Dear Mr Ranjit Bajaj,
As Founder of the highly successful Minerva Academy and someone putting his heart and soul into developing Indian football, I have a lot of respect for you.
However, last week, in the ‘Untriggered’ podcast, you launched an unprovoked attack on golfers and golf courses. It was truly untriggered. You should have used the platform to highlight your wonderful work with football, but you chose to denigrate golf instead. So, I thought I’d set the record straight, also in a public forum.
Among your grievances against the sport is that golf courses are built in the heart of the city, thus depriving other sports of ‘prime’ real estate. You also said that 1 per cent people play the sport, and that’s the 1 per cent that ‘we don’t like’. You also revealed that your father, who I am guessing is a senior citizen, is an avid golfer.
As media manager of the Indian PGA Tour around the turn of the century, I have had the privilege of guiding several Indian professionals on how to interact with the media. Among the things I drilled into them was to never criticise other sports, especially cricket. Speak proudly about golf but always respect other sports. Cricket is popular for a reason. A lot of hard work has gone into why it appeals to the masses – playing facilities in every town and village, television time and sponsorship, individual and team brilliance, BCCI’s efforts to upgrade the domestic structure… it’s a never-ending list.
You said golf uses prime property. All the golf courses you mentioned — Delhi Golf Club, Chandigarh Golf Club, Bombay Presidency – were built by the mid-1960s. No golf course has been built on prime real estate in the major metros over the past 50 years.
Of course, properties like DLF Golf & Country Club and Jaypee Greens have become huge commercial success because a golf course elevates real estate prices around it. Communities develop around these protected green spaces. So, please don’t grudge golf for that.
Allow me to let you in on an open secret – golf suffers a far bigger problem regarding playing and practice facilities than football, or any other sport. We have fewer than 275 golf courses in the country, 70 per cent of which are off-limits to civilians because they are on armed forces land. Most of them aren’t even lush-green, well-maintained courses. We have only two public courses, and you can count standalone driving ranges on your fingers.
You said you can transform all sports in the country if golf gives you nine holes of space on these ‘prime property’ courses. How about a trade? Give us one football pitch in every Tier 2 and Tier 3 city. Our golf industry can build bigger and better driving ranges and practice facilities on these 100m x 60m pitches. I am also certain we will produce good, world-class golfers.
Golf sustains more than 500 men and women professionals. It provides employment, on average, to 150 people (including caddies, coaches, staff, maintenance crew and others) on every golf course. These are people who earn an honest living because of the sport. Your comments are hurtful to each one of them, as well as the amateurs and casual golfers.
And believe me, these guys are neither “running away from their wives”, nor are they “screwing the country”.
I’d also not mind if my late father, or anyone of that age, got to play a sport. There are very few sports senior citizens can play, and they don’t include football, hockey, or volleyball. Golf affords gentle physical activity and social interaction; both highly desirable for healthy ageing.
Oh, and that line that you uttered twice – ‘Golf is a good walk spoiled’ – is penned by Mark Twain. Don’t take it literally. It is one of the greatest tributes to how mind-numbingly difficult golf can be. I can write a whole thesis on that, but let’s leave it at that.
As someone who has the power to shape the destiny of nearly 450 youth in your academy, and who is well respected for all you have done for Indian football, you hold a position of great privilege. Spiderman said it best – with great power, comes great responsibility. Please don’t limit your responsibility to football.
Kind regards
Joy
