament is to know how to dot your i and cross your t.
It is a clear case of money making them talk. But these people must not lose sight of the fact that the game of golf is growing and expanding in a rapid manner across Asia. I will not be surprised if in a decade or two the Asian Tour becomes as rich as say the PGA Tour or at least the European Tour for sure. In that case, what would these very officials say if the Tour came out with a stipulation that said, these players must be fluent in Thai or Japanese before they think about getting a place in the field.
I can already see them laughing it off but it is not such a wild thought and I really hope they take back this proposed regulation because quite frankly it demeans a sportsperson.