“Equestrian has a great history and legacy, great athletes and so much upside,” says Darren Gocher. Equestrian Australia’s new Chief Executive Officer may not have experience with horses, but already he’s captivated by the sport and keen to see it reach its full potential.
“I love a challenge!”
Spending his past five years at Athletics Australia, Darren Gocher has a strong background in sports management coupled with finance and accounting. “I think what Equestrian Australia (EA) needed aligned with some of the things that I’ve done before and I’m passionate about, such as organisational transformation and financial strategy. And I love a challenge!” says Darren of his appointment, which has come at a time when the governing body is emerging from a tumultuous period marked by voluntary administration among other issues.
Darren explains that there’s no sugar-coating the fact that the organisation has been through a troublesome period: “EA had gone into and out of voluntary administration, was on the back end of recommendations from a coronial inquiry, funding had been withheld from the government, our High Performance program had been moved out and we had a brand new board. That’s just a massive, massive upheaval for any sport; we’ve got to accept the fact that the organisation has experienced a fair bit of difficulty in recent times.”
However, Darren sees great potential in the sport and the opportunity to rebuild EA from the ground up, and instigating meaningful change, is what excites him most about the role.
Overseeing EA certainly does present a challenge for the incoming CEO, and it’s clear that change is needed. Understandably, these things take time — however, Darren explains that there have been a number of things they’ve been able to start putting in motion, even since he began in the role at the beginning of June this year.
LET’S TALK ABOUT STRUCTURE
Perhaps the main topic on everyone’s minds is EA’s strategy and structure moving forward, and Darren identifies this as a key priority for himself and the board.
“We need to come up with an on-going strategy for the sport; it’s definitely something that members have been very clear that they want to see. There are definitely some complexities with the way the sport is currently structured.
“We need to identify the best way to set structures, systems and processes going forward, and in doing this we want to make sure we gain the right level of stakeholder engagement and consultation. We’ll be working over the next 6-12 months to lock in a great strategy and structure, and we want to engage as broad a part of the equestrian community as possible to help with facilitating that change.”
If you have thoughts on EA’s structure and strategy, it sounds like now is the time to get in touch and have your say!
GOOD GOVERNANCE
So what sort of changes can members expect to notice over the coming months? “Some of the changes are subtle, however, some of them are hopefully going to be very noticeable,” says Darren. “Making sure we’ve got the governance right around the sport is important. There are some really practical, fundamental things that we have to implement. For example, we’re working pretty closely with Sports Integrity Australia in regards to the National Integrity Framework.”
The National Integrity Framework applies to all sports in Australia and helps to ensure a proactive approach to mitigate integrity threats to sports and provide a safe, fair and healthy environment for participants at all levels. This covers everything from handling complaints and disputes, through to anti-doping, child safeguarding and more, and is an essential component to having a well-governed sporting organisation.
“Having some of those things in place, which haven’t necessarily been there in the past and that we’ve sort of really lacked a bit of a focus on, will help improve governance of equestrian sport in Australia.”
One of the key things Darren and the new board have moved to secure quickly is financial stability within the organisation. “Trying to get some stability and sustainability into the sport is key. The most immediate priority coming into the role was trying to get a handle on the financials to make sure that EA is financially sustainable, and also to ensure we got the funding returned back to the sport,” explains Darren.
Sport Australia withdrew their funding from EA in June 2020, citing poor governance; this withdrawal of funding ultimately forced the organisation into voluntary administration. Darren explains that the board was working towards having it reinstated prior to his arrival as CEO, and the good news is that the hard work has now paid off. “We were actually able to do that as of 30 June, which was fantastic news. We worked very hard for a month or so to make sure that we got that over the line.”
SAFETY FIRST
“Safety is a big one,” says Darren, acknowledging that it’s been a pressing issue for a while, especially following the 2019 coroner’s report relating to the tragic eventing deaths of Olivia Inglis and Caitlyn Fischer in 2016.
Coming from a sport such as athletics to one where a large animal is involved certainly means there are some different safety aspects to consider, however as Darren explains it all comes back to working within risk framework. “It’s really looking at the risk, and looking at how you work within a risk framework; understanding what the risks are, what the potential issues are, what the likelihood of that is, and then putting things in place to do it.
“We’ve got to do as much as we possibly can to minimise and mitigate the risks, and if safety concerns do occur, we need to be able to respond to them very quickly and ensure that safety comes first and foremost,” continues Darren, explaining that EA now has a strong, detailed strategy around safety that was developed prior to his arrival as CEO and is now in the final stages of being refined. “This strategy has been built out over the last few weeks, and I’m really confident with the plan that we’ve got in place to implement it.
“Already, a fair bit of work has been done. We’ve employed a National Safety Manager, Meredith Chapman; we’ve just had her contract extended for the next two years, with government funding to help support that. So now, it’s really backing Meredith and ensuring that she’s got the support.”
With that in mind, Darren explains that EA is about to establish a National Safety Committee. “We’ve just taken expressions of interest for that. They’ll also help to oversee, so we’re going to have six to eight committee members who are pretty experienced in eventing, and then equestrian generally, and in safety risk mitigation. The committee will work closely with the National Safety Manager, as well as the board and myself. We’ve got the right people in the room.”
Darren feels that getting all the correct safety protocol in place as quickly as possible is important. “Having a plan and working quickly to implement it is key. We’ve put some really rigorous KPIs around a lot of the safety aspects that we have. You will see some changes to how the sport is run and what happens at events; there’s always going to be some issues that are going to come up from that, and how we respond to them is of the utmost importance.”
From an educational point of view, Darren explains that there’s still work to be done with certain stakeholders, such as organising committees, to ensure that everyone’s aware of the changes and on the same page.
PARTICIPATION ROUND-UP
While recent focus has been on our elite athletes putting their best hoof forward at the Tokyo Olympic Games, success in the sport at the highest level can only happen when there is a healthy uptake at grassroots level. As such, Darren has aspirations to really grow the sport and drive more participation.
EA already has some programs in place designed to improve the sport’s uptake, such as Ready Set Trot, a junior participation program for children with an interest in horses but who don’t have one of their own. The plan is to build on this and implement further programs, as well as draw a closer alignment between EA and bodies such as Pony Club Australia, an organisation that currently has over 40,000 members.
Darren is hoping to be able to put a resource in charge of participation to not only help grow the sport, but also address important aspects such as diversity and inclusion. “We also want to foster a closer engagement with participants from a sport perspective,” he adds.
In terms of high performance, Darren explains that EA needs to do a better job of creating pathways for athletes — both riders and horses — that help to take them from grassroots to the highest level. With Olympic fever sweeping the country, now is certainly as good a time as any to raise equestrian’s profile and get people excited about the sport.
When EA went into voluntary administration, the High Performance team were moved under the governance of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), where they remain. “The high performance part of the sport has always performed fairly well, and we’ve got to make sure we keep fostering that,” says Darren.
The intention has always been for High Performance to be returned under EA governance rather than for it to remain with the AIS, and discussions around this are set to take place following the Tokyo Olympics.
CULTURE
One of the key aspects of the sport Darren wants to address is the culture, admitting it was one of the issues he didn’t foresee coming into the role. “I came into the role eyes wide open on most things, but [the culture] was probably one of the things that perhaps I didn’t foresee. I think we’ve got to really shift the culture; we need to change the tone and the attitudes.” Darren acknowledges that it’s not easy to change and it can take a while — however, it’s of critical importance that people within the sport are pushing in the same direction. From EA’s perspective, Darren believes the culture can be improved by bettering transparency, communication and accountability.
“Transparency… we’ve been accused of lacking that in the past. We have to be transparent with everything we do, and part of that is communication. The level, style and the tone of communication that we get out is really important. I want EA to be communicating with members more regularly, from celebrating some of the wins, to explaining rule changes and everything in between. It’s also about trying to be really clear with what we’re trying to do and not hiding from anything.”
When it comes to accountability, Darren acknowledges that it probably sounds like a bit of a cliché that members have no doubt heard before — but he’s adamant that moving forward the organisation does have to be more accountable, as does everyone in the sport, and this begins by initially changing behaviour.
“I want to ensure that everybody feels a part of the change. Everybody’s going to play a role, and it’s about standing up rather than pointing fingers. Firstly, we have to change behaviours and then hold accountability once we do so.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF GROUND WORK
While Covid-19 has unfortunately kept Darren away from attending equestrian events thus far, being a huge sports fan means he cannot wait to get out there and immerse himself in all things horses. “I really can’t wait to start getting out to some of the events and seeing how things operate, meeting the community, and really getting my head around the sport. Talking to people, generally finding out what the issues are and how we can better address them, I think is really important. There’s a lot of work to do. The more people I can speak to the better,” says Darren.
Keen as he is to get out and meet those closest to the sport, he has no plans to take to the saddle just yet: “I’ll be most likely keeping my feet on the ground for now… although perhaps I’ll give riding a go at some point!”
Perhaps we should add that to EA’s participation KPIs! EQ
