The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews’s 260-year-old all-male membership policy could be eradicated at last and on the same day as the Scottish Independence Referendum later this year.
The R&A’s chief executive Peter Dawson believes that early indications are “very positive” that members will vote at the annual Business Meeting on September 18 to admit women to the club for the first time, ending two and a half centuries of entrenched tradition.
Dawson, chief office holders and all committees of the club have recommended the change in rules in a letter to the 2400 members sent out yesterday. The chairman of the R&A’s General Committee, Wilson Sibbet the senior office holder of the club other than the captain wrote that they “sincerely hoped this rules change will be enthusiastically adopted”.
Dawson added yesterday that their initial soundings of membership indicated that now was the time to push the rule change forward.
“Early indications are very positive indeed, although it’s not for me to say what the members will do, it’s entirely up to them,” he said.
“But we obviously wouldn’t be entering this if we didn’t feel there was strong member support for it. I hope that turns out to be the case.”
The main driver behind the decision to change was not the furore at last year’s Open Championship at the all-male Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers’ Muirfield, nor the comments of the championship’s corporate sponsors indicating disquiet with the bad publicity over the championship going to all-male clubs, added Dawson.
“It pre-dates Muirfield; we’ve been talking about this for quite a while, we have strategy meeting every two years and it’s been on the agenda of every one of those since I joined the R&A,” he said.
“It’s been our governance role that has been the driving factor, we are a governing body for the game, the rules of the game and so on.
“Society’s changing, sport is changing, the rules are changing and I think it’s appropriate for the governing body to take this step.”
The R&A will however stick to its constitution and rules, meaning that the adoption of women members must be approved by the Business Meeting.
That is held by statute the day before the end of the club’s annual Autumn Meeting, which happens to be September 18 this year, the same day as the independence referendum.
A two-thirds majority of the membership present at that meeting no postal or proxy votes are allowed will be required to admit women to the club.
“Because this organisation runs itself as a members’ club where the members have a say in every decision that is made, we have to go through due process in order for this step to stick and be constitutional within the R&A,” continued Dawson.
“For an issue like this I expect we’ll have a more heavily populated Business Meeting than the usual 300 or so we normally get.”
It’s still unlikely that as even a third of the club’s 2400 membership will actually be present vote on the rule change, but even if the decision goes against the recommendation of the club’s committees, it’s unlikely to be put to bed.
“We have seen other organisations and clubs have more than one bite at this in other sports clubs and we would have to decide whether to come again or not,” added Dawson.
“One has to pick one’s time for this. Let’s hope we have picked the right one.”
If approved, the traditional process of approval of new R&A members could be accelerated for women, he added.
“Conventionally members are proposed and seconded by existing members and there are letters of support,” he continued.
“That is the traditional procedure and it does take some time, but I am sure the general committee will be looking at ways of perhaps accelerating that process, to get this off the ground.”
The club would also pay close attention to the wishes of the existing all-women clubs in St Andrews, the St Rule and St Regulus, and adoption of honorary female members would be another avenue, he agreed.
“The R&A membership is very eclectic,” Dawson went on. “Very few of our members are famous and I suspect that might be reflected in women members too.
“I think we can all think of prominent people in the world of golf who might be people you could look at early in the process but that remains to be seen.
“If the vote goes through, and I very much hope it does, women would be eligible for all categories of membership.”