Ennis invite to SJI chief over Nationals dispute
The invitation from PJ Garry to Christy Murphy comes after the SJI cancelled its national championships, which were scheduled for Ennis at the end of August.
In a letter to Mr Murphy, Mr Garry expressed his disappointment at the decision to cancel the championships, as, “following two invitations for tenders, we applied both times and were awarded the championships on both occasions.”
The SJI cited poor ground at a recent RDS qualifier show and a shortage of time to rectify this for its decision to cancel the championships.
However, Mr Garry said the qualifier results totally contradicted this claim.
“We achieved 31% first-round clears. This is nearly a perfect result, so claims that the ground was unsuitable sound very hollow.”
Mr Garry said Ennis had formed a National Championships organising committee which had worked on the event on a comprehensive basis, including sourcing a promise of €30,000 sponsorship from an Ennis-managed, mid-Eastern company and installing a €35,000 irrigation system. He said the event was “well in hand” and that the committee was confused by the SJI saying “time” was a difficulty.
Mr Garry said that “in the interest of fair play and transparency” the committee required copies of official reports on the RDS qualifiers and a copy of feedback from competitors.
He said to Mr Murphy: “I want an assurance from you that if the National Championships are cancelled this year in Ennis, that they will not go by the backdoor route to some other centre with more influence within your executive.”
Mr Garry also said the committee could take legal action: “This could end up where no-one would thank you as chairman for bringing the SJI, and the only winners would be the legal profession; however, we are not afraid of this option.”
He concluded: “We are furious with how this matter has been inappropriately dealt with and would appreciate your swift response, within the next ten days.”
Yesterday, SJI chairman Mr Murphy said a visit by him to Ennis was contingent on the national competitions committee agreeing to it.
“Mr Garry should address that invitation to the chairman of the national competitions committee, Janet Currie. I would be happy to attend with Janet, if she deemed it necessary. It is not that I am not interested, it’s just not my remit. I will not interfere with the work of the committees.
“Ennis was viewed during the RDS qualifiers and it was decided the grounds were not ready yet to stage a four-day national championships. The executive believed that the timeframe of two-and-a-half months was too short to rectify this to run a championships to a standard that was required. Also, the Show Jumpers Club had expressed concerns about the ground.”
Last year, the championships were scheduled to run opposite the unaffiliated Millstreet Show and, when asked if it was possible they could be staged at another venue, through a “backdoor” route, Mr Murphy said: “I wouldn’t be privy to that. Again, this should be taken up by the national competitions committee. All I can say at this moment is that the executive have decided there will be no championships this year.”
As to the suggestion Ennis could take legal action, he said: “No contract has been signed, so there is no basis for legal action. They were the preferred bidder for the championships, as decided by the national competitions committee, but the executive did not sanction the awarding of the championships to anyone, so I would consider there is no basis for any legal challenge. There was no verbal contract between the SJI and Ennis organising committee either, as the SJI executive had not ratified anything.”
He also rejected a claim by Mr Garry that he had told committee member Jimmy Quinn that the Clare venue had been awarded the championships.
“I could not have said that. What I did say was that their bid was looking good and I wished him the best of luck,” said Mr Murphy.
He saw no reason why Ennis could not apply again in 2012.
“The €45,000 we were contributing to the championships... will accrue for next year. But we don’t believe €45,000 is enough to stage a proper championships. A sizeable portion goes towards organisation, but I would like to see more make its way to the riders. Also, I believe the championships should be run on a biennial basis.”
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