Calacus Weekly Hit & Miss – Lewes FC & Gordon Elliott

Every Monday we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the previous week.

HIT – LEWES FC

Every year on International Women’s Day (IWD) we see organisations looking to align themselves with topics such as gender equality, female empowerment, and fighting bias.

The theme for IWD 2021 is #ChooseToChallenge, encouraging individuals and businesses to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements to help create an inclusive world.

While it’s easy to produce words on the importance of such issues, it’s the organisations that have proved they are committed to enforcing change that have the most credibility in this space.

East Sussex football club Lewes FC offer a perfect example after the fan-owned club promised equal investment, support and pay for their women’s and men’s teams in 2017. Four years on, Lewes are still the only club in Europe to have taken the stance.

This unique selling point has made Lewes an attractive employer to work for, with former England star Claire Rafferty joining the club as a non-executive director and Equal Playing Field co-founder Maggie Murphy taking on the role of general manager.

“For me, there wasn’t any other football club that I was interested in joining. It wasn’t really about football, it was about changing football,” Murphy explained in an interview with The Guardian.

“Joining the club, a little bit was about putting my money where my mouth was and to try and see if it’s possible to create a better type of club. Lewes had already done all the hard work, they’d already established the equality principle in 2017. So for me, this was like, well, let’s see where I can help to take it next.

“Football has so much potential to influence and impact culture. If we don’t engage with football as a vehicle for social change, we’ll get there, we’ll get wherever we’re trying to go, but we might just get there 10 years later than if we had used football as that vehicle first, because in this country it is so powerful.”

In December, Lewes benefited from a six-figure investment from fashion company Lyle & Scott, with the ground-breaking collaboration helping provide the club with funds for new players and enabling grassroots community outreach and the development of club facilities.

“The fact that they were willing to back us with such an investment in the middle of a pandemic was a huge validation for us of everything we’ve been putting into place for so many years.

“In the US, in the summer, fans were buying [National Women’s Soccer League sponsor] Budweiser to give to the Houston Dash players. Women’s football fans are very loyal to brands that back the product.”

Lewes FC offer a perfect example of an organisation benefiting from success that has stemmed from putting purpose at the heart of everything they do.

Results on the pitch have also improved with the team accruing more points in the 2020-21 season than in any previous campaign, however, it is the way that the club has communicated its core values and key messages in recent years that has really resonated with their audience.

A BBC Sport study recently revealed that the overwhelming majority of sports now offer equal winning prize money to men and women at the top level, but the biggest gap remains in football, and by some distance.

The hope is that other clubs will begin to follow the lead of Lewes and take action to provide female athletes with the same opportunities as their male counterparts, or as Rafferty commented: “I hope one day we don’t have to have special days and every single day is International Women’s Day.”

MISS – GORDON ELLIOTT

There is regular debate about the well-being of horses through their participation in horseracing and high-profile deaths at marquee racing events.

The British Horseracing Authority understandably goes to great lengths to underline its commitment to horse welfare and says: “Responsibility for the care of our animals rests with everyone in the sport. British horseracing is run by people with a deep love of horses.”

So the reputation of the entire sport has been rocked over the past week with photos emerging of three-time Grand National-winning trainer Gordon Elliott which showed him sitting on a dead horse.

Elliott did the right thing, making a statement on Twitter in which he explained the context for the image and promising to co-operate with The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) investigation.

He said: “I apologise profoundly for any offence that this photo has caused. I can categorically state that the welfare of each and every horse under my care is paramount and has been central to the success that we have enjoyed.

While the way you react to a crisis often has a bearing on its longer-term consequences, it does not guarantee that those involved can come out unscathed.

The story has had devastating consequences with Elliott's yard sponsor eCOMM Merchant Solutions terminating their contract with the trainer.

Betfair also ended their sponsorship of Elliott last week, with a spokesperson for the firm saying: “While we recognise that Gordon deeply regrets and apologised unreservedly for his poor judgement his actions are completely at odds with the values of the Betfair brand and that of our employees. With that in mind, we have decided to discontinue our association with Gordon with immediate effect.”

Gigginstown House Stud, one of Ireland’s leading owners groups, said it will continue to support Elliott with joint-owner Michael O'Leary, backing the trainer despite his error.

In a statement, O'Leary said: “The care and welfare of all our horses comes first with all our trainers. Sadly, from time to time our horses suffer injuries and/or fatalities and we expect all such cases to be treated with the care and attention they deserve.

“We accept that the photograph was a grievous but momentary lapse of judgement from Gordon, and not in keeping with our 15-year experience of his concern for and attention to the welfare of our horses. We all make mistakes, and what is important is that we learn from them and ensure we do not repeat them. We accept Gordon's profound, sincere and unreserved apology, and we will continue to support him and his team at Cullentra as they work to recover from this deeply regrettable incident.”

The story has taken on national importance, with Irish Sports Minister Jack Chambers admitting that Elliott should at least be barred from taking part at the Cheltenham racing festival in late March.

Mr Chambers said: “I think he needs to be held fully accountable. I think anyone who saw it was shocked by it and we need to uphold the highest animal welfare standards in Ireland.

“Any and every sanction should be on the table. It is important. We have a significant amount of equestrian activity in Ireland and we need to set a really high bar when it comes to welfare standards.”

The British Horseracing Authority said it was "appalled" by the image and banned Elliott from saddling runners in Britain while the investigation was undertaken.

Elliott was subsequently banned from racing by an IHRB hearing for 12 months with six suspended and was also ordered to pay costs of €15,000.

The IHRB stated: “We consider that a suspension of Mr Elliott’s training licence is merited. In all of the circumstances of this case, to reflect the seriousness of the offence and the damage to the Irish racing industry, to deter other offences of this nature and having taken into account the mitigating factors we have heard we consider the period should be 12 months however the last six months of this will be suspended.”

Elliott made another statement after the verdict and said that he “will carry the burden of my transgressions for the rest of my career,” adding: “I will never again disrespect a horse living or dead and I will not tolerate it in others.”

However that ban looked toothless  at the weekend when it emerged that Elliott’s horses could run under another trainer, Denise Foster, with a tweet from the stables, later deleted, saying that “Gordon will be available to assist her as she requires.”

Animal Aid Horse Racing Consultant, Dene Stansall, admitted that the sport’s reputation had been hugely undermined by the verdict.

“Animal Aid’s dismay at this pathetically small level of punishment, follows the initial shock when the disgraceful images first appeared. The Board’s decision lacks integrity and backbone and has failed the horses who are the real victims of this industry. This shows that the industry cannot self-regulate horse welfare – there needs to be a separate and independent welfare regulator that can impose its own sanction on the industry and upon individuals within that.

“A key question which needed answering before the image emerged, and still does, is why are young horses dying in training. Morgan, whose lifeless body was treated with such contempt by Elliott, was just seven years old. He was a victim of racing, without a doubt.”

The sport suffered a further blow when a video of a jockey sitting on another dead horse was circulated on social media.

Rob James, who rode the Elliott-trained Milan Native to victory at the Cheltenham Festival last year, said he was “heartbroken by the damage” he had caused.

“To try defending my stupidity at the time would add further insult and hurt to the many loyal people that have supported me during my career. I have caused embarrassment to my employers, my family and most importantly the sport I love. I am heartbroken by the damage I have caused and will do my best to try and make amends to those hurt by my conduct.”

With horse welfare such a key issue, the actions of individuals can have a devastating effect on the wider reputation of the sport and it will take more than social media apologies to recover.