Elitism and Equestrian Sport

One of the biggest stigmas that show jumping must overcome, as a sport, is the perception that it is an elitist private club. Yet, the actions of those within the sport often perpetuate that image. Maybe some are happy to be part of a private club. Maybe they feel the sport can survive financially without growing public interest. Maybe they feel fans are a nuisance. Maybe they don’t believe that marketing to more people results in more people becoming involved. That involvement may be as a participant, a sponsor or various other roles that equate to increased revenue.

This has long been an image problem for all equestrian sports but, recently, it was brought glaringly to my attention. A page on the social networking site Facebook calls on people to become supporters of the Canadian Equestrian Team. It goes by the name “Canadian Equestrian Team Supporters”.  At the top of the page is the following statement from the page’s administrator (grammar and sentence structure is his or hers, not mine) “I think our Canadian Equestrian Team is under appreciated and under supported. You look at the states and right from juniors they are very well supported. I think our CET is really good they just need more support. I mean you do have Spruce Meadows!”

The goal of this Facebook page is to garner support for a sport that is seen to be under-supported. Most Facebook pages are to garner support for something, therefore they welcome all those who wish to join. But the “Canadian Equestrian Team Supporters” page has one important difference. One must qualify to join. The following, very telling, statement appears where most pages invite people to join: “This is a closed group. Members must be invited or approved by admin.”

As a media relations consultant, I am not one who believes social networking sites are “media”. Some disagree with me. Such sites can, however, be a powerful tool in the whole marketing function. I did a Facebook search for support pages for many other sports and did not find any others that are “closed”. This page demonstrates a systemic view in the sport that the “private club” approach is acceptable. Yet, while it is seen as acceptable, there is plenty of complaining when others fail to be supportive, financially, or otherwise. The administrator may well be someone at the grass roots level who believes he is doing the right thing.  That would illustrate just how systemic this minset is.

I have serious questions about this Facebook page. What is the criteria to be a Canadian Equestrian Team supporter? What would rule someone out as an appropriate Canadian Equestrian Team supporter? Who would be granted the authority to decide? Does the Canadian Equestrian Team endorse this and, if not, why have they not asked the administrator to take it down or change it?  The “admin” does make a confusing reference to Spruce Meadows. He could learn a lesson by looking to them. Spruce Meadows does not draw 50,000 spectators in a day by sending a message that they are a private club and want to stay that way.

Perpetuating Equestrian Stigmas in Interviews

There are a lot of people who think that show jumping riders are not athletes. Those who truly know the sport, or who anyone who has tried jumping a horse over a course, know that it is a difficult athletic endeavor, requiring many different athletic skills.

 

The doubts about their athletic prowess is a stigma to be overcome. Proper use of the media is a highly effective way to overcome stigma. Successful health organizations have demonstrated that time and time again.

 

However, when given a chance to do an interview, too many show jumping riders perpetuate that stigma. This is particularly true of the younger ones and is something that should be overcome early in a competitive career. There are some veterans who are guilty too.

 

I have been told by numerous journalists that their least favourite answer from a rider is also the most common. The complaint is that riders “give all the credit to the horse” when they do well. But, if the goal is to overcome the stigma that you are not actually an athlete, why credit only the horse?

 

Unless your goal is to perpetuate the stigma that riders are not athletes, then don’t follow a good performance with “My horse was really good today” or “My horse jumped really well today”. By the same token, following a bad performance don’t say, “My horse was tired today”, unless the latter happens to be especially true and you have also said something else.

The Trouble With the Word “Equestrian”

Terminology makes getting good media coverage difficult in many subject areas. Equestrian sport is one of the most problematic subjects when it comes to language. Those involved in the sport have a lingo of their own. It is well understood by them. Many of them grow up speaking it. It is not well understood by the general public, making it difficult to attract new fans, new participants, and those ever-important sponsors.

This problem can easily be overcome. There are plain-English, replacement terms, for almost every bit of “lingo” that is commonly used in the sport.

Surprisingly, however, one of the most problematic words is “equestrian”. There are a lot of different sports that can be accurately described with this adjective. However, the word is most commonly associated with the three English-riding Olympic equestrian sports. But, the dictionary defines equestrian as “having to do with horses”. That opens up a wide variety of ways in which it can be used.

One of the problems is that it is often used as if it is one sport. A good example is the recent broadcast of an equestrian three-day event on a major American television network. They promoted this broadcast as “equestrian championships”. This was particularly problematic because the equestrian sport involved had received some disturbingly negative coverage shortly before this broadcast in one of the world’s largest newspapers. Therefore, it causes all equestrian sport to be hurt by the negative publicity of one. It is a good illustration of how poor terminology can actually cause “bad press”.

Something similar happened in a Canadian newspaper recently, when they reported that Canadian riders were going to compete in the “Equestrian World Cup”. There are World Cups in several equestrian sports. This was not detrimental publicity, but a good example of confusion that can be caused by terminology that is not clear.

It’s easy to see how the naming of the U.S. television broadcast happened. The equestrian sport in question uses a name that is not sufficiently descriptive for the public or journalists to understand. What was formerly the equestrian “three-day event” (also not sufficiently descriptive, as events that are three days in length take place in almost every sport) or “horse trials” (somewhat better) has undergone a name change to “eventing”. The network was clearly trying to avoid the use of this noun-turned-verb that offers no description of what is going to take place.

But, media relations for show jumping is the subject of this blog. The choice of the American network is just offered as an example of how problematic the word “equestrian” can be.

One way to overcome the problem would be to have more descriptive names for each of the sports that fall into the “equestrian” catagory. “Equestrian jumping” or ”horse jumping” would be an improvement over ”show jumping”.

Clear, plain-English terms make anything easier to understand. There will be many future posts on improving the lingo of this sport to make it more media-friendly. 

Don’t Announce Negative News

It seems obvious, but don’t put out a news release unless you have news. In a previous post I talked about not using the same document for internal communications and for reaching out to the media. In several previous posts I have talked about the importance of understanding what constitutes news. Both of these errors contribute to a common mistake. That mistake is announcing something that gives the media an opportunity to write a negative story.

People within the show jumping community might be awaiting the results of a particular competition, no matter what those results are. When it comes to show jumping, the general public in North America is not. However, if the result is good or it becomes part of a bigger story, then it is news. Then it can be made into a story of public interest. It does not warrant a news release if it is not news.

The same organizations who would be the first to complain about “bad press” often unknowingly create it. For example, a news release that announces an athlete was the best Canadian at an international competition, then goes on to say that “best” performance was actually 27th or 28th place, is inviting negactive coverage. Yet, this happens. This “news” is appropriate for internal communication. Members of the equestrian community wants to know this. But, it feeds the media an opportunity to say the athlete “failed, “faltered”, or “choked”.   

I will talk more about how “bad press” happens in future posts. There are many things that cause negative publicity and many come from within an organization. The results of an international competition are usually in the public domain. Any journalist who is following the sport can access the results. Any athlete should be ready to be under media scrutiny. But don’t invite it by putting out official announcements of something that is not news.     

If You Hope to be Newsworthy, Plan Early

If you are organizing a special event or you are in a position that might put you in the public eye, don’t wait until you are making news to plan for it. 

If you are an up-and-coming athlete, now is the time to learn to skills to be a good interview. Don’t learn it from your coach. Many experienced athletes and coaches have a lot of experience doing interviews, but have formed some bad habits along the way.

For those who organize events, think of the media in everything you do from the outset. When naming your event or individual competitions within it, think about how media-friendly they are. Do they give the right impression? Are they easy to understand? Does it require an explanation, as to what it is, or is it self-explanatory? Will the sponsor portion of the name be used by the media or is it easy to drop?

When you design the layout of your grounds, think of the media’s needs then. It will be too late once it is built.

When you plan your schedule, think of the media. Will your schedule suit their deadlines and work schedule?

Media Relations for Equestrian Show Jumping

This section of JH Media Tips contains tips that are customized for a niche sport market served by JH Media. This includes equestrian events and organizations, as well as equestrian athletes. Up-and-coming equestrians who want to be more media savvy, make their sport more media-friendly, and learn to be a better interview can benefit from learning about the media early in their careers .

All of the media relations tips on the JH Media Tips main page apply to this group, as well as any group or organization, interested in better media relations.