Tuesday
Aug262008
"The LPGA could lose some tremendous players if it's not careful."
As expected the initial reactions to Beth Ann Baldry's exclusive on the LPGA's new English-speaking requirement were not positive and raised several major questions. We'll get to those in a moment, but having 24 hours to sit on this it strikes me that the hypocrisy here is truly breathtaking. As the LPGA struggles to get sponsors and takes more and more events to Asia, they are instituted a racist policy that could ultimately weed out the number of South Korean players.
In the AP story (Doug Ferguson?), Angela Park says:
...born in Brazil of South Korean heritage and raised in the United States -- said the policy is fair and good for the tour and its international players.
"A lot of Korean players think they are being targeted, but it's just because there are so many of them," Park said.
Seon-Hwa Lee, the only Asian with multiple victories this year, said she works with an English tutor in the winter. Her ability to answer questions without the help of a translator has improved in her short time on tour.
"The economy is bad, and we are losing sponsors," Lee said. "Everybody understands."Somehow I doubt that.
The USA Today's Steve DiMeglio talks to several folks and gets a variety of reactions. Ms. Chokinfreakindogs likes the policy.
"That's why I don't think this is an overall bad thing," Dottie Pepper, the former LPGA star and current golf analyst, said of the LPGA tour's new policy requiring its member golfers to speak English or face suspension. "And I think it also can really help the players become more comfortable in the environment they play."
The LPGA policy says players who have been on the tour for two years can be suspended if they fail an oral evaluation of their English proficiency starting at the end of the 2009 season.
The tour provides tutoring and language-learning software to its players and will work with those who fail the test.
"It's something that has been coming about gradually," said LPGA deputy commissioner Libba Galloway, who added that only a few of the organization's members can't speak English. "We're more of an international tour now, but we're an American-based tour and the players need the tools to interact with fans and sponsors. One of those tools is to speak English."We're more of an international tour now but we're an American based tour. You sure that wasn't Yogi? DiMeglio also offers this:
No major U.S. sports leagues, however, require players to speak English. Nor do the PGA Tour or ATP.
"We are proud to have tournaments in 30 countries and players from over 100 competing in them and have no plans to impose a common language on them," ATP spokesman Kris Dent said.
Eunsook Lee, executive director of the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium in Los Angeles, finds the new policy ironic coming on the heels of the Olympics, which she said were about fostering understanding. "It sounds like a step backward for golf," she said.
Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida, said a language requirement could be in violation of state law.
"Florida law prohibits discrimination in public accommodations," he said. "They may well violate Florida discrimination laws because language is a key element of person's national origin. People should be judged on their ability to perform a job. English fluency has no more to do with the ability to play 18 holes of golf than whether you walk 18 holes or ride 18 holes."
Galloway, however, said the LPGA can stand its legal ground. "Organizations and businesses in general have the right to make requirements on skill sets necessary for their employers," she said. "We as a membership organization have the right to establish obligations that our members must adhere to in order to do the things fundamental to conduct our business."Ah the skill sets...wonder when we'd get some corporatespeak in there. Are LPGA players employees? Who knew?
Garry Smits brings up this credibility killer for the LPGA Board:
The rule wouldn’t be in effect if the Executive Committee wasn’t on board. The LPGA Board of Directors has 18 members, 12 of them who are players. The PGA Tour, on the other hand, has a nine-member board, and only four are players. As a result, the LPGA board, by sheer numbers, speaks more to the will of the overall membership.
However, it should be noted that every one of the 12 players on the board is American. Despite having the second-largest demographic group on the LPGA (behind Americans), there are no South Koreans on the board.Lorne Rubenstein writes:
It makes sense that players who don't speak English should try to learn the language. Most players do try, and the LPGA makes the Rosetta Stone language-training program available to its members. But it can take a long time to get comfortable in a foreign language. My wife taught college English for nearly 30 years, often to people for whom English was a second or third language. A certain percentage of these students never became fluent in English, no matter how hard they worked. Canada and the United States are full of immigrants who can't speak English after years of taking lessons.
Smacking a two-year time period on golfers to learn English, then, smacks of xenophobia in the extreme. The idea is offensive, and its implementation is sure to generate hostility and anxiety.
The LPGA could lose some tremendous players if it's not careful. Imagine a scenario where a player who can't speak English to LPGA standards wins a major championship in her rookie year. She has two years to learn English or face suspension. She doesn't learn it, and she's suspended. The LPGA says it will provide tutoring and then do another evaluation, but there are no guarantees the lessons will take.Ouch. Oh he's not done.
It's an American tour? The LPGA is in Canada, Singapore, Mexico, France, England, South Korea and Japan. Should Paula Creamer have to speak Korean if she plays in South Korea? Should Natalie Gulbis have to speak Spanish if she plays the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico come November?
The fault isn't with players who can't speak English. They are who they are. The LPGA is running scared. It needs to embrace golf as a global game and welcome foreign players, including those who don't speak English.
Instead, the LPGA Tour is threatening those players. When it comes to players who don't speak English "properly," it appears LPGA should stand for "Ladies, Please Go Away." Just watch the blowback from this one.The OC Register's Mark Whicker adds...
But Fernando Valenzuela hardly ever did an organized interview in English. Vladimir Guerrero doesn't do them now, and neither does Bartolo Colon or Ichiro Suzuki. Neither do K.J. Choi or Shigeki Maruyama on the PGA Tour.And Lori Kane becomes one of the first players to question the policy:
It's not that they can't speak English. Most of them can at least fake it. They just don't want to be ridiculed because they can't speak smoothly in the American vernacular. They also fear saying something impolitic or inaccurate. As we all can. Hey, even Joe Biden sprains his tongue.
The American players are fully behind the English rule. They figure that if the Koreans are learning proper verb conjugation, they won't be practicing as much and, therefore, beating American brains out every week.
"I am of a strong belief that, yes, we need to learn to communicate," Kane, a 12-year tour veteran, told The Canadian Press on Tuesday. "But whether or not you can communicate shouldn't determine whether or not you have a card on the LPGA Tour."
Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 07:40 PM
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Reader Comments (26)
Really, what's the issue ... if the foreigners don't like it, they don't have to play on the LPGA Tour. Odds are that an Asian tour, including China will be much stronger then the US Tour in a few years anyway ...
The players are the product...So, I am a CEO, I drop $5K to play in a ProAm and draw a Korean player, 3 years in a row. No conversations...golf tips?
And then along comes the sponsor asking for my $5k the following year.
Come'on it is not much to ask...PC gone mad,
PMD4a6
Given the unique relationship of the golfer to pro-am partners and the importance of utilizing any promotion edge in what is a secondary tour, the LPGA membership should try to use the language of any country in which they play tournaments, even if the use is limited to key phrases. The LPGA needs to set a program of stepwise language goals where those who have the most difficulty can be given the most assistance. Naturally, if the players don't understand or embrace the concept, the program will fail. The suspension rule seems heavy handed, but the players should understand the need to commit to extra tutoring if they are not progressing.
All golf media outlets, including Geoff, owe a debt to the LPGA for their provision of something to report other than the usual tournament news.
The interpreters union will probably spearhead any legal protest, or at least assist the ACLU in same endeavor. Should this fail, the interpreters will lose their jobs, but like any free market economy situation, gravitate to a new livelihood (such as language tutor).
I generally bow to just about anything Lorne Rubenstein writes, but I just can't go along with him this time. I think he confuses political rights and proper, fair government with the rights of a private entity like the LPGA.
I'm not saying this is pretty, or even that it will be an effective policy. And given the LPGA board's 'makeup' (majority of anglo players), maybe it is a product of resentment at least to a degree. But I think it's whining to call something like this xenophobic or unfair, and it certainly doesn't violate anyone's rights.
Hell, most in this country can't communicate with one another.
as to whether the policy is defensible is another question. while i agree with the urge to make the players more "customer-friendly" by improving their english language skills, i think suspensions are a mistake. if challenged, the lpga's defense would have to be two-fold: first, that its relationship with the players is not employer/employee in any technical sense. and second, even if there is such a relationship, english-language proficiency is a bona-fide occupational qualification. it will be interesting to see how any legal challenge shakes out.
It's more likely that they just don't want to have to talk to douchebag sportswriters. I'll bet there's a lot of American players in the major leagues that wish they couldn't speak English.
I think the LPGA's goal is on the right track. I just think this is the wrong way to go about it. I'm not sure how an incentive could be structured. I guess an obvious one would be to pay players for their time in the Pro-Am (like an appearance fee) and then say that if you can't speak basic English, you can't play in the pro-am, and subsequently, you won't be paid. I realize that raises other problems because you need to sell all of those groups to sponsors and whatnot, but I'm just spitballing here. I think a suspension just sends the wrong message.
And as much as I hate to say it, the Tour also has to think about whether being exclusionary makes it more viable from a business perspective. How much harm would come if someone started a comparable foreign tour, assuming all of the Americans stayed here? If the Tour stays on its current tack, will people in this country watch if it's a shootout between foreigners every single week? Does that matter? Maybe any incremental revenue loss in the states is recovered through increased popularity internationally.
But personally, I think this is a bad rule. The major leaguers mentioned above all speak English well enough to communicate with their teammates. They learn enough because it makes their job easier. They just like not having to talk to the press. The LPGA needs to find a way to get these players to realize that learning English will make their job easier so that they want to learn. Forcing them to do it sets a bad precedent, and is unnecessarily antagonistic.
I can't argue too much with people who say that this is the "wrong way to go about it." But wrong, or unfairly 'discriminatory'? Not for me.
what's next ? a height and weight criteria ? will meg mallon have to return her usopen trophy because she too is too UNmarketable ?
do sponsor's want only "sexy" women on the TV screen ? in that case why pick "english" as the official "international" language when "french" is so much more sensual to listen to ?
what about legislating official uniforms like the olympic beach volleyball team ?
if augusta national finally does admit women, could they restrict their selection to someone who must speak latin fluently ?
is this why michelle wie wants to play on the MENS tour ?
does the LPGA use the same public relations firm as ENRON did ?
look, living in miami and having visited montreal, i realize language can be a hot-button topic, but is the LPGA just to cheap to program their telephone anwering system to include korean ? as in... press....... 1 for english 2 for spanish 3 for japanese 4 for swedish 5 for german 6 for french 7 for korean ?
whew this could be good !
frankD
you cheap bastard - hire a translator !
frankD
PS - LOL just kiddin
Absolutely correct. However, the problem with this policy isn't that it's unfair to poor English speakers. It's the precise fact that "if the foreigners don't like it, they don't have to play on the LPGA Tour." In a competitive market, is that really what the LPGA hopes to accomplish? Driving the best players to another tour?
this initiative will be withdrawn - just watch...
ES
...but then chooses not to speak english?
Nick Faldo spoke perfect english and regularly ignored his pro-am partners for the entire day.
this is absurd...
ES
NBA basketball commisioner stern just announce he was thinking of instituting the same policy, but too many big-time colleges would be embarrased by the results of their "graduates" who go pro !
frankD
If it's not racist, then how come they called a South Korean players-only meeting to announce this?
if the lpga can convince a judge that speaking english is absolutely necessary, then it's all to the good. the difference between a requirement that they play golf well is that such a requirement does not tend to affect a particular group based on their national origin/race. plus, it is beyond argument that a professional golf organization has the right to require a certain level of proficiency at golf.
whether they also can compel such a proficiency requirement as to a certain spoken language is another matter entirely. i would argue that speaking english is a lot less intrinsic to playing professional golf than the ability to walk 72 holes, and the supremes found against the professional golf organization on that score, and that is the best data point we have.
Look at journalism for a profession truly in step with the times. It has jettisoned such standards and been hiring people who cannot spell, write or think clearly for at least two decades now.
I have on several occasions refused to interview Asian LPGA players who cannot speak English. I guess that makes me a racist, huh?
4p
How about this--it's racist with a lower case r, but not Racist.
To answer your specific question, again, doesn't the rule specify language, not race? Aren't there American-born or naturalized players on the tour who are fluent in English, yet of Asian 'genetics'...who aren't affected?
thusgone said: "it is beyond argument that a professional golf organization has the right to require a certain level of proficiency at golf...whether they also can compel such a proficiency requirement as to a certain spoken language is another matter entirely. i would argue that speaking english is a lot less intrinsic to playing professional golf than the ability to walk 72 holes..."
No doubt. But how often on do we read or hear - on TV, in print media, on the internet, in this blog - harsh critiques on the likeability, or entertainment value, or individual touring professionals, or tournaments? Hasn't there been a genuine, serious debate on the viability of golf as a spectator sport, argued from many angles, ranging from 'intrinsic' golf issues like playing style and architecture, all the way to aesthetic concerns like the announcers or the appeal of contestants?
What does the players' style of dress have to do with the ability to walk and play 72 at a high level? Nothing. What does not swearing have to do with it? I don't think it's a stretch to say that something like language facility is integral to being a member of a professional golfers tour.
I personally don't see how they would ever enforce this rule to its fullest. If they ever do try to boot someone from the LPGA because of this, I agree that everything you guys have said will be argued in court, and it will be a tough case for the LPGA to win. But I think they are within their rights to do this...
just to be clear, i think it's a good idea for the players to be proficient in english so as to make them more media-friendly/attractive to sponsors and fans. it is in the lpga's interest and in the interest of all the players. i don't dispute that. and i am not calling anyone a racist. but the suspension part of the policy is problemmatic from a legal perspective (something i know about as a practitioner) and from a management/public relations perspective (something i know about only as a consumer). if it is challenged in the courts, i am almost certain that it will be overturned as unlawfully discriminatory.