Quintin Jardine's blog

Having spent 22 of  the last 48 hours at the Open Championship I’ve come to realise the truth of an observation my son made some months ago.

I saw a lady from the Cooncil, Angela Leitch, the chief executive, no less, holding forth on telly a couple of nights ago  about the contribution, an alleged £70 million, that the event is making to the local economy.  That’s not what I’m hearing.

Where local businesses might have expected to benefit, and have invested accordingly, they have found that the footfall has been far less than expected. I’ve even heard it said that our local Co-op is doing less business than it would in a normal week. Why? Because, as AJ predicted at the start of the year,  the vast majority of visitors to the Championship never set foot in Gullane. They are brought in on buses  to the public entrance to the course, from Drem railway station and from Park and Ride facilities, and taken away by the same fleet at the end of the day. At the entrances, they are greeted by a small army of people from London, amiable employees of the notorious G4S of Olympics fame, very few of whom seem to have the faintest idea where they are. Other visitors to the event, and even local residents with little or no interest in the Open, are positively discouraged from going anywhere near the local shops by a fairly aggressive traffic management plan, implemented by East Lothian Council and Police Scotland.

As a result of this, all of the visitor spend is being directed into the avaricious grasp of the R&A, who have ensured that it goes on a very limited range of over-priced Open-branded goods, from which only they and their main sponsors profit, and on very expensive food and drink served up by the R&A’s own bars or by concession stalls, all of them staffed by people with no local roots at all.

So you see, Ms Leitch, you’ve been stitched up like an idiot. Very little of that £70 million is going anywhere near the local economy. Instead it’s going into the pockets of a crew of carpet-baggers from St Andrews in shiny-buttoned blazers. This is doubly annoying, because the Open Championship could not be staged without the volunteer marshals from the county’s golf clubs who control spectator crossings, stand access, ball-spotting etc., and are paid off with a few vouchers, exchangeable only in the  on-course facilities, that will no doubt be written off against the tax on the many, many millions that the R&A are trousering. They’re the real heroes of this week, and they will go unnoticed and unrewarded.

Is it a great event? Yes it still is,  even if admission prices have doubled since it was last in Gullane in 2002.

Are people enjoying themselves? Yes, they appear to be, not least because of the willingness of most of the players to interact with them whenever they can.

Is it as good as it was? No, because it’s being strangled by corporate greed.

Changing sports for a little, I was angry and confused when I read this morning that Wayne Rooney is allegedly angry and confused by his situation at Manchester United. If that is true what the hell has he to be angry and confused about?

To any half-knowledgable observer Wayne has been a world-class player only in his own mind for a year or so now, since the arrival of Van Persie in Manchester sparked his discontent. He seems to be saying that he expects to stand above and beyond the rest of a squad that is made up almost entirely of international footballers at the top of their game, with a couple of genuine legends thrown in. If so he has to realise that such a status can be earned only by performance, and that it has to be constantly maintained. I’m sure that Ryan Giggs has told him as much, but I’m equally sure that he isn’t listening. As things stand he’s just another player, just another employee with a new boss to impress. He should concentrate on that rather than on planting stories in the media. If not, he should be sold on. For me that would be the smart thing to do. Wazza will never be a better player than he is now; he has plateaued, and   the other side of the hill is within sight. If he still has market value, if  the choice was mine, I’d cash in.

One small note of disgruntlement about the Gullane extravaganza this week.

In days gone by one of the highlights for the golfing visitor was the exhibition tent, where all the major equipment manufacturers could be found, and where visitors, or patrons as they call punters at Augusta National, could spend a happy hour if the weather was really foul. In the modern era, that’s all gone, replaced by something called The Open Shop. There you are greeted by security guards and young people offering you a basket. Once inside you are funnelled through a series of departments, some designer but mostly just expensive and tacky souvenir crap. You might be able to buy a Rolex in there without the Claret Jug logo on it, but that’s all. The place has all the charm of IKEA on a busy day.

If you are enthusiastic enough to buy something, you will then be directed down a zig-zag line akin to an airport. After you have finished paying through the nose, you will then be directed to the exit, where another security guard will wish you a nice day . . . without a trace of insincerity in his tone.

It’s begun.

The Open Championship may last for four days, for those competitors who make the halfway cut, but for the communities where it is played the circus lasts twice as long. Gullane has become Traffic Cone City; a plan is in place which is confusing many people, but I am sure that its authors know what they;re doing and that it will work. (They may not get all the cones back, but I don’t suppose they’ll be too worried.) I’ve done my morning book shift and shortly Eileen and I will venture out to the tented village, before it becomes too crowded later in the week, and to see who’s on the practice ground.

Early good news is that local businesses are adapting to the situation. For example, Falko, our famous German baker and coffee shop owner, is serving dinner from six till midnight. If you like schnitzels it’s the place to go; if you don’t know whether or not you like schnitzels, it’s the place to find out.

I’ve just done a Tesco run to North Berwick, pre-emptive in nature. With the first official Open Championship practice day set for Sunday, Gullane is becoming a community under siege. No Parking signs have gone up all over the village, and a traffic plan that will allow only certain people into the village is about to be implemented. Let’s hope it works, or we are in for a long eight days. My own traffic plan is simple. The car is parked, and it’s not moving until Monday, June 22.