In yet another unfortunate incident in Irish Showjumping on the weekend there are allegations of punch ups and threats which were well covered in the daily mainstream media and one would have to, at this stage, ask the question "who is trying to destroy Irish showjumping?"

Equestrian sport struggles to get positive publicity at the best of times, so how is it that every time there is a major or minor scuffle at a horse show, the non equestrian press seem to be there to report on it - yet when there are displays of excellent showjumping by those perhaps not in the spotlight there is little to no coverage of it. Who is alerting the media to be at certain locations? If this question could only be answered perhaps we would have part of the answer to what is going so wrong with Irish showjumping.

As journalists and news editors throughout the country, myself included, entertained themselves with clever headlines such as the one which appeared in Sunday World "Showthumpers" the real issues are being clouded by what can only be described as red herrings!

There are many stories coming out of Friday evenings alleged incident and the truth is that there are probably only two people who know the truth - Ryan Crumley and Harry Marshall as nobody actually heard the exchanges between the two riders.

It is alleged by Crumley (23 years old) that Harry Marshall (51 years old) punched him in the face for no apparent reason. Some witnesses have stated that there was a screaming match between the two riders whilst others have stated that Crumley was interfering with Marshall's practice fence prior to going into the ring to jump his round - all in all the whole incident seems confused at the very least and some may say sinister at worst but whatever really happened it should never have been reported in any publications as it really doesn't warrant all this attention.

Sports people at top level live on adrenaline - it is what makes them better than the weekend hobbyist - they take their sport very seriously and if every comment made on a football field were reported as alleged assaults sport would become very boring - the same goes for showjumping surely where riders are putting themselves at physical risk everytime they go into the ring with their horse(s).

The riders have been on their horses from 8am through till midnight and later on many days during this long International show and tempers are sure to flare - does this justify reports to Gardei, charges threatened to be laid and talk of the International Governing body of Equestrian Sport, the FEI being approached to ban a top class international showjumper?

The interesting thing is that our office received reports from "anonymous" callers telling us of huge bruises on Ryan's face and yet when we caught up with him at Cavan on Sunday morning there was no sign of any damage to his young face - so again one has to assume that there are people trying to fire up antagonism towards Harry Marshall and this begs the question of why?

Harry was surely the aggrieved person in the Dublin debacle where he was the "on again, off again" member of the Aga Khan Cup Irish team and yet, in his usual way Harry spoke his mind and the incident was over as far as he was concerned - it appears strange that he would suddenly, for no apparent reason, punch a young man in the face causing Crumley to seek first aid assistance. Regardless of whether people believed Harry should or should not have been on the Aga Khan team it is a bitter pill to swallow when you are told you are on the team and then told an hour later that you are not.

And as if Cian O'Connor hasn't had enough drama this year, with having his Olympic Gold medal taken off him after his horse Waterford Crystal was found to have illegal substances in his samples, he now appears to have been dragged into this latest scuffle by virtue only of the fact that he is Ryan Crumley's mentor. Cian was allegedly in the ring competing when the alleged incident took place in the practice arena.

Irish showjumping officials need to take affirmative action to stop the bitter and at times sinister fighting which is now becoming the catch cry of Irish showjumping - and the riders in this country are surely better than that!

When Dermott Lenon won the coveted title of World Champion in 2002, young riders throughout Ireland looked to him as their hero - when this was followed up in 2004 with an Olympic Gold medal from Cian O'Connor the interest and involvement in the sport rocketed. Then disaster struck when Waterford Crystal returned a positive swab and it was then revealed that ABC Landliebe had also returned a positive swab for the same drugs and the up and coming young riders - the future of the sport - lost faith in getting to the top.

Speaking with many of the Young Riders currently on the circuit in Ireland, they are losing faith in their chosen profession as professional riders and are losing faith in the belief that their Federation and officialdom are there to keep the sport honest - so does this mean that tomorrow's superstars will be found playing lawn bowls instead for recreation only - I for one hope not as they are an incredibly talented group of youngsters with some of the most talented horses I have seen.

The coming year of showjumping is going to be an important one - the riders and officials must rally together or else the end result will almost undoubtedly be relegation to the B league of Nations cup jumping and the World Equestrian Games will see no glory for Ireland and this all serves to do nothing but belittle the success of Dermott Lennon, the current World Champion, Jessica Kurten currently ranked number 6 in the world and the heroes of the past such as Eddie Macken, Paul Darragh, John Ledingham ( to name but a few) and of course the legendary Miss Iris Kellett who showed the world where Ireland was on the map! Surely respect for past and present heroes must prevail and this nonsense must come to an end before somebody is seriously hurt both physically and mentally, to say nothing of the demise of the sport.

In closing I would like to say that this editorial was written unwillingly as this publication is not interested in the petty squirmish which should have been left in the practice arena - our commentary is done for public knowledge as our readers have a right to know what is happening in the sport.