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“they must therefore now be in a position of not believing the panel’s verdict. Which is the reason the PJA now insist on the word “felt” – “Bryony felt harassed” – and can not talk about it as fact.”
I suppose whilst Dunne can still appeal (doomed to failure though it may be) perhaps they cannot treat the bullying as fact till either an appeal has failed or the time window to lodge one has passed. Still though “Sorry you felt that way” is dismissive and shifts blame back to the victim. Better to just say something like “We provisionally accept the finding whilst recognising that our PJA member Dunne may lodge an appeal if he wishes. We acknowledge that our PJA member Frost has had an absolutely torrid time from pillar to post”.
As other Forumers have said before on this thread, Dunne admitted to the charge that occurred at Southwell on 3 September 2020, so either with, or without, a “trial” he was still guilty of abuse and harassment aimed at Bryony Frost. The PJA and various jockeys are doing their reputations no favours by continuing to use words like “felt”, and like Aidan Coleman today saying that the jockeys have families and are not nasty people, yet not one of them has said a word about helping Bryony or stopping Robbie. What sort of family man does that make Aidan Coleman? What do they expect the racing public, or the general public, to think of them as a group, and the culture they have created? They surely cannot imagine that anyone has much respect for such a weak group of people.
Should someone contact Aidan and ask him what Bryony replied when he approached her to ask if she needed any help, or told her to contact him if she needed defending from the words and actions of Robbie Dunne?
tbh Suspect in truth it is less unanimous than it appears, Clive.
People are too scared to give their opinion; not wanting to look like sexists or misogynists.
It is extremely easy for something someone says to be manipulated or exaggerated or taken out of context.Value Is EverythingWell that’s true MV. I agree with wordfromthewise that Ed was rather laying it on with a trowel about “the weighing room at its best” and how everyone is great but when discussing with Mick Fitz jockeys upset at having the happy family reputation besmirched he did say “and the most important thing, how’s Bryony?” There was a slight pause and Fitzy said “Ok I think, she’s back riding horses blah blah” and I thought it just sounded like “I dunno I haven’t actually asked her”.
“is it right to have mick Fitzgerald’s presence on itv racing? I’m the last person to cancel opinions but his attitude during this has more than grated”
“People are too scared to give their opinion; not wanting to look like sexists or misogynists.”
While I agree the word “misogynist” is overused – I was called one on Twitter recently simply for saying Emily Maitlis (who I’m a huge fan of btw) clearly relishes being a bitch to dishonest politicians just as much as Andrew Neil relishes being a b*****d to them – it is pretty hard to support the all-too-evident culture we see before us on any level.
Tony McCoy and Mick Fitzgerald are out of step with public opinion and that’s a dangerous place to be when you work for a mainstream broadcaster.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Without having ever been in a weighing room, I tend to find that generalisations never characterise reality.
One person bullied another here and no one who witnessed it did anything about it. That’s on their consciences, but it’s conjecture to imply that this case then represents the weighing room in its totality up and down the country as we’ve no idea how many transgressions from civil behaviour may or may not happen or how they are resolved.
It’s sad that the collective here can provide a considered view of how things should have been handled yet those in the positions of authority can handle things so badly.
Glad the Irish have had the wit to realise the same thing could happen here. I hope any process developed doesn’t turn into an old boys’ panel. They’d be as well to hire a Jackie Weaver type independent mediator to lead any of these sorts of meetings even if they need ex jockeys for the technical bit .
The Racing Post has removed the paywall from their letters page about this case, wanting the letters to have as wide a circulation as possible. No doubt what the balance of letters say about it, especially about the attitude of other jockeys.
https://www.racingpost.com/news/comment/bryony-frost-robbie-dunne-racing-post-readers-have-their-say-on-the-hot-topic/526709The good old days! –
(I wonder if Chris Maude’s “mediation” in this case involved yoinking Murphy’s arm up his back…but that might be the only thing that could stop him looking at his record, which included indecent assault. What a guy.)
Also the good old days:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/sport/2021/oct/21/former-jockey-alleges-that-weighing-room-abuse-drove-him-from-horse-racingIn “the honor system” commonly used in US college examinations, a student who sees another student cheating is deemed as liable as the cheat, if he/she does not report the cheating. The same sort of rule should apply to the type of bullying which Ms Frost received.
I am sure most of the jockeys
in the weighing room used to
read and enjoy the famous five books when they were younger – possibly with a torch under the covers like I did.
It is only recently at an old age and way past my prime that I discovered that Timmy was not the main character.
It shows that I have a lot of
learnin to do, and I wanted to
impart this fact to the jockeys. To my surprise Julian was the leader who got them all home in one piece – not THE DOG.Shame more of the trainers and jockeys have not followed Neil King’s lead and called it like it is, well played Neil King for having the cohones to speak your mind and not give a damn who it might upset.
https://www.racingpost.com/news/members/disciplinary-hearing/absolutely-dreadful-top-jockeys-did-not-help-to-end-the-bullying-neil-king/526711Jon Holmes of the pha once again said he was sorry bryony felt bullied and said he couldn’t say anything else as they are considering an appeal. Two things stand out here. One that they can only appeal the length of suspension as dunne admitted threatening behaviour and two he never once mentioned what he was doing to help bryony who is after all one of his members. This fax outrage at the word rancid is really getting on my wick. What word would they use for a grown man dropping his towel and screaming at a fellow jockey while nobody said anything. The dictionary definition of rancid as applied to behaviour is highly unpleasant and repugnant. Sounds bloody accurate to me.
The jockeys are skating on thin ice as the public will see through this facade and the minute they give a horse a bad ride I’m sure punters frustration with them will spill out.
Grow a pair guys and be man enough to admit you got it wrong and move on. Sorry really is the hardest word.“Be man enough to admit you got it wrong and move on. Sorry really is the hardest word.”
Most jockeys get very defensive when anyone suggests they have ridden a bad race and seldom (if ever) hold their hands up and admit they messed it up. Perhaps it is not surprising they are not prepared to admit wrongdoing in a serious situation like bullying when they never admit getting it wrong in the trivial circumstances of a horse race either.
I thought exactly the same re Mick Fitz greenasgrsss, it was obvious he hadn’t bothered checking up on Bryony or offering support, and she is supposedly one of the jockeys he has coached and mentored.
Bryony has shown more courage in bringing this bullying behaviour into the spotlight than all the rest of them put together.Also totally sickened by the fawning of
Chamberlain etc on itv yesterday, I wonder if itv could be pointed to this thread on the forum and have a read through of it to realise how out of step they are. They are always bleating on about how great racing is and bringing it to a wider audience, and Bryony is exactly the sort of articulate and enthusiastic person to do that as well as being a brilliant jockey.Jon Holmes has been very poor, he should be considering his position IMO.
Clearly there has been lots going on behind the scenes in the lead up but for him to continually refuse to acknowledge that Frost WAS bullied rather than his persistent use of the phrase ‘felt bullied’, even when prompted and pressed on the semantic, comes across as cowardly. He also threw in the word ‘but’ which is always a flag and his ‘move on’ sentiment is typical of what you hear when people just want something to go away rather than have to deal with it.
Disappointing. As was the BHA chief exec Julie Harrington.Clear examples of weak leadership in a sport that is crying, begging, for strength.
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