Equestrian Australia enters administration after withdrawal of Sports Australia funding

Peak body Equestrian Australia has been placed in voluntary administration by its board in a bid to avoid insolvency.

In what has been described as a "difficult decision”, Equestrian Australia says the move follows the withdrawal of funding by Sports Australia - reportedly due to due to poor governance - and the impact of COVID-19 on its forecast revenue.

In a statement, the peak body advised “this places the organisation at risk of trading insolvently.

"Clearly, the current EA model does not work.

"The intent of entering voluntary administration is to avoid insolvency, which would be disastrous, and to create the conditions for a successful and sustainable equestrian community into the future."

The statement also advised that Equestrian Australia's high-performance program will be immediately transferred to the Australian Institute of Sport, adding “the HP panel will remain in place, funding returned to the AIS and the program will continue unabated in pursuit of equestrian gold at the upcoming Olympics.”

As reported by the ABC, Craig Shepard and Kate Conneely, of KordaMentha, have been appointed voluntary administrators, and said business would continue as usual.

Commenting on that he hopes to achieve, Shepard noted “the objective of the administration is to stabilise the business and create a plan that will allow the organisation to come out of administration with a solid future.

"The operations of EA continue without change at this stage and there is no planned loss of jobs," said EA.

"The current directors have agreed to work with the administrator to rebuild the organisation as quickly as possible."

Equestrian Australia Board spokesperson John Glenn told the ABC “we have faced overwhelming challenges as an organisation over the past few years, but this EA board is unified and committed to a fresh start.

"This now is an opportunity for real change to rebuild the sport for current and future generations."

The Equestrian Australia suggests that administration is expected “to take about a month (and) will enable EA to rebuild as a viable, representative, democratic and stable national sporting organisation that is returned to a focus on sport as quickly as possible.”

It does not that “in our sport of so many diverse interests, rarely do our branches, committees, and members share a cohesive view.”

The Equestrian Australia statement did not advise on arrangements of funding for Australia's equestrian team to compete at next year’s Tokyo Olympics.

Writing in the latest issue of Australasian Leisure Management, leading industry consultant and co-founder of the National Sports Convention, Martin Sheppard suggests that Equestrian Australia may not be the only peak body to face such challenges, indicating that such challenges “could allow troubled sports to be restructured independently and then come out stronger … providing a stronger outcome for the members and the broader community.”

Click here to view the latest issue of Australasian Leisure Management on Issuu.

Image courtesy of Equestrian Australia/Facebook.