Equestrian Australia to have a new board within 60 days

Equestrian Australia is set to be overhauled by administrators preparing to present a new way forward for the organisation’s 20,000 members and main creditor, Sports Australia.

Clearing hurdles: Former directors now “change agents” for Equestrian Australia. Picture: Getty Images

CHANGE is inevitable at equestrian sport’s national governing body, with four remaining directors to stand down and a caretaker board appointed within two months.

At the first meeting of creditors last Friday, directors John Glenn, Helen Hamilton-James, Peter Toft and Cathi Collier moved to clarify their standing at Equestrian Australia following member angst about their continuing role while the organisation was in the hands of voluntary administrators.

In a statement read out at the Zoom meeting virtually attended by more than 1000 people, the four former board members said they had handed over governance and operation of the company to administrators Craig Shepard and Kate Conneely.

“What we do want to make very clear is that we see our role as change agents. While some level of continuity may be desirable, none of us is positioning ourselves for a long-term role on the EA Board,” the statement read.

The four directors contentiously placed Equestrian Australia into voluntary administration on June 9 citing interruption to the sport due to COVID-19, including the widespread cancellation of events, significant board instability over the past 16 months, safety and governance shortcomings and ultimately the withdrawal of funding from the Australian Sports Commission a week beforehand.

The ASC’s shock ultimatum for EA to return any unspent ASC investment moneys and that $450,000 of “core funding” would no longer be forthcoming was the final straw for EA’s four-person board to call in administrators.

Three outcomes were proposed at Friday’s meeting: liquidation, a return to the current directors or a deed of company arrangement, but only the latter has any support from creditors, who include Sports Australia and EA’s 20,000 grassroots members.

Despite calls for a committee of inspection to be appointed, with many members pledging their support for former chair and Olympian Ricky Macmillan (pictured) to represent them, there was insufficient support for its establishment.

The proposed DOCA includes provisions for an amendment to the constitution to allow all members to vote, and the appointment of a “qualified, representative and independent” caretaker board within 60 days.

While some have criticised the move to place EA into voluntary administration, the Federatione Equestre Internationale has welcomed “the initiative” and has pledged its support to assist the administrators.