TWO things have been keeping dressage enthusiast and author, Anne McFarland, busy during Covid-19. Firstly getting her book - Sports Governance: A Guide for Sporting Entities - published and secondly, helping her daughter, Amelia, to break their two home-bred four-year-old dressage horses, one of which is a half-sister to Heike Holstein’s Sambuca.

This is the second book that Anne McFarland has published on governance. The first was a fairly technical introduction to the Companies Act 2014 and governance codes, co-authored with David Duffy. However, with the scandals in sport and charities, McFarland felt that there was a place for a more straightforward guide for the leaders of such entities.

Then in 2018, the National Sports Policy 2018-2027 was published which emphasised the importance of the effective and efficient running of sport and how the failure of governance in one entity can undermine the reputation of the entire sports system as well as that entity and its particular sport. It was time for a straightforward guide to sports governance.

With the outline of the book already written, Sarah O’Shea, honorary general secretary of the Olympic Federation, suggested that this was something that the OFI might be interested in. The organisation proved very keen to promote governance and kindly offered to sponsor the publication of the book.

Anne was delighted at the reaction of the OFI. “It has been so refreshing to work with the Olympic Federation, with their interest and emphasis on governance.” Certainly the OFI have made governance a focus. President Sarah Keane, in her foreword to the book wrote: “Irish athletes want to be the best in the world. We also want sport to be inclusive and to give everyone a chance. To achieve this, all of us who are involved in sport must dedicate ourselves to making sure that our sporting entities are running as effectively as possible. In this book, Anne shows us an excellent road map. It is up to each of us to undertake the journey.”

Good governance in sport

Sport Ireland have been tasked with ensuring good governance in sport. They are overseeing a process to have all National Governing Bodies in sport adopt a governance code by end 2021. As part of this process, Sport Ireland are putting in place the training and supports needed by the different organisations to assist with the adoption process.

Anne McFarland’s book is very much a guide as to how to comply with the governance code. Sport Ireland have stated that all funded bodies need to comply with the governance code by the end of 2021. “The good news is that, I understand, Horse Sport Ireland, under Acting CEO Joe Reynolds, have made this a priority and are already in compliance,” McFarland said.

Anne believes that it is truly a step forward that all the governing bodies will now be working to a code of governance. However, she sees that there is a problem as to whether this will trickle down to their affiliates. There is no funding threat to the affiliates if they do not comply so the stick is not there to encourage them to think about governance. So many sports bodies like to continue doing it how they have always done it on the basis of ‘if it’s not broken why fix it’?

Boards and legacy issues

However McFarland sees risks. “When I look at affiliated bodies, I note that their constitutions may not be up to date, that they have few written policies and they may suffer from legacy issues such as large unwieldy boards. I don’t know if you have ever tried to manage a passionate body of over 13 people but it is like herding cats.’’ She recommends that the board of an organisation does not exceed 11 people.

There is also a lively issue as to whether you should have people from outside the sport on the board. In the UK, sports governance code for larger sporting entities at least 25% of the board should be made up of independent non-executive directors.

“I do believe that someone from outside the sport does bring a new perspective and may supplement skills that are lacking on the board, particularly governance and financial skills. However, there is often a lot of resistance to this. On the other hand when everyone is coming from within the sport, it can be very difficult to build a diversified board. This may be as simple as the focus being on a particular region as that is where the majority of the board are from. People from within the sport may not be aware that, when leading an entity, they should be thinking about strategy, risk, accountability and monitoring.

“I do fear unfettered power in the hands of a few in any sport, I do fear the promotion of personal interests and I fear the lack of financial understanding among all members of a board. However I also recognise the huge, selfless input that is made by so many individuals. My book is really written for them, to give them a guide as to how to run an efficient and effective organisation,” said McFarland.

Hopeful

Anne has huge hope that governance issues will gradually reach all sporting entities and clubs and not only the umbrella National Governing Bodies like Horse Sport Ireland. Writing the book she continually thought about the smaller club including a specific section in each chapter for the smaller entity. Covid-19 has not stopped her guiding small clubs and entities on Zoom.

But when the work is done, despite Covid-19, there’s always the horses.

The four-year-olds are coming on nicely; time for Amelia and Anne to turn their attention to the two-year-old, another half-sister to Sambuca.

Sports Governance: A Guide for Sporting Entitites wil be distributed to constituents by the OFI and is available from Orpen Press, price €20