A DISAGREEMENT between event organisers and Eventing Ireland that threatened to decimate the calendar for the upcoming season is on the cusp of being resolved.

It is understood the issues centred around assurances over insurance, the fact no meeting was held to discuss the 2025 calendar and a request from event organisers for a greater proportion of entry fees was not actioned to their satisfaction.

In a statement on Monday, January 27th, event organisers said one-day events at Lisgarvan, Grove, Clyda, Crecora, Frankfort Stud and Scarteen were to be removed from the 2025 calendar immediately. They said the venues that would be willing to submit dates if the disagreement was addressed included just Clonmahon, Hillcrest, Kilguilkey and Blackstairs.

“In March and April of 2024, there were two meetings with the board of EI,” the event organisers stated. “At those meetings, there were numerous issues raised by event organisers that they thought needed to be addressed. It was accepted by those board members present that the issues were important and some change needed to be made. The 2024 season came and went and unfortunately, no change was made.

“Following Eventing Irelands’ failure to convene an event organisers’ dates meeting, there was an ad hoc group formed to discuss the issues each event had. With plenty of discussion, there was the acceptance that running one-day events with the current pricing plan and insurance policy was not sustainable. These matters were to be discussed at a board meeting on January 22nd and the outcome reported back to the event organisers committee on January 23rd, but there was no communication on the 23rd.”

Resolution

However, following a number of conversations with EI Chairman Niki Potterton in the days since then, it has been communicated that all parties are “well down the track toward resolving the issues and returning to business as usual. I can reassure our members that both the committee and the organisers are working hard to get back on track and I am confident the issues raised will be in hand before the season starts,” Potterton said.

On Friday afternoon, the EOC released this statement to The Irish Field: “The Event Organisers Committee (EOC), chaired by Will Kearney, are a subcommittee of Eventing Ireland and a representative of each one-day event venue sits on this committee. While there have been challenges in recent months, we now believe there is an opportunity to work towards a resolution.

“The EOC continue to work closely with all Eventing Ireland subcommittees to resolve long-standing concerns. A series of meetings have now been scheduled with the Board and we believe that by working collaboratively we can provide an exciting year of competition for all members.”