Alliss Sparks Outrage with Comments on Muirfield's Membership Vote

By The Mirror

Alliss was reacting to the vote to deny women the opportunity to become a member at Muirfield when he made his outspoken remarks

BBC commentator and former golfer Peter Alliss caused controversy on Thursday with his comments on Muirfield's decision not to allow female members to join the club.

Members of the club, which has hosted the Open Championship 16 times, took part in a vote on Thursday to decide whether women should be allowed to enrol as members.

The required two-thirds majority to change the rules was not reached, with 64 percent (397 members) voting in favour of allowing women to join, and 36 percent (219 members) voting against the motion.

The result of the ballot means the club will never again host the Open until it alters its stance on its membership policy.

An R&A statement said: "Going forward we will not stage The Open at a venue that does not admit women as members."

Speaking to BBC 5 live, Allis said women wanting to join "better get married to someone who's a member."

"I was at the Open Championship two or three years ago and I used to go in for a coffee every morning," he said.

"There's a very nice drawing room in the clubhouse at Muirhead. It was full of ladies and I suggested what great times were coming, saying that they'll be able to join the club.

"And there was a look of horror on the faces of the ladies, ladies whose husbands are members.

Alliss suggested women don't want to become members because it would cost them money

"I was met with, 'good Lord, we don't want to be members. If we join, our husbands will have to pay thousands of pounds for our entry fees and our subscriptions. We can come here and do what we want now for nothing'.

"The women who are there as wives of husbands, they get all the facilities. If somebody wants to join, you better get married to someone who's a member."

Alliss was criticised on Twitter for his remarks, with one user writing: "Shame on Peter Alliss, what very old fashioned views he expresses about women."

Another said: "Peter Alliss' attempted defence of [the] Muirfield [vote] sums up everything that is wrong with Golf."