MEDIA: Outrageous discrimination against Adoptee
Damsel Plum
Electronic Telegraph
UK News
Monday 7 October 1996
Issue 502
[Image] Golf club bans adopted son from family competition
By Lewine Mair
A MOTHER and son have been barred by a private golf club
from taking part in an annual open family foursomes
competition because the boy is adopted.
Audrey Briggs, a former Welsh champion, and her husband
adopted their son, Laurie, as a baby in Brazil 13 years
ago. Mother and son reached the third round of the family
foursomes event at Burhill Golf Club, near Walton-on
Thames, in August. It was then, however, that a fellow
competitor complained to the club, saying that Laurie
should not have been allowed to play.
Dick Richards, the secretary at Burhill, wrote to Mrs
Briggs on Aug 29, informing her that her son was not
eligible for the competition - regarded as the most
prominent event of its kind in Britain. After thanking
Mrs Briggs for the thank-you note that she and her son
sent after the third-round matches, Mr Richards wrote:
"Regrettably, I have to inform you that the Conditions of
Entry to this competition demand that it is open only to
mothers and fathers with natural sons and daughters and,
as I understand it, Laurie is adopted.
"On the entry form that you received you will see that
stepchildren are not permitted and it is my error that
adopted children did not feature on the form; this will
be corrected for next year."
Mrs Briggs said yesterday: "How do you tell a child of
his age that he isn't allowed to play in a family
foursomes because he's adopted. I've spent 13 years
protecting him from cruel discrimination such as this.
Why didn't someone come forward before the event to tell
us that our entry would not be appropriate? It would have
saved so much pain."
Mrs Briggs and her husband, Laurie Snr, tried to adopt a
child in Britain in the early 1980s but found that they
were too old. They had decided to look farther afield
when, in 1983, Mrs Briggs's brother, who is based in Rio
de Janeiro, advised them of a Brazilian mother who wanted
her baby adopted abroad. The child was three months old
when he joined his new family in West Kirby, Cheshire.
Laurie's sporting prowess was soon in evidence. He was
captain of football at Packwood Haugh Preparatory School
and spent two years in the cricket First X1. Now at
Shrewsbury, he is in the under-14 football side.
'It defies belief that anyone could be so
petty-minded as to write in and complain'
It is his love for golf, however, which has most
delighted his parents. His father is a former captain of
the Royal Liverpool Golf Club and once played off a two
handicap; his wife won four Welsh championships in five
years from 1970 and twice represented Great Britain and
Ireland against the Continent. "We never pushed him
towards golf but he has always loved to play," Mrs Briggs
said. Laurie used his last summer holiday to bring his
handicap down to 15.
The teenager loved competing in the Burhill Family
Foursomes. He and his mother were trailing in both of
their first two matches but each time fought back to win
on the last green. "The greater the tension, the more he
liked it," Mrs Briggs said.
After she received the letter from Mr Richards, Mrs
Briggs made inquiries about who had complained. This
brought a letter from the club captain, who said: "Your
deep disappointment touches me greatly but this event has
always operated with the qualification that family pairs
must be blood relations. I know that this can be hard to
accept in circumstances such as yours." The letter
finished with an invitation to Laurie to play in a junior
open meeting and an assurance that the Briggs family
"would always be made welcome at Burhill".
Mrs Briggs said the captain's letter was "patronising,
unnecessarily unctuous and defensive of an attitude to
adopted children which is discriminatory and wholly
outmoded in today's society". Her view was echoed by
Michael Bonallack, secretary of the Royal & Ancient Golf
Club of St Andrews, the custodians of the amateur game.
He said yesterday: "For Burhill Golf Club to have such a
ruling is against the whole spirit of family foursomes.
Family foursomes are meant to be fun. On top of that, it
defies belief that anyone could be so petty-minded as to
write in and complain."
Burhill Golf Club said yesterday: "We prefer not to
comment. The secretary is on holiday and we're still in
correspondence with Mrs Briggs."
Laurie, who has always known that he was adopted, was
told about the club's action by his mother at Shrewsbury
on Saturday. He said: "Why would grown-ups want to make
such a fuss about something like this? My mum is my mum."
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Sub-Commandante for Public Relations
BASTARD NATION http://www.bastards.org/
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Rosemarie Ventura
On Tue, 8 Oct 1996, Damsel Plum wrote:
> Electronic Telegraph
> UK News
> Monday 7 October 1996
> Issue 502
>
> [Image] Golf club bans adopted son from family competition
> By Lewine Mair
There must be some stupidity virus in the air. First I read about
the 6 year old boy who gave classmate a peck on the cheek and was suspended
for "sexual harrassment". Then I read about the honors student who was
suspended for Midol. Now some wussy sore loser complains about an
adoptee in a "family" competition and the even wussier club board goes
along with it.
They kicked the wrong bastard out of the competition.
> "On the entry form that you received you will see that
> stepchildren are not permitted and it is my error that
> adopted children did not feature on the form; this will
> be corrected for next year."
Dick Richards should have at least given an honest answer, like:
Just because this is a sporting event, does not mean we have to act like
good sports. Your family is too good at this game, and one of the
people with money but no class or golf skills complained. We here are the
club are spineless, sniveling jellyfish and we would never stand up
for a principle even to a whining cry baby like the Sore Loser.
If this were the US we could expect a lawsuit, but I hear the rest of
the world is not so quick to call in the lawyers. I do hope the Briggs
will at least take their dues and expertise elsewhere, preferably to a golf
club that knows the meaning of sportsmanship.
Rosemarie Ventura
aa...@freenet.buffalo.edu
ah...@freenet.carleton.ca