Threats, rows and theft - the murky underbelly of Irish showjumping was again exposed to the world this week, writes Grania Willis.
Intimidation, bodyguards, recrimination and attempts at mediation. A week in politics? Or the criminal underworld of the drug barons?
No, this is the sport of showjumping, which once again dominated the headlines this week and, once again, for all the wrong reasons. Amid the threats and the rows, theft was back on the agenda, with reports of break-ins to a series of similar silver jeeps in car-parks in the Ballsbridge area of Dublin. Video tapes from one vehicle and a digital camera from another were taken in the raids, but money and other valuables were left untouched.
The selection of Harry Marshall for, and his subsequent rejection from, last Friday's Aga Khan Cup team at the Dublin Horse Show has had repercussions that have reverberated State-wide. And out to Germany and back. The story has even been aired on US national television network NBC.
But relegation to the subs bench will always be a subject for discussion and sometimes controversy, so why did last week's Dublin selection cause such a fracas? And is there any truth in the suggestions that Cian O'Connor is central to it all?
The fallout from O'Connor's dramatic rise and fall from grace and his Phoenix-like resurrection from the ashes of his gold medal have created a deep divide among the showjumping fraternity. But even before the victor's laurel wreath - which would turn so soon into a crown of thorns - was placed on O'Connor's head that humid August night in Athens, and before the medal was lost in the testing labs of Paris and New York, the showjumping ranks had been split by a row over the selection team trainer.
Eddie Macken, for so long the superhero of Irish showjumping, was in line for the post, but it was Lieut Col Gerry Mullins, former commanding officer of the Army Equitation School whose name was pulled - rabbit-style - out of the hat at the beginning of last year. Word of Mullins's appointment resulted in a group of international riders lobbying for him to be ousted and replaced by Macken.
In an amazing about-face that was to be a feature of the 2004 showjumping season, Mullins stepped aside and Macken was announced as team trainer in mid-February. But, after a run of poor performances in the early part of the Samsung Super League series, change was in the air again. After a seventh-place finish at Lucerne in the first week of June, chef d'équipe Tommy Wade produced a damning report to the Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI) international affairs committee and Macken was sacked.
A statement issued after the June 8th meeting of the international affairs committee declared that it had been "unanimously" decided to dispense with the services of Macken. The disappointing team results that had left Ireland languishing on the bottom rung of the Super League ladder were blamed on what then chairman of international affairs Peter Leonard described as "a clash of personalities within the camp and a marked drop in team morale".
But the members of the SJAI were in revolt and, at the agm just a week after Macken's sacking, they voted to instruct the association's board of directors to bring Macken back as trainer and to put the Co Longford-born legend in as chef d'équipe as well. It was an unprecedented move, but there was a similarly extraordinary outcome from an emergency meeting of the SJAI executive six days later.
The association's directors agreed - unanimously - to over-rule the international affairs committee's ruling. Macken was back in, and with a vote on selection matters as a peace offering. Unanimity appeared to have broken out but, in reality, there was very little accord. Macken had already put legal proceedings against the SJAI in train, but agreed to drop the case when his position as trainer was re-confirmed.
Tommy Wade was retained as chef d'équipe for Rotterdam and the team's improved performance resulted in a season's best third. But it was too late to keep Wade in the job. The Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI), fed up with the negative image created by acres of newsprint detailing the messy internal wranglings, had already taken over the selection process, putting in Col Ned Campion as chef d'équipe and Macken as trainer for the remainder of the Super League fixtures and for the Athens Olympics. Macken and Campion were given responsibility for picking teams and former Army rider John Ledingham was brought in as team manager with the casting vote on selection.
A FOURTH IN Aachen in Germany and fifth in Hickstead suggested that there wasn't much hope of success on home soil when the Samsung league caravan moved to the RDS last year, especially as Cian O'Connor pulled a coughing Waterford Crystal out on the eve of the show.
Peter Charles and the mare Pershing were offered a late call-up but never made the trip when it was decided that O'Connor would run his second string horse, Annabella.
Against the odds, Team Ireland came up trumps at the RDS. A double clear from Billy Twomey and the stallion Luidam clinched the Aga Khan Cup for the home side for the first time since the millennium year. The result spared Ireland the embarrassment of relegation from the Samsung Super League and provided an important morale booster before the team's departure for the Olympic stage in Athens.
The winning of the medal and the subsequent loss of it have been all too well chronicled. Although the medal itself is valuable only in what it stands for, its value in terms of sponsorship deals and netting rich owners is incalculable. Similarly, a place on a Nations Cup team, particularly in Dublin, is a perfect shop window, both for the rider and for the horse. A double clear in the Irish showcase can boost a horse's value enormously and, with top animals changing hands for upwards of €1 million, it's not surprising that the riders fight hard for their chance to represent the country.
After serving a three-month suspension, which expired on July 10th, Cian O'Connor has gone on record saying he has done his time and now wants to get his life back on track. But the fallout - and the fallings out - continue. Jessica Kürten stated when the doping controversy first arose that she wouldn't jump on a team with O'Connor again. When he was stripped of the medal at a judicial hearing in Zurich on Easter Sunday, Kürten reiterated her intention, even though O'Connor had been cleared of deliberately attempting to enhance the performance of his horse.
Sticking to her guns, Kürten pulled out of Dublin and now Harry Marshall has stood up to be counted too. Calling for the resignation of the entire selection panel after he was first on and then off the Aga Khan team, Marshall has also said that he will not ride on any team with O'Connor. Like Kürten he refused to put his name forward for selection for the next round in the Super League at Aachen in less than a fortnight's time.
O'Connor said this week that allegations that he had interfered in the selection process at Dublin were "outrageous". Word was that he had threatened to withdraw if Army rider Captain Shane Carey was not on the team. Two members of the selection panel - Tom Slattery and Liam Buckley - resigned in protest at a meeting last Sunday night after chef d'équipe Eamonn Rice pleaded memory loss when quizzed about O'Connor's involvement in the "Marshall on, Marshall off" scenario.
Both O'Connor and Equestrian Federation of Ireland president Avril Doyle received threats, resulting in O'Connor hiring 24-hour protection for himself and Doyle ordering a round-the-clock guard for the team horses. Out of the blue, the Larkin brothers - owners of Harry Marshall's horse, Ado Annie - issued a statement declaring that they had made no threats to O'Connor, "just heated conversation".
Desperate to sort out the mess, chairman of selectors Taylor Vard contacted Eddie Macken last Friday night after the Irish team finished a disappointing - but not unexpected - fifth in the Aga Khan line-up. He asked Macken to come back on board. Even though agreement on terms for a 2005 season contract was never reached, Macken said that he was prepared to take over the team. But, in line with Marshall's much-aired viewpoint, he demanded the resignation of the incumbent selectors.
IN A BID to try and lure Jessica Kürten back on side, Avril Doyle flew out to the Netherlands as a mid-week peace envoy, but returned the same day without having netted her prize. The team for Aachen remains unchanged. No Kürten. No Marshall. O'Connor, Captain Shane Carey, Billy Twomey, Shane Breen and Marie Burke will line out for the German fixture.
Doyle, now in the final month of her tenure as EFI president, has also called for a review of the selection procedure after the final Samsung line-up has been decided in Barcelona next month. But if Ireland is dumped out of the Super League - and that's looking increasingly likely - Dublin won't lose its status as a Super League venue and Ireland will be allowed to field a team on the day.
There have been calls this week, from both inside and outside the sport, for the showjumpers to do their linen laundering behind closed doors. But maybe it's better for it to be done publicly. There seems to be a subcutaneous festering in the sport that has been building for some time. Maybe it needs to be lanced in public. It must be time now to let out the poison, clean the wound site and let the healing process begin.
They say a week in politics is a long time. It's a lot longer and a lot murkier in the so-called sport of showjumping.
Who's who in the showjumping stable
Cian O'Connor
The 25-year-old Kildare showjumper is as well known for losing his Olympic gold medal as he was for winning it in Athens last August. Following a positive test on his horse, Waterford Crystal, O'Connor was stripped of his medal, but exonerated of any deliberate attempt to enhance the horse's performance. After a three-month suspension, O'Connor returned to international action in mid-July. He has been named for the next Samsung round in Aachen, Germany later this month.
Jessica Kürten
Originally from Cullybackey in Co Antrim, 35-year-old Kürten is currently Ireland's leading rider and 11th in the world rankings. Kürten was a member of Ireland's gold medal team at the 2001 European championships and has jumped at two Olympic Games, Atlanta in 1996 and in Athens last year, when she led going into the individual final but then dropped to 19th. She is the only Irish rider to be invited to compete at the $1 million Las Vegas World Invitational in mid-October.
Harry Marshall
Based in Ballyclare, Co Antrim, 51-year-old Marshall played soccer at schoolboy international level. He was Ireland's first national showjumping champion and a former RTÉ sporting personality of the year. He made his championship debut at the Europeans in Italy last month. Having been dropped in controversial circumstances from last Friday's Aga Khan Cup, Marshall refused to put his name forward for the team for the next Samsung Super League round in Aachen.
Avril Doyle
MEP and president of the Equestrian Federation of Ireland, Doyle was born in Dublin in 1949 but now lives in Wexford. She became the first woman mayor of Wexford in 1976. She was elected as a Fine Gael TD in 1982 and served as a senator for two terms between 1989 and 2002. As an MEP, she now concentrates solely on European politics. She has been president of the Equestrian Federation of Ireland since 2001.
Taylor Vard
From Stepaside in Co Dublin, Vard is a former international rider. He took over as Leinster region representative on the Show Jumping Assocation of Ireland (SJAI) international affairs committee at the end of 2003, replacing Liam Buckley. He was put in as chairman of the committee at the beginning of this year.
Eamonn Rice
A director of the SJAI through his role as a member of the executive committee, Rice is also chairman of the Ulster region. From Dungannon, Co Tyrone, he is a former national hunt jockey and rode his first winner in 1972. He was previously chef d'equipe of the Irish pony show jumping team and took over as chef d'equipe of the senior international team at the Samsung Super League rounds in Rotterdam, Hickstead and Dublin.
Tom Slattery
The 44-year-old, who became the first riders' representative on the international affairs committee, was chef d'equipe for the Samsung Super League show in St Gallen, Switzerland and was team trainer in Rotterdam, Hickstead and Dublin. From Tynagh, Co Galway, Slattery has now retired from international competition. He was Irish national champion three years in a row between 1999 and 2001.
Liam Buckley
A horse-breeder from Delvin in Co Westmeath, Buckley has been chef d'equipe for the last three European championships at junior and young rider level. He took on the role as chef d'equipe of the seniors for Italian Nations Cup fixture in Rome. He was the Leinster region representative on the SJAI's international affairs committee, his second term of office, until his resignation last Sunday night at a meeting in the RDS.
Eddie Macken
Macken (55) was a member of the 1977-79 dream team that won the Aga Khan cup outright for Ireland. He won four Hickstead Derbys, two individual world silver medals and a European championship silver. Brought in as team trainer at the start of last year, he was sacked after disappointing results but then reinstated for the second half of the league and the Olympics. Terms could not be agreed for a renewed contract for 2005.