the p.j.a. rebellion.

​There is more to take from the shake-up at the Professional Jockeys Association than simply the change in the lead characters. To me, it is blueprint for how the board at the British Horseracing Authority should be comprised.
The complaint many of the jockeys cited against its former Head Man, Ian Mahon, former professional footballer, was his ‘absenteeism’ when it came to talking with the membership over important changes to the rules of racing that impacted on jockeys and that he didn’t ‘speak the language’ of the sport, that he was an outsider who needed a translator to better understand the subtle and sometimes complex nuances of the sport.
The term ‘speaking the language’ resonated with me. If you, as with myself, have ‘spoke the language’ for most of your lives, talking with someone with a burgeoning interest in the sport, or someone you meet socially and has asked what your interest in life is, it can be similar to speaking with someone from another country. And you, of course, can come across as if you have a very broad regional accent that mangles the English language. Even the word ‘furlong’ can need explanation.
This, in a nutshell, is my problem with how the B.H.A. is set-up. I am in no way critical of Julie Harrington or any of her predecessors and horse racing is both a sport and an industry, which makes it very different to other sport’s management authorities. And that is the point, the nub of my argument. I dare say Julie Harrington has learned a good deal of the horse racing ‘language’, yet she is more than halfway through her tenure at the B.H.A. How much of her time at the helm of the sport was she ‘catching-up’, in need of a ‘translator’?
The new ‘board’ at the P.J.A., fronted until a permanent successor to Ian Mahon can be appointed, by Dale Gibson, former jockey and someone who, seemingly, has the support of the membership. Why not appoint him on a permanent basis? Experience, speaks the language, up-to-speed with past issues! Henry Brooke, Neil Callan, Tom Marquand, Andrew Mullen, Jonjo O’Neill and Tabatha Worsley make-up a diverse and vastly experienced committee, alongside David Bass and Nick Attenborough, who has great experience within the sport as he has worked at Great British Racing, the British Racing School and Sandown Park.
Whether as a committee they will always sing from the same hymn-sheet will be discovered sometime in the near-future, I imagine. Initially, though, they will reform the association into a shape that best suits the needs of their colleagues. Although the main gripe, as I understand it, with jockeys had with Ian Mahon, Jon Holmes, etc, was their views on the whip and the closure of racecourse saunas were either ignored or circumvented. The tears in the fabric of the association were stimulated, though, by what will become known as ‘the infamous abuse case of Frost v Dunne’; a sorry tale that damaged the reputation of both the P.J.A. and the sport.
Looking in from the outside it was apparent the P.J.A. had an issue with this case and that ‘issue’ was more important to them than defending one of their members who was being intimidated by a senior member of the weighing-room. All that was needed for the situation to be prevented from becoming a story for the national newspapers to get their teeth into was for the P.J.A., and not necessarily the pen-pushing executive members, though certainly David Bass, to have taken Dunne to one side and told him he would be thrown out of the P.J.A. if he didn’t change his attitude towards another member of the association. Even if Dunne was correct in his criticism of Frost, a problem no one else had ever highlighted, he was wrong to think he was the one who could remedy the situation.
I believe Dunne’s problem was brought about by jealousy. I would hope the new ‘board’ would be quicker to snip such buds of potential embarrassment for the sport with more immediacy when and if they occur in the future. Jockeys work with danger every day of their working lives, as fanatics of the sport we owe them big-time and I, personally, am in awe of their bravery and skills. 
Robbie Dunne let down the P.J.A., the sport and fans of the sport, yet, seemingly, the P.J.A. wanted, in the first instance, to protect him and suggested his victim should keep quiet. I may be wrong in that summary, but it is the view I gained from reading newspaper reports on the issue. I would hope the new broom at the P.J.A. sweeps clean the past mistakes and they represent fairly and with integrity every single one of their members and without favouritism. 
I would also hope when it next comes to appointing the next person to head-up the B.H.A. is that the new incumbent can ‘speak the language’ from day one of his or her occupancy of the position.