The Association of Golf Writers has issued an apology, after a senior official of the Royal & Ancient golf club, speaking at the AGW’s annual dinner, made racist remarks.
On the eve of The Open at Carnoustie, Graham Brown, a member of the R&A rules committee, made “jokes” about Japanese people all looking the same and referred to them as “Nips”. He followed this by derogatory references to “black” caddies while making the guest speech at the AGW annual dinner.
Charlie Sale reports in today’s Daily Mail:
“At first the former captain of Royal Liverpool had the audience, which included many leading golfers and the game’s top administrators, laughing at his impression of Seve Ballesteros.But the mood among the 300 guests changed to one of astonishment when Brown made jokes at the expense of the Japanese. Peter Dawson, the respected chief executive of golf’s ruling body, could be seen with his head in his hands as Brown made his succession of racist comments.
Following the incident, the AGW acted swiftly to apologise: “The Association of Golf Writers regret that offence was caused at its annual dinner and apologises unreservedly to the guests and members. We will make every effort to ensure this does not happen again.”
Dawson sought to defend his colleague. The R&A chief exec said: “Graham Brown is certainly not a racist and he is horrified at the impression he has left and the impact of some of his remarks. He accepts that his comments were ill-judged and he apologises unreservedly for any offence he has caused.”
â– Darren Clarke is the latest top sports name not to co-operate with the BBC, following Premiership managers Sir Alex Ferguson, Sam Allardyce and Harry Redknapp.
Clarke’s refusal to do interviews with Radio Five Live at The Open follows a poll in which their listeners voted for rugby league treble winners St Helens ahead of the European Ryder Cup side as team of the year at the 2006 BBC Sports Personality awards.
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