While Jan Tops and FEI President Ingmar de Vos will present the new season of the Longines Global Champions Tour and its new team league next Tuesday at Valkenswaard, the European Federation and some of the riders are mobilizing. They will also meet Tuesday in Berne. The EEF feels that that the sport is at stake! They share the opinion that our sport is leadin in the direction, that in the future only the very fortunate of this world can afford to be part of high level sport. For the past 3-4 years, the EEF Jumping Working Group and the EEF Board have been working together with the FEI Jumping Director as well as the Chair of the FEI Jumping Committee to find a satisfactory agreement about a worldwide invitation systems for all 5/4/3/2 star CSI shows. The group achieved a compromise which was satisfactory for most of the federations. Based on this work the following new system was introduced: • 60% of invitations come directly from the FEI world ranking list in descending order • 20% of invitations are home riders and 3/4 FEI wild cards • 20% of invitations are for the organizers themselves (most of them pay cards) Since there the FEI wanted to get rid of the long dispute between them and the GCT/GTL the board of directors had given a mandate to President Ingmar de Vos to solve it. From this the MOU was developed in secrecy. After pressure of several countries the FEI release the now new MOU agreement between the FEI and GCT/GTL. And it seems to totally ignores the system all of them have been working on for the last years. The Invitation System for this Series is: • A: 30 % of invitations come directly from the Longines FEI World Ranking list in descending order • B: 30 % of invitations come from the Longines FEI World Ranking list between 17/18-250, not in descending order, Ranking of the month of August of the previous year. • C: 10 % of invitations are home riders (riders from the country where the show takes place) and one FEI wildcard. • D: 30 % of invitations are for the organizers themselves A second problem the EEF sees it the proposition to its NF’s to harmonize the entry fees worldwide. That would mean a raise in Europe to more than double of what they are now. In Europe, riders currently pay an average of 400 euros per horse in a 2-star show. Calculations based on FEI’s new proposal show that the entry fee, with the maximum price money, will be doubled up to 1200 euros per horse in 2 star shows and close to 1500 in 3 star shows within 3 years. The FEI proposals have drawn harsh criticism from most NF´s in Europe to the point where the European Equestrian Federation has taken a stand and does not accept this proposal. They would rather keep the EU system as it is. As the EEF feels is more beneficial for the sport to work down-top, opposite of the proposed system that works top-down. Read more about the changes, and their background, here.
While Jan Tops and FEI President Ingmar de Vos will present the new season of the Longines Global Champions Tour and its new team league next Tuesday at Valkenswaard, the European Federation and some of the riders are mobilizing. They will also meet Tuesday in Berne. The EEF feels that that the sport is at stake! They share the opinion that our sport is leadin in the direction, that in the future only the very fortunate of this world can afford to be part of high level sport. For the past 3-4 years, the EEF Jumping Working Group and the EEF Board have been working together with the FEI Jumping Director as well as the Chair of the FEI Jumping Committee to find a satisfactory agreement about a worldwide invitation systems for all 5/4/3/2 star CSI shows. The group achieved a compromise which was satisfactory for most of the federations. Based on this work the following new system was introduced: • 60% of invitations come directly from the FEI world ranking list in descending order • 20% of invitations are home riders and 3/4 FEI wild cards • 20% of invitations are for the organizers themselves (most of them pay cards) Since there the FEI wanted to get rid of the long dispute between them and the GCT/GTL the board of directors had given a mandate to President Ingmar de Vos to solve it. From this the MOU was developed in secrecy. After pressure of several countries the FEI release the now new MOU agreement between the FEI and GCT/GTL. And it seems to totally ignores the system all of them have been working on for the last years. The Invitation System for this Series is: • A: 30 % of invitations come directly from the Longines FEI World Ranking list in descending order • B: 30 % of invitations come from the Longines FEI World Ranking list between 17/18-250, not in descending order, Ranking of the month of August of the previous year. • C: 10 % of invitations are home riders (riders from the country where the show takes place) and one FEI wildcard. • D: 30 % of invitations are for the organizers themselves A second problem the EEF sees it the proposition to its NF’s to harmonize the entry fees worldwide. That would mean a raise in Europe to more than double of what they are now. In Europe, riders currently pay an average of 400 euros per horse in a 2-star show. Calculations based on FEI’s new proposal show that the entry fee, with the maximum price money, will be doubled up to 1200 euros per horse in 2 star shows and close to 1500 in 3 star shows within 3 years. The FEI proposals have drawn harsh criticism from most NF´s in Europe to the point where the European Equestrian Federation has taken a stand and does not accept this proposal. They would rather keep the EU system as it is. As the EEF feels is more beneficial for the sport to work down-top, opposite of the proposed system that works top-down. Read more about the changes, and their background, here.