From the EAJC

The Equestrian Australia Jumping Committee (EAJC) is offering this communication to EA members to clarify false and misleading accusations currently circulating on social media and to state our position regarding recent events.

The EAJC is a group of volunteers with many years of experience who are working hard to ensure the future of our discipline. We observe principles of governance scrupulously. We operate with threadbare administrative support and minimal budget. We not only deal with management issues like rules, complaints, schedules, and health and safety, but are tasked with important strategic roles like the Olympics, international strategy, developing squads, supporting  grass roots members and clubs, diversity and inclusion.

The current EA Board has been supportive of EAJC in terms of increasing our ability to develop a national strategy and bring Jumping in Australia closer to an international level, but we have a long way to go. 

We have serious concerns regarding the actions of state branches with their public criticism of EA Board and management. Having been through the ignominy of EA going into administration in the recent past, there is a danger of equestrian sports being sent further into disrepute by the state branches taking their current approach without offering any reasonable solution. Surely what is best for our members is for all the parties (EA, State Branches, National Discipline committees) to get together to solve the current issues? For every problem, there is a solution.

Recently, there have been allegations suggesting that the EAJC operates as a rogue committee and that its members, along with an unnamed SJ entity or “showjumpers’ in general, are attempting to commandeer the management of equestrian sports and its funds. We vehemently reject these unfounded claims circulating on social media and other platforms regarding our involvement in the IT program and the proposed restructuring.

Our engagement in the restructuring process has been to advocate for a model that minimises administration and maximises funding to the disciplines. This will empower the disciplines to effectively manage their sports at both the national and state levels through the national and state discipline committees and their respective Clubs. The model we endorse relates equally to all disciplines and would ensure all the disciplines receive appropriate budgets to facilitate national programmes such as National Squads, Coaching Support, State Teams Competitions, National Championships Support, and Officials Training. It also prioritises the identification of young athletes and horses from grassroots levels and enhances resources for clubs while fostering engagement amongst members of their sport.

As members of the EAJC, our primary goal in the restructure is to maximise the return on investment for our members. We are not about excessive administration duplication, large bank balances and large staffing requirements.

To those who are persuaded by the misconceptions regarding showjumping’s influence over the requirements and expenses associated with the new IT system, it is essential to clarify that at no point has the EAJC or any of its members been consulted or offered any input on the IT system being evaluated by EA. All disciplines have faced significant restrictions due to the lack of an updated, fit-for-purpose system which has forced our sport to employ staff in each state to manually process entries and record results etc. This situation has arisen because the previous IT provider has denied rival entry platforms access to EA’s data resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted by EA and the States over the years, much to the frustration of all involved in the sport. A current, fit-for-purpose IT system is imperative if we want to simplify and improve the administration of our sport for the benefit of all involved.

The EAJC is working hard to make the discipline of Jumping better. That is our mission. We have no desire to “take over” EA, but we cannot do our job if EA is constantly undermined by state branches who lack a broad and strategic perspective. As an example, state branches have treated the requests from EAJC for a modest increase in financial support for our pinnacle events (World Cup Shows) with contempt by either failing to respond or by rejecting the request with no reasonable reason articulated (this applies to the three states that currently run WC shows). This is despite state branches holding considerable cash reserves. We strongly urge members to pressure state branches to work constructively with EA and the National Discipline Committees to support our members. We also encourage members to discourage disinformation, personal attacks, and ill-informed commentary on social media.