NEW chairman of Showjumping Ireland Michael Blake is working towards streamlining the association and ensuring that the grassroots of their 7,000 members get something back for their money.

Aiming to maximise savings and spread out the available budget, Blake expressed the wish to “get our association back on track” and hopes that in doing so, the SJI can attract more members.

“We want to get our membership rising, not falling. We want all to get involved and spread out the budget. The people at the lower end of the sport are very important and it is they who are supporting those at the top end. We need to ensure that we look after our grassroots members and make sure they get value for their money in SJI.

“The riders at the top end of the sport are gaining most of the money. I’m all for High Performance and the high end of the sport but we need, as an organisation, to really look at giving back value to the bulk of our members who are jumping smaller classes at weekends. Currently, if you are jumping 1m-1.10m at weekends, there is little option for you,” he said.

“We need to redistribute the budget to make sure we are looking after our grassroots membership and we will do it quickly.

“It is a bit of a juggle as our income is a little down and we also need to address leakage in the system and implement savings, as opposed to cuts. It is on a very tackle-able scale and I’m confident we can do it.

“I want to see a more streamlined organisation in place and we can do it. I’m looking for people’s trust and confidence for six months to get things moving along right - give the new regime a chance. I’m hopeful for the future and like many other people, improving the sport is the main thing, that’s the priority. There may be potholes in the road ahead but we can overcome them,” explained Blake to The Irish Field.

The feasibility of modernising the SJI’s paper ticket system, making common sense savings and streamlining the decision-making process are under consideration.

PONY VIDEOING

With videoing of SJI pony classes suspended until the necessary safeguarding Child Protection Policy is in place, Blake explained: “Our solicitor is drawing up, as quickly as possible, our updated child protection and privacy clauses. Our computer people are on standby and as soon as it is ready, people will be able to opt in or opt out. The way I see it, if our policy is not up to scratch, we have to make sure that it is, it’s good practice. If senior riders don’t want to do it (opt in), we can’t make them,” he added.

The rounds of the PlusVital Pony and COH Spring Tour, which were filmed at Ard Chuain on March 2nd and were available to view on Irish Sport TV were since removed, as have the videos from SJI social media.