Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) is determined to explore every possible avenue in order to get Ireland’s show jumpers to the 2016 Olympics following last week’s controversy.

“We will leave no stone unturned, including going to the Court of Arbitration For Sport (CAS) to have justice done in relation the incident of interference with Cian O’Connor’s round at the European Championships in Aachen that has, at this point, denied Ireland its qualifying place for next year’s Olympics,” said HSI chair Prof Pat Wall.

HSI CEO Damien McDonald added: “We will be examining all of our options provided for within the rules.”

Pat Wall also told The Irish Horse this week that they will be taking legal advice for the lodging of a full appeal within the 14-day period allowed.

The interference incident is a huge talking point out of a championships that had drama to the very end.

For people in the stands and the many spoken to by The Irish Horse who were watching it on the TG4 broadcast, it appeared obvious that the interference of the arena steward must have resulted in Cian O’Connor having the next fence (11) down.

Also, this orange oxer was not knocked by any other competitor in the 53-starter final of the team event. The four faults announced for O’Connor meant that Ireland lost its qualifying spot by less than half a penalty.

Appeal

It was excruciating, heart-breaking and most of all sad since even after Robert Splaine’s fervent appeal to both the ground and appeal juries, there was no budging on the issue of posting the four faults for fence 11. Even though the fact of interference was not in question, the panels did not allow that in consequence O’Connor and Good Luck knocked the fence.

If and when HSI goes before CAS, it could be a very different matter. In that situation, the focus will be on the fact of consequential interference and on fairness. Should they rule in Ireland’s favour, the ball will then be back in the International Equestrian Federation’s (FEI) court.