Any bets how long before we might see similar headlines for the ANKC?

[asal]

My vet believes its inevitable given the mind set of members and board in the quest to eliminate "backyarder's" and "Puppy farmers" from the membership. Along with the belief that only those who show are ethical or responsible, even though those who are not interested in showing can and do produce puppies whose new owners have shown and

won with if it was their interest to do so.

 

These headlines did take 5 years longer to eventuate than the majority of bets were being made in the 2010"s but it finally happened, they too lost track of why EFA began.  It too lost track of the fact the majority of its members did not attain to become Elite either.

 

Can only hope it does not happen to our ANKC

 

The first headlines

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnation%2Fnew-lab-sets-standard-for-how-kids-read%2Fnews-story%2F72e78e417cbb495f0c2d3feb2745f817&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium

 

Equestrian Australia enters voluntary administration as funding withdrawn

Equestrian Australia has been placed into voluntary administration. Picture: Sarah Reed
 

• OLIVIA CAISLEY
  
  
  REPORTER
  
  @livcaisley

The national body that oversees equestrian sport has entered voluntary administration with its high performance program transferred to the Australian Institute of Sport after the embattled organisation had its funding withdrawn over governance issues.

In a shock announcement on Tuesday Equestrian Australia revealed KordaMentha had been appointed voluntary administrators in an effort to improve the “structure, culture and performance” of a sport that has cycled through three chairs and had its entire board reconstituted over the past 16 months.
Olympic supremo John Coates branded the collapse an “unprecedented disaster”.





Meanwhile Sport Australia said it did not “take these measures lightly but our priority is the long-term betterment of the sport and the welfare and safety of all EA athletes, participants, staff and volunteers”.
“In recent times, the leadership and governance at EA has fallen well short of acceptable standards with the resignation of eight directors, including three chairs, in the past 16 months,” Sport Australia said.
Sport Australia will revisit its position once Equestrian Australia had demonstrated it has implemented a new governance model that achieves its core requirements of being “structurally democratic, representative and stable.”
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It follows Sports Australia’s withdrawal of public funds last week after it said it could no longer contribute money to the organisation in “good faith”.
Last month The Australian revealed that former chair and Olympian Ricky MacMillan had tendered her resignation after just six months in the role, declaring that change at the organisation had been “unobtainable”.
Coates ‘saddened’
Mr Coates said the shock collapse was unprecedented.
“I am surprised and sad that one of our longest most successful national federations has found themselves in this state,” Mr Coates said. “I frankly don't know of any other federation in my long involvement in the AOC that’s had to take this step.”
Following Tuesday’s announcement Equestrian’s high performance program is now under the oversight of the Australian Institute of Sport, but Mr Coates flagged that the Australian Olympic Committee can only accept recommendations for teams from a national committee and not the AIS.
He said Australia would be in breach of international rules if anyone other than a national sporting body selected the Equestrian team for Tokyo.
“Fortunately with the postponement of the games until next year — there is time for Equestrian Australia to relieve itself of this administration and put themself in a position to be able to nominate athletes and riders next year.”
Olympian ‘horrified’
Olympian Wayne Roycroft, who was once chair of Equestrian Australia and led the national team to three consecutive Olympic eventing gold medals from 1992 to 2000, said he was horrified to learn the sport’s governance was now “out of riders’ hands” and under administration.
“We had a very functional good board,” Roycroft told The Australian. “I think it’s difficult to say, but it appears that it went wrong when it got so called academics — those away from the coal face — running the sport.”
The Australian understands there are concerns that splitting High Performance from the national body could be detrimental to the development of grassroots clubs.
MacMillan told The Australian on Tuesday that the pathway to the Olympics starts with the individual members, volunteers, and grassroots clubs.
“Without them there no equestrian sport,” she said. “Equestrian Australia must in the future be member-centric and become a truly grassroots sport.”
In a statement to its members Equestrian Australia said it was clear the current model did not work and that it had entered voluntary administration to avoid insolvency, “which would be disastrous” and to create the conditions for a “successful and sustainable equestrian community into the future”.

Ricky MacMillan.
Sport Minister Richard Colbeck said good governance had been lacking at the organisation and had led to unnecessary internal division.
“It has been a distraction for our promising equestrian athletes,” Senator Colbeck said. “The decision to withhold core organisational funding will ensure the organisation can realign its focus after a difficult period of governance.”
Crossbencher and Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick, who has previously called for an inquiry into the sport, welcomed the announcement.
“Given the turmoil the organisation has been in over the last 18 months, voluntary administration is a step in the right direction to getting Equestrian Australia back on track,” Senator Patrick said. “If meaningful reform is to occur it is imperative that both cultural and governance changes occur.”
Equestrian Australia said that in a sport with such diverse interests, it was rare for all the branches, committees, and members to share a cohesive view.
“Disagreement, however, should not be destructive,” they said.
“We should strive to improve the structure, the culture, and the performance – all in the interests of greater opportunity, participation and enjoyment.”





REPORTER
Olivia Caisley is a federal politics reporter based in the Canberra press gallery. She began her career at The Australian in 2015 working for the digital team before joining the Sydney bureau as a general news ..

 

 

 

The Boards version

 

https://www.equestrian.org.au/news/statement-ea-board?fbclid=IwAR3sSqKb5Ot9nJolkIr2brngZLpkeN4jI584E2p7KwMn1NLIot1svWG5pX0

 

 

Statement from the EA Board

The Board of Equestrian Australia has taken the difficult decision to place Equestrian Australia Ltd into Voluntary Administration.

Craig Shepard and Kate Conneely of KordaMentha have been appointed Voluntary Administrators.

This follows the withdrawal of funding by Sports Australia, which had formed a view that, until the organisation is both representative of the membership and stable in governance and operation, they could not in good faith continue to contribute public funds.

Combined with the impact of COVID-19 on our forecast revenue, this places the organisation at risk of trading insolvently.

Clearly, the current EA model does not work. The intent of entering Voluntary Administration is to avoid insolvency, which would be disastrous, and to create the conditions for a successful and sustainable equestrian community into the future.

Effective immediately the High-Performance (HP) program will be transferred under the oversight of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).

The HP Panel will remain in place, funding returned to the AIS, and the program will continue unabated in pursuit of equestrian gold at the upcoming Olympics. We have been advised that there will be no change to HP staffing arrangements.

The Administrators will take control of the remainder of EA. The constitution is effectively set aside in favour of their powers under the Corporations Act. The operations of EA continue without change at this stage and there is no planned loss of jobs.

The Administrator will work with the creditors of EA to determine the conditions for exiting Voluntary Administration.

This process is intended to be rapid, envisaged by the Corporations Act to take about a month. This will enable EA to rebuild as a viable, representative, democratic and stable national sporting organisation that is retuned to a focus on sport as quickly as possible.

In our sport of so many diverse interests, rarely do our branches, committees, and members share a cohesive view. Disagreement, however, should not be destructive.

We should strive to improve the structure, the culture, and the performance – all in the interests of greater opportunity, participation and enjoyment.

The current Directors have agreed to work with the Administrator to rebuild the organisation as quickly as possible.

9 June 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2020 by asal

[PossumCorner]

Totally depressing.  There was an article, I think Liz Richardson's, in the (Vic) Weekly Times - something similar concerning the Show Horse Council, unfortunately it was used to light the fire before I could rescue it to read.  It will be interesting to read their report on this EFA news in the WT, from an informed 'inside horse events' perspective rather than from a political reporter or even the EFA Board itself.  @asal as this is dol, I agree with your concerns re ANKC, DogsVic etc also in danger of losing their way.  But mostly I just grieve for what the establishment of the EFA was - the way forward - which has ended in people tearing themselves or others apart over the past few years.  I wish the old Eques forum was still ticking along to get some insight, me being so out of touch these days.  Any thoughts @WoofnHoof ??

[WoofnHoof]

On 13/06/2020 at 2:27 AM, PossumCorner said:

Totally depressing.  There was an article, I think Liz Richardson's, in the (Vic) Weekly Times - something similar concerning the Show Horse Council, unfortunately it was used to light the fire before I could rescue it to read.  It will be interesting to read their report on this EFA news in the WT, from an informed 'inside horse events' perspective rather than from a political reporter or even the EFA Board itself.  @asal as this is dol, I agree with your concerns re ANKC, DogsVic etc also in danger of losing their way.  But mostly I just grieve for what the establishment of the EFA was - the way forward - which has ended in people tearing themselves or others apart over the past few years.  I wish the old Eques forum was still ticking along to get some insight, me being so out of touch these days.  Any thoughts @WoofnHoof ??

 

Yes EA has been a wreck for many years now, as asal says its surprising it took this long to hit rock bottom. I don't know about comparisons to ANKC as much of EAs problem was that members are not in fact EA members but state branch members, and only the state boards have any say in how EA is run, not the lowly individuals who simply finance it all.

But certainly any club no matter whether it is local, state or national is only as good as it's grassroots membership, neglect the masses at your peril, sooner or later viable alternatives will present themselves (see ARC in Vic) and the cash cow runs dry.

Interesting times ahead.