Bryony Frost-Robbie Dunne: Racing Post readers have their say following verdict

As soon as the Bryony Frost-Robbie Dunne independent disciplinary panel hearing finished on Thursday, readers have been emailing the Racing Post in their droves on the matter. Here are their views . . .

Nothing to do with 'rancid'

Having watched the ITV coverage of the Cheltenham meeting and also read the coverage in the Racing Post I have been unbelievably disappointed by the reaction of the jockeys and a number of the commentators to the judgement in the Bryony Frost- Robbie Dunne case.

So much effort is being made across all areas of society – from business to the movie industry to sport – to create cultures that encourage those who feel victimised to speak up in the knowledge that they are safe from repercussion.

In short, that when they speak they will be listened to, taken seriously and that it won’t have a detrimental impact on their subsequent life or career. Perpetrators get away with their actions because their victims are too frightened to speak up.

Such a culture does not presume the guilt of the person or persons accused – that is a judgement that would be determined through due process. But it does recognise that many victims don’t ever speak up if they feel there is a more than reasonable chance they won’t be believed. The person raising the allegation is deserving of protection too.

Other than in a brief interaction between Francesca Cumani and Mick Fitzgerald in which Francesca played ‘devil’s advocate’ and in effect made this observation – to which Mick was pointedly silent in response – this central point was overlooked.

The jockeys have all chosen to take affront at the word ‘rancid’ and the aspersions it supposedly casts on them – individually and collectively – rather than recognising their working environment singularly disrespected an individual’s right to raise a serious complaint free from the fear of prejudicial consequences. I have yet to hear one jockey come out and acknowledge this or talk about Bryony’s bravery and that is the most disappointing element of their response.

Ironically, it actually is not about agreeing or disagreeing with Bryony, it is about respecting she is entitled to do what she did without the ostracisation that she has spoken about.

It also has nothing to do with the use of the word rancid – it’s just an adjective. Rather it is the broader point BHA counsel Louis Weston was making because it is the point that the independent panel agreed with. Mr Weston wasn’t accusing each jockey, he was calling out three things – that no-one deserves to be on the receiving end of certain treatments, that said treatments should not have become normalised and accepted, and, lastly, once a complaint was made to be frozen out because you speak up about it.

I really hope the jockeys and the PJA recognise that all Mr Weston was doing was applying the same standard of scrutiny that now exists in many other professional environments today on to theirs and observing it fell short of those standards. If they are angry at Mr Weston then they are attempting to shoot the messenger.

They are also ill-advised because if the culture of the weighing room was unfairly called into question before the trial then the collective reaction of the jockeys and the PJA subsequently risks going a long way towards retrospectively proving Mr Weston’s comments correct.
Oliver Madden
West Malling, Kent

Too many binary opinions

What has saddened me in the whole Frost-Dunne case is an inability for people in the media to cease feeding the binary positions that people have taken.

It is possible to be dismayed at the treatment suffered by Bryony Frost without wanting to see Robbie Dunne’s career ended. It is possible to believe that the weighing room culture can be improved while at the same time knowing that our jockeys are decent people. It is possible to believe that Bryony was bullied while accepting that the other female members of the weighing room cherish the atmosphere and the supportive nature of the environment.

Too often people nowadays want to be for or against, often with a self-important tone of outrage, often with no real understanding or knowledge of the culture they claim to be criticising.

I am very comfortable to declare that I am against any form of bullying or discrimination. I am also comfortable declaring that having met many jockeys over the past decade that I believe that they are decent people whom the sport is lucky to have.
Louise Cox

Look after your own

Let’s be clear, nobody called the jump jockeys ‘rancid’. The weighing room ‘culture’ was termed ‘rancid’.

For 20 years I frequented rugby changing rooms that exhibited the same mix of characters as any other sports locker room – the loudmouth; the reserved; the diligent; the slacker; the coarse; the courteous et al. If any barrack-room lawyer said or did anything that crossed the line senior figures took care of matters.

And that did not seem to happen in this case.

Consequently, when ‘good men’ do nothing ‘bad things’ may follow, eg a rancid atmosphere in which some – the reserved, the courteous . . . a female – may feel uncomfortable at best and victimised at worst.

While I have sympathy for all those jockeys who are as innocent as new-born babes in this affair, I have less for the ‘collective’ that is the weighing room for allowing this unsavoury cause celebre to gestate.
Michael Tanner
Sleaford, Lincolnshire

Show moral courage

It is 50 years to the day since I first visited Cheltenham to watch the Dreaper stable’s Leap Frog in the Massey Ferguson Gold Cup.

Ever since I have been in awe of the daily physical courage of jump jockeys in one of the toughest sports around.

Because of the dangers and narrow margins, raised voices and anger is inevitable. But bullying and sexism is not acceptable and letting things simmer is pathetic.

Recent days have demonstrated moral weakness in the isolation that the whistleblower has been subjected to – something which in any other organisation would be a cause of disciplinary action.

I understand the reaction to ‘rancid’, but, having run many large organi-sations, I feel the last thing to do in these situations is evade the issue or be defensive.

Please, senior jockeys, for the sake of yourselves and our sport face the issue, admit the behaviour was reprehensible, admit the weighing room reaction let the whistleblower down even more, make sure that you correct the relationships and be proactive in any future cases where tempers fray.

Collectively show the moral courage that you demonstrate physically day in, day out.
Dr Mike More
Cambridge

Remove any clouds

I have this horrible vision of Bryony Frost walking into a place where she should be safe and welcome and having fellow professionals turning their backs on her.

This can easily affect a person trying to do a job where you need to be physically fit and mentally sound.

Although Robbie Dunne owned up to a small part of the allegations, he would have been better off taking a more objective stance, similar to former England captain Michael Vaughan when questioned about the racist allegations at Yorkshire. He did not exonerate himself from blame and emerged with some credit.

What we don’t want is for a cloud to hang over Frost. We don’t want any underhand nastiness to continue and run the risk of her walking away from the sport she has graced.
David Patrick Moore
Beckenham

Well done King

I was greatly heartened to read Neil King’s commentary on the Frost/Dunne affair, at least in part because there seems to have been a deafening silence from the training community about the treatment meted out to Bryony Frost by Robbie Dunne.

The entire racing community needs to do some serious soul-searching about its attitude to issues of sexism and bullying in all aspects of life in the racing world. Exceptionalism is no longer a tenable defence (if it ever was) .
Ken Wheeler
Newcastle

Unjustified name-calling

Charlie Deutsch’s eloquent, apparently unrehearsed, attack on the weighing room being called ‘rancid’ was heartfelt, and convincing.

But where were he and his jockey colleagues when Robbie Dunne was calling Bryony Frost names that were a lot worse than rancid? Maybe now they can start to realise how much hurt can be caused by unjustified name-calling.
Patrick Stroudley
Epsom

Shared responsibility

Unlike Yorkshire cricket, a 12-year-old retrospective claim, the Dunne-Frost debacle had the opportunity to be resolved in real time.

Dunne shouldn’t take sole responsibility. The weighing room, the valets, the PJA and BHA all need to share responsibility and make changes.
Mike Strong
Andover

A foregone conclusion

In response to the outcome of the Bryony Frost/Robbie Dunne hearing, I felt compelled to write to say that not all members of the ‘racing public’ feel that the hearing was in any way a fair process.

In my view, it was clear from the leaks prior to the hearing that the result of the process was a foregone conclusion, given the fear of the racing authorities regarding any perceived tolerance of misogyny in the sport and the high media profile of the complainant.

As an external observer, it appears to me that while Dunne’s behaviour towards Frost was unacceptable, the frustrations which led him to behave in this way seem to have arisen out of concern for the safety of equine and human participants; a fact that has been glossed over during the reporting of the disciplinary process in the general press. The evidence given by the other jockeys at the hearing suggests at least some level of tacit agreement with these concerns.

Blaming the weighing room culture was, to my mind, an attempt to deflect any scrutiny of the way in which the regulatory body deals with racing incidents that don’t necessarily affect the outcome of races and was grossly unfair and unjustified.
Vicky Connolly

Embrace the decision

No-one should have to go through what Bryony Frost has over a ridiculously long period.

I hope the members of the jockeys’ changing room embrace this decision and appreciate their absolute need to embrace Bryony and any others who have suffered mental turmoil from being tormented in the same manner.
Steve Turner
North Yorkshire

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