Commenting on the then governance structures of Horse Sport Ireland (HSI), the 2017 Indecon Report stated: “The current size of the board is unwieldy and not conducive to effective decision making.”.

The report went on to recommend downsizing the body from 19 to nine.

This has now been done, and in its recently published strategic plan, HSI declares that among its main objectives is “streamlining operations to maximise returns and value to our members”.

Amazed

In light of all this, I was amazed when reading the report of the 2020 AGM of the Showjumping Ireland’s (SJI) Connaught Region to learn that it had elected a 25 member committee. No wonder The Irish Field’s report from the meeting was headlined “Chaotic scenes at AGM”.

From personal experience a committee of that size is a recipe for chaos, or as Shakespeare wrote:“Full of sound and fury signifying nothing.”

It is well known what happens with a committee that size. A quorum at one meeting can decide one thing and a different quorum at the next can counter it and decide the opposite.

Historic reasons

Of course there are historic reasons for such large regional show jumping committees. It’s national body SJAI (now SJI) was born through a compromise that gave equal representation throughout the country – north, south, east and west.

At the SJAI amalgamation meeting of the north and south bodies held at Ballymascanlon Hotel near Dundalk back in 1954, it was proposed that its first national executive committee would be made up of seven representatives from the northern region along with seven from each of the three southern regions.

This was the template that led to a large national committee when the three Southern regions each got their own seven reps. Back in the 1980s, I spent a time as an elected member of the Leinster Region and even back then it was obvious that the body was too large to be effective.

A way forward

Forty years on matters seem little different and it is time that the SJI took guidance from the Indecon Report and became a slimmed down “streamlined” organisation that brings maximum benefit to its members. Each of the four regions should be downsized and their relations with both the national SJI executive and with Horse Sport Ireland stabilised.

As we previously said here, serious negotiations with HSI should take place with the aim of full affiliation into that overall umbrella body. At a time when the Irish sport horse industry is seeking an increase in government funding the very last image it needs to display is one of chaos.