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2007 EFA Annual Sport Achievement Awards and National Forum
 A spectacular backdrop The second annual national awards ceremony was held on Saturday night, 9 February, on the spectacular HMAS Vampire in Darling Harbour. The rain clouds parted and the harbour lights were in full glory for the evening. The host for the evening was President Geoff Sinclair and we were delighted to be joined by Mr. Russ Withers, former EFA President who is these days busy with his work as a member of the Australian Olympic Committee Executive.
The EFA celebrated the achievements of 2007 and congratulated its well-deserving award recipients. The 2007 award winners were:
Equine Influenza Special Services Awards
In light of the recent crisis that faced the sport, the EFA Board wished to also recognise the outstanding services contributed to the sport by some individuals.
“The EFA National Awards are a significant recognition of people that have contributed hugely to the success of the EFA in a way that is inspirational for all of us. Their award is a small but important thank you for their contribution. The very few people that achieve the Order of Merit like Bill Roycroft this year and wear the exclusive gold pin have been extraordinary in their support of our sport. All winners are carefully selected by the National Board from nominations of individual members and the State Branches. The presentation last Saturday night on the bow of the “Vampire” war ship that is docked in the centre of Franz Venhaus pointed out the correlation between the war ship and the recent battle against EI noting the need for the big guns and steady sailing in heavy seas!
The 2008 National Forum
The National Forum was held at the The morning was started with an introduction by EFA President Geoff Sinclair which was followed by the CEO’s report by Franz Venhaus and interesting talks by Dr Warwick Vale (Vaccinations), Brett Mace, High Performance Manager, (Beijing Bound) and Nathan Holman, National Education Manager (Balance between Education and Accreditation).
Craig Phillips from the AOC gave an inspiring talk on “Recovering from Disaster”, pointing out some outstanding achievements by Australian sporting teams after adversity had compromised their Olympic preparation, giving us all the determination not to let the setbacks of 2007 affect our results in The afternoon involved group work sessions, focusing on “The Way Forward.” The sessions were artfully directed by Carole DuBern who used her skills to keep some order in the room which at times resembled a school classroom complete with butchers paper, poor penmanship and a group of naughty boys (who best remain unnamed). It must be said that the naughty boys group actually produced some great ideas by the end of the day. Each of the seven groups presented what they perceived to be the major issues for the future of the EFA. The main themes of the day were promotion and marketing of the sport, the strength of the EFA as a nationally recognised body in the eyes of the Government, nationalization - uniformity of processes and regulations between states and the pooling of resources to increase the efficiency and simplicity of the structure, organization transparency, uniformity in the standard and professionalism of events, the calendar and the development of the sport at the grass roots level and development of more top level coaches. It was a successful afternoon putting some of the most experienced minds in the sport together with some fresh faces to brainstorm on the possibilities for the future an how best to make them happen. Thanks to all the speakers and to Carole for her contribution to this highly productive day.
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