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A rebellion by the counties over a new child-protection policy could cost three of the major bodies responsible for golf and its development funding of £1 million-plus from Sport England. The counties are meeting the English Golf Partnership — comprising the English Golf Union, the English Ladies Golf Association and the Professional Golfers' Association — at Woodhall Spa today, and if they refuse to adopt the new child-protection manual, Safeguarding Children In Golf, the Sport England tap could be turned off. Yorkshire are one county who say that they are happily prepared to go without the annual £7,500, which would be their share of the counties' spoils. Lancashire, Cumbria and Nottingham are of like mind. Keith Dowdeswell, secretary of the Yorkshire Golf Union, said the Partnership were asking everyone "to jump through hoops" and that the guidelines in the child-protection manual were unnecessarily complex. "We don't want to knock what is a thoroughly well-produced reference book," he said, "but we would be better off with something simple and workable." In the Midlands, where seven counties out of 10 indicated last week that they were against the document, a spokesperson picked out one sentence which, he said, illustrated "bureaucracy gone mad". If a child's parent fails to pick him or her up from the golf club, the organisers should call the police. "It is only in the guidelines, as opposed to the instructions," he said, "but if something were to go wrong, the powers-that-be could say that the recommendations were not followed. "Everyone is aware of the need to protect children but, unlike other sports, the English Golf Union, with their emotive language, have contributed to a fear factor among volunteers. In Cumbria, the entire junior committee stood down when they saw the first draft – and the second, 83 pages, isn't much better." There has also been concern among independent junior leagues. Martin Timlett, secretary of Kent's junior foursomes, said the legislation could well spell the end of his endeavours. For one, he said, he would lose some of the clubs involved because entries would be restricted to youngsters whose clubs had child-protection policies in place. "Even the EGU's own National Junior Club championship's conditions of entry do not impose such a restriction," Timlett said. "I know our league will lose clubs if we do what we're being asked. I've worked too hard over 11 years to see it damaged in this way."
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