LPGA Commish Carolyn Bivens admits English requirement was mistake
As we predicted yesterday on The Golf Blog, the LPGA has now decided against imposing an English profiency test with possible suspensions of foreign born players who cannot speak English well enough.
After LGPA sponsors like State Farm expressed public disapproval of the new rule, Commissioner Bivens finally came to her senses and has now abandoned it. (More)
This is a total public relations disaster for the LPGA, but at least the LPGA has acted quickly to minimize the damage caused by this poorly thought-out rule.
3 Comments:
I definitely agree and think that the LPGA made a ruling that was a little too harsh. However, I also think that they are on the right track. The LPGA, in it's quest for greater audience approval ratings, should have competitors that can engage with the fans. A player that can't speak English will have a hard time gaining fans and reaching out to worldwide audiences.
The comment by "coastal" gives the impression that English is destined to become the international language, but this is obviously untrue and smacks of xenophobia.
Even Barack Obama's election platform is that everyone should learn a foreign language, but which one should it be?
The British learn French, the Australians study Japanese, and the Americans prefer Spanish.Yet this leaves Mandarin Chinese out of the equation.
Interestingly nine British MP's have nominated Esperanto for the Nobel Peace Prize 2008.
Confirmation of this can be seen at http://www.lernu.net
Does anyone know when the pairing for the Ryder Cup are being announced? I think the US will win this year even without the mighty Tiger.
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