Jim Ellis, chief executive of the New Zealand equestrian federation, blogs each year on his impressions at the FEI General Assembly. This year he is back and providing an interesting account of what is taking place at the general assembly. The general public only finds out about the topics of discussions in carefully tailored FEI press releases issued at the end of the day.
Here is Jim Ellis' account so far
Day 1
Montreux nestles towards the eastern end of Lake Geneva, or Lac Leman as one of the largest lakes in Europe is known to the locals. Some of the highest peaks of the Alps rise high above the town in a landscape like Milford Sound on steroids
The location requires a little explanation as it is the first FEI general assembly for many years to be delivered by the FEI itself. That dubious honour (hosting the GA week is very expensive) usually falls to one of the FEI’s 132 member national federations but clearly this time round there weren’t any hands being put up to host, or not at least to the standard demanded by the FEI.
On the surface there seems nothing so incendiary at on the agenda of year’s FEI general assembly which got underway here yesterday, just a quick train ride from Lausanne where the FEI is headquartered.
The first morning of the GA week is always the annual meeting of our regional FEI group 8, chaired by a Singaporean NY Ho, who has judged the premier jumping arena at each of the last 2 HoYs.
Olympic and Paralympic qualifying procedures and formats for Rio 2016 dominated discussions as they were always likely to do but generally there is contentment at how the FEI has conducted this four year review, which received further explanation and scrutiny at a two hour session at the end of the day.
The qualifying rules still have to be approved by the General Assembly tomorrow before they can be published but there is unlikely to be much grief except perhaps from the Americas who have had to ‘give up’ one of their team spots in each discipline to Brazil as the hosts of the next Games. Canada are shaping as the biggest losers from these changes and are understandably keen for some last minute change.
I then had the unusual privilege, as a guest, to sit through the annual meeting of the Asian Equestrian Federation which focuses mainly on next year’s Asian Games in Incheon, Korea; an event considerably bigger than the Olympic Games. In this context Asia includes all of the Arabic nations of the Middle East who’s endurance focus is at odds with the mainly Jumping drive of South East Asia.
In a strange move, the FEI decided at the last minute to ban media from the main Olympic qualification session. There was very little rancour during the session and they may now regret their call as a number of equestrian journalists seek their pound of flesh.
Needless to say, the topic of who is to be the next President of the FEI (when Princess Haya finishes her second term in a year’s time) has dominated coffee and lunch discussions
One of the most useful parts of the GA is the chance to sit down with FEI senior staff and discuss issues affecting NZ and the wider Oceania or Asian region – so far have had fruitful meetings with Catrin Norinder (Director, Eventing & Olympic), Trond Asmyr (Director, Dressage & Para-Dressage) and John Roche and John Madden, the Director and Chair of FEI Jumping.
A welcome dinner was staged at the 12th century Chateau du Chillon just outside Montreux with images of great equestrian moments being beamed onto the castle’s ramparts. The chateau was the inspiration for Lord Byron’s 19th century poem The Prisoner of Chillon and is Switzerland’s most visited tourist attraction, famed for its dungeons.
Tomorrow is the major discussion on current endurance dramas and, though an upbeat session is planned, some European federations might be wanting to make use of their dungeons by the end.
Day 2 Sport or Industry?
It is common in the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines for us to bemoan a lack of resources in our geographically-challenged islands compared to the comparative riches enjoyed in the European heartland.
But this pails into insignificance when compared to the inequalities that exist in the world of ESNZ’s fifth discipline, Endurance, which were laid bare on day two of this year’s FEI general assembly in Montreux.
In most countries where Endurance is practised, even in Europe, the playing field is relatively level but that ends abruptly when you view the sport in the Middle East, especially in the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain.
In fact, and this is perhaps the key point, in those nations Endurance is not really a sport at all. It is another form of the racing industry where rides are known as races, coaches are trainers with huge strings of horses and the fundamental purpose is compete at speed, rather than complete.
This is not necessarily a criticism of these Middle Eastern nations but rather an inevitability; the purpose of endurance in these nations is different than in Oceania. All this had led the FEI into a corner with doping infractions and high fracture rates (often leading to horse deaths in competition) generating almost unending bad press for the sport.
The result has been a series of weak-sounding reviews and working groups; however at today’s special session on endurance, the ‘strategic planning group’ showed its teeth with a series of proposed measures which were more severe than many cynical observers would have expected. Bar one or two negative comments, the initial proposals for improvement were welcomed by delegates and a platform for change, if not the measures themselves have been established.
Britain’s Andrew Finding is to be congratulated on steering the planning group through the trickiest of waters in what was a professional and occasionally brutal report on the status quo; he reported on ‘systemic’ failures – the word no organisation wishes to hear especially with media present.
The earlier sessions of the day were dedicated to a meeting which raised matters from each of the FEI’s nine groups for discussion with the FEI Bureau (its board). There was little of meat except the extraordinary attempt by Sheikh Khalid of Bahrain to encourage Princess Haya to reconsider her decision not to seek a third term of office as FEI President when her current term expires in twelve months’ time.
Haya has enjoyed an impressive second term of office, only disrupted by her ongoing connections to the endurance sagas in the Middle East. There is no question that a large majority of the FEI’s national federations would avidly wish to see her stand again and would be prepared to change the FEI’s statutes to allow this to happen. The rapturous applause which greeted Khalid’s speech spoke volumes; whether the Princess chooses to speak on the subject tomorrow is unsure – it will be hard for her to say anything and yet she may be better to do so.
The afternoon contained a session on proposed rule amendments across most disciplines for 2014. There was very little in the way of comment or disagreement, a testimony to the improved consultation processes undertaken this year. Changes to the rules get formally approved tomorrow at the general assembly.
ESNZ’s disciplines make a series of submissions to the FEI as the rule change process unfolds. This has been a significant year in terms of the number of proposed changes made by ESNZ which have been adopted in the final version of the rules for approval in the morning.
by Jim Ellis
Related Links
Decisions taken by the FEI Bureau at the 2013 FEI General Assembly
Jim Ellis Reports on the 2011 FEI General Assembly