Ruby Walsh: Why did nobody tell Robbie Dunne to sit down, shut up, and behave?
Jockey Robbie Dunne. Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire.
Shortly after midday on Thursday afternoon Robbie Dunne was found guilty of bullying Bryony Frost and harassing his colleague, whose âvulnerabilitiesâ he intentionally âexploitedâ, by an independent disciplinary panel at the BHA headquarters in London.
He received an 18-month ban, three of which have been suspended, starting with immediate effect after the panel ruled that he had engaged in conduct online, on the track, and in the weighing room that was prejudicial to the integrity, proper conduct, and good reputation of racing.
Robbie has seven days to appeal the decision, which will be his choice, but the evidence against him does not read well and is unacceptable in any work environment. Professional sport may differ slightly with its competitive nature, but your conduct towards your competitors must be appropriate.
Bust-ups and shouting matches will forever be a part of sport, but so too is the handshake when it is all over or the forced apology between teammates when they disagree. Live and let live but allowing one person to dig at another continually is not sport. The weighing room is a dressing room, and the track is the pitch, tempers flare, patience wears thin, and the opposition is not next door or out on the pitch - it sits beside you.
The weighing room is a unique environment in that winners sit right beside losers, competitors are often next to each other, and when things go wrong on the track, you all walk back into the one space. All the tack is in the male changing room, and whilst female riders have their own, primarily basic dressing room, they must enter the male changing room to get their tack.
Jockeys do not all get on or have to because they are rivals but being civil and mannerly is an absolute necessity. That requires prominent characters to intervene to keep the equilibrium or peace occasionally but primarily to maintain an environment people can work in.
When Robbie and Bryonyâs altercation took place at Southwell, nobody seemed to tell Robbie Dunne to sit down, shut up, and behave. Likewise, nobody reassured Bryony not to worry about him because that is how this works.
It is a room full of adults, and somebody should have stood up because the actions of your peers always reflect on you.
Minding your own business is all fine and well, but if you are a jockey your business also includes the sportâs image, and that is being dragged through the mill right now.
The weighing room is being described as ârancidâ by the BHA right now, and when you look at the stark facts of this case, it is a conclusion that is easily reached. Does that represent the true culture of a highly passionate, energy-charged dressing room? I do not believe so, but the sporting culture of role models is to be sporting, and that starts with simple words like âI am sorryâ when you blow your top.
These are words Robbie Dunne never seems to have said or anybody made him say.
When the BHA or any racing jurisdiction licenses you, it is your responsibility to protect the sportâs image. Too many people have forgotten that here, and it was left to one person to sort it out.
Many feel Bryony could have taken a different road, but she chose this one, which is the situation we are now dealing with. The past cannot be changed, but the future can be affected, and all sorts of changes will occur around the weighing roomâs culture and facilities. Perhaps that wonât be a bad thing.
It is a much quieter weekend on the racing front after last weekendâs blockbuster.
Greaneteen, Allaho and Energumene landed the big-race spoils but Gordon Elliottâs achievement at Navan last Saturday probably has not gotten the recognition it deserves.
Gordon is rebuilding his career at a rate of knots, and what he achieved at Navan has never been done before and will take some matching.
