BYE, BYE BILL BYRNE! IT’S TIME TO GO ... IAN HALL

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Racing Queensland’s Interim CEO Ian Hall is an extraordinary man.

No ... wait ... hear me out.

Who else, after years of tumultuous infighting, has been able to unite the Queensland racing industry in the way that Ian Hall has managed to do?

That’s a mind-blowing achievement in itself.

Who would have thought that the broader racing fraternity from breeders (big and small) through to owners and trainers (big and small), jockeys, work riders and stable staff, to mention a few, would all come together in such a consolidated manner to fight for the future of their industry.

There is one small twist of course, and a sad one at that, because it is, in fact, the very same Ian Hall and his Racing Queensland entourage ... as well as the government that backs them ... that most industry stakeholders are united against!

It can be argued that in any respectable business a CEO, interim or otherwise, who has so totally lost the confidence of those people who are the very fabric of the business, would either step aside or be replaced.

But then racing has always been a particular beast, particularly at the hierarchy level where it is perceived by many (rightly or wrongly) that performance, general competence and overall achievement seem to have remarkably little significance as long as you are carrying the ruling political colours of the time.

So it is a given that the change needed to offset the massive blow to the confidence of racing’s stakeholders will not come from the top.

Hence, Hall might regret the day he united racing stakeholders. In doing so I suggest he created a monster which he might now find difficult to contain.

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Racing stakeholders have always had enormous latent power. Previously they have been too fragmented to put it to effective use. This time they all appear to be rallying to the cause and flexing their muscles with serious intent.

Jockeys, nation-wide, currently have a petition going against the introduction of the proposed new helmets. They don’t see why they should have to wear them. In fact some will refuse to do so.

Similarly, given the current mood, it is clear that racing stakeholders in Queensland have reached the point where they are no longer prepared to wear the negative, blinkered rulings passed on to them by racing authorities which impact so dramatically on their lives, particularly from people who have little knowledge of the industry they are supposed manage or of the needs of individuals they are supposed to represent.

I mean, come on, whose interests does it serve for racing in Queensland not to have a Racing Board authority in place for eleven months? Certainly not racing’s interest!

There seem to be cuts everywhere except to the racing executive’s salaries.

That in itself can be taken as an insult by racing stakeholders who are now being expected to provide the motor for the industry for less of a return than before. At very least the degree of insensitivity is astounding.

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In the past racing authorities have survived verbal protest, by and large, by being happy to pass it off as hot air and allow it to naturally dissipate without consequence.

My belief is that it would be folly for them to put the current anti-Racing Queensland sentiment into that category.

This is more than hot air and, even those who don’t know which end of the horse to feed, should realise that this is a very different situation having now reached an ‘enough is enough’ scenario.

The former Racing Minister Bill Byrne has moved on. In normal circumstances It would be the Australian way to give his replacement, Grace Grace, ‘a fair go’ ... but these are not normal circumstances.

Time is too critical.

Racing knows only too well the harm that can be done by given somebody who has no credentials for the job leeway to get on with it.

Racing provides for the community in a positive manner on a scale which very few businesses can claim and as such it deserves better treatment.

For most in the game, the essential priority is to find somebody with a high level of racing knowledge and a fine sprinkle of business savvy to fill the hot seat at Racing Queensland before racing in the state can even think of turning the corner.

And that means the whole, pending, new management structure definitely cannot wait until April.

In my opinion I can’t see any way that can happen unless, of course, racing says,

‘Bye, Bye Bill Byrne. It’s time to go ... Ian Hall.’

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