Furlong elected new chairman

Show JumpingPatricia Furlong was elected as the new chairman of the Show Jumping Association of Ireland at a four and a quarter hour meeting of the Association's executive committee in Co Kildare last night, despite attempts by members of the Leinster region to block her election.

Mrs Furlong, chairman of the Leinster region and national vice-chairman during Charles Hanley's tenure as chairman, had caused controversy in Leinster by over-ruling a decision taken at the regional agm in December to declare the results of a postal ballot null and void. An extension to the postal ballot had been declared unconstitutional and, as a result, the ballot itself was declared void but, a fortnight after the December 7th agm, Mrs Furlong wrote to the Leinster members stating that the results of the ballot would stand.

A group of concerned members then got together, calling for an extraordinary general meeting and requesting a new postal ballot. When they got no response, they threatened to take out an injunction against last week's meeting of the new Leinster region committee, but that went ahead as scheduled last Tuesday night.

In a last-ditch attempt to prevent the five Leinster members being installed on the executive at last night's meeting, Leinster region member and former selector Liam Buckley and concerned Leinster members initiated the sending of a solicitor's letter - one to Mrs Furlong and one to outgoing national chairman Charles Hanley.

Mrs Furlong was requested to furnish information on six points and told The Irish Times after last night's meeting that she had requested the SJAI solicitor to respond on her behalf at four o'clock yesterday afternoon. The letter addressed to Charles Hanley, which stated that legal action would be taken unless confirmation was received that no Leinster region members had been put on the executive, was read out at last night's meeting.

"The letters were discussed, the letter sent to Charles Hanley was read out in full and the executive committee was ratified", Mrs Furlong said last night.

"We will take further steps to prevent this undemocratic process from progressing any further", spokesperson for the concerned group David Darragh told The Irish Times last night.