Doyle calls for anomaly to be addressed
Show Jumpers’ Club Chairman Jack Doyle made his comment after the Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI) said it could not extend Cian O’Connor’s three-month international ban to cover national competitions in Ireland.
As revealed in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, the SJAI National Executive said that, under its rules, it did not have that discretion to extend the ban. The ban was imposed by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) after the Meath-based rider’s horse Waterford Crystal tested positive for banned substances at the Athens Olympics.
Yesterday, Mr Doyle felt there was no point in looking at the right or wrongs of specific cases. He stressed it was more a case of the SJAI being forced to live by its rules as currently constituted; as interpreted, these rules dictated that a ban could not be extended to include domestic competitions, he said.
“I never dreamt the SJAI was going to extend the ban,” he said. “I do not think they could have even if they wanted to. Anyway, because of the wording of the FEI statement [where O’Connor was exonerated of any deliberating attempt to affect the performance of his horse through the use of drugs], it would have been very hard for the SJAI to impose a ban at national level.”
He preferred to put the O’Connor case aside and look at the bigger picture and, thus, he said it was important this situation should not be allowed arise in future.
“This is something the SJAI should look at, but not because of Cian O’Connor. It is something they should have looked at previously. This issue has nothing to do with Cian O’Connor, except that his case highlights it. It should have been addressed 10 years ago,” said Doyle.
