Zoe Williams Spiteful Piece in Guardian

Tallante said:
I don't understand what you are all getting worked up about.

I think it was quite funny because of it's perspective. Clearly written by an outsider, commenting on some of the more curious aspects of equestrian sport as they see it.

As for the royal-bashing; it's never nice, but they're used to it and know how to deal with it. Compared to some of the vitriol often meted out in their direction I thought it was quite mild.

Lighten up. You should never believe anything you read in the papers.
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I thought I was the only one !!
 
Horrible article. All the money in the world cannot turn you into an Olympic Equestrian - as those of us who DO ride know!! Has anyone ever told this lady that eventing is the most dangerous sport in the world? Riders get killed. Being a Royal does not protect you from that.

I too dislike this sort of snobbery - I went to a very rough Sec. Mod. where most people left at aged 15 with no qualifications. I did manage to obtain an MBA and purchased my first horse when I was in my 40's.

I am now the only breeder of Cleveland Bays in the whole of mainland Europe. I will never compete as I am quite a nervous rider and take my hat off to people who do.
 
I'm a little bit in love with MissPym (whoever she is) after reading her wonderfully ascerbic comments to this ridiculous article.

P
 
Tallante said:
ps: loved the MK:IC dialogue.
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Me too!

WandaMare said:
With all the investigations about the nasty tweets about Tom Daly I'm surprised this isn't considered equally menacing.
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Erm, seriously?!


I don't have so much of a problem with it, other than it 's all a bit obvious. Often when the media happens to light on a topic you actually know something about, it comes across as inadequate, because journalists are generalists not specialists. William's piece is supposed to be social commentary, not sports reporting. The Telegraph article is space-filler. If you want people to feel differently about your sport, tell them what's good about it. But you can't deny the incredible expense involved, nor how arcane it must seem for the uninitiated!

BTW, the snipes you lot are making about this journalist being romantically snubbed and her own privileged educational background also sound a tad mean spirited!
 
"But you can't deny the incredible expense involved, nor how arcane it must seem for the uninitiated!"

True, but that is also true of all Olympic sports, those competing don't just up and decide one day they will have a crack at the Olympics. It takes years of training, expensive equipment, physios, psychologists etc etc for most of the disciplines. They are elite for a reason.

This article does nothing but work negatively against normalising equestrian activities. I was lucky enough to be there on test day last year, it was great to open up this fabulous sport to inner city children who know nothing of the process but were fascinated by these beautiful animals in action.

Having sat at Greenwich for the eventing dressage there were plenty of people in the crowds who clearly knew nothing about dressage, but were delighted to watch good sport. Yes the American family beside me were pleased to be watching a royal compete, but so what. Why does that warrant the useless drivel written by Zoe Williams?

Before anyone jumps on me, this is just my opionion and contrary to some I am happy for others to disagree with me. Though in the same vein I would not tell them to lighten up as I would respect their right to an opinion ;):)
 
NR99 said:
"But you can't deny the incredible expense involved, nor how arcane it must seem for the uninitiated!"

True, but that is also true of all Olympic sports, those competing don't just up and decide one day they will have a crack at the Olympics. It takes years of training, expensive equipment, physios, psychologists etc etc for most of the disciplines. They are elite for a reason.
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Yes, no question.

NR99 said:
This article does nothing but work negatively against normalising equestrian activities. I was lucky enough to be there on test day last year, it was great to open up this fabulous sport to inner city children who know nothing of the process but were fascinated by these beautiful animals in action.
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Which is great to hear - our local riding school for being involved with a scheme with our local county council to subsidise lessons in a similar way. But at £26.50 per 1/2 lesson for the unsubsidised, it is undeniably out of the reach of most.

NR99 said:
Having sat at Greenwich for the eventing dressage there were plenty of people in the crowds who clearly knew nothing about dressage, but were delighted to watch good sport. Yes the American family beside me were pleased to be watching a royal compete, but so what. Why does that warrant the useless drivel written by Zoe Williams?
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I don't know if it does - I suspect she thinks that we, on some level, have to face up to the fact that "some people are more equal than others", and that that is not really ok.
 
Oh dear, I think a horse might have bitten her once. How do you work up such obvious dislike for a sport and its fraternity?

Is she restricted to equestrianism or is she to be unleashed on all sports?

Amusing, if miles off the mark!
 
Just wondered if the papers thought it was going to rain and sent the office juniors to cover the eventing as the more senior journalists wanted to stay dry;)? Because i would've thought that if you were a proper journalist, being sent to cover a sport you weren't familiar with:confused:, you would've done your homework beforehand or is it that with all the cutbacks the newspapers can't afford extra journalists and make do with the office cleaners:D? Is it any wonder, with reporting like that, that people not involved in equestrianism in any form think it elitist. Perhaps the governing bodies of the equestrian sports should send biographies of their stars giving details of how they got started and the hours they work to get where they are (2 jobs etc to pay for their horse) to the newspapers , although give the articles at the start of this thread some of them may not be able to fully understand the written word. It amazes me how the papers adore people from poor backrounds who were seen kicking a ball and given a contract worth a million at the age of twelve and refer to those who work their socks off to pay way in equestrian sport as toffs and snobs
 
Couldn't read the whole article, My blood was going waaayyyyyyyy above boiling point :mad:

If she thinks only rich people who don't have to work have horses She should come spend a day in my life :mad: Also if she thinks horses are easy to ride she should come and ride horrid He's only a 12.2hh pony she must be able to get him going soooooooooooooo well if it's that easy.

And to attack the eventing team like that. What about Tom Daily or what ever his name is you know the diver. He didn't even win a medle and Rebecca adlington the swimmer only got Bronze in the race I saw her in. Oh and our cyclists didn't get a medle either. Why is no one attacking them. :mad:
(Just to be clear I'm not attacking any of our athletes i'm just making a point. There is no way I could do what any of them do and I wouldn't even pretend I could from the comfort of my armchair)

Why can't people just be happy they won a medle. :mad:

Ok and breath rant over. ;) :p
 
Our cyclists now did get medals today... gold and bronze ;-)

Unfortunately, there are still people out there who think that riding is "to the manor born".

Those are also people who are completely out of touch with the equestrian world. Some people even think it's a posh sport just because of the more formal attire needed in competitions!!!
 
Subject aside, what an awfully written piece of journalism. The woman clearly doesn't know what she's talking about and tries to hide it using 'humour'.

This is one of the comments below the article:

Zoe Williams (who went to the fee-paying Godolphin and Latimer school, followed by Lincoln College, Oxford), "trots" out the usual guff about "posh" riders, and yet Mary King (who the Graun should love, since she's a woman in her fifties, trouncing any idea of "ageism" or "inequality,") cleaned campsite loos, dug gardens and drove a butcher's delivery van to pay for her early horses. Her Olympic horse, Imperial Cavalier, is owned by Eddie Davies, who also owns Bolton Wanderers FC. But presumably it's acceptable for Mr Davies to pour millions into a "working class" sport, but unacceptable for him to cough up a few grand for a "posh" person's event horse?
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Hit the nail on the head.
 
Such a shame picking up the daily mail and seeing a huge picture of Zara Philips crashing through a fence. Why can't we celebrate the fact they won a silver medal for their country. I can only imagine these reporters are jealous.
 
toffeeyummy said:
I can only imagine these reporters are jealous.
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No... they write what sells. And what sells, in this country & culture, is celebrating the failures of people we consider to be more privileged than us.

We do not live in a culture where we are encouraged to take responsibility for our own lack of success. Watching the Olympics, it is glaringly obvious the countries in which this attitude does NOT prevail! I bet they are not writing articles degrading their own medal-winning athletes, either.
 
Really think you should all cop on to yourselves. I agree both pieces were not the most scintillating bit of journalism I have ever read, but I found it quite amusing to see how the higher echelons of equestrianism are viewed by those who have no personal experience of the horse world.:)

I find all the anguish and shock horror, toe curlingly embarrassing actually. I think the equestrian world and H&H in particular takes itself FAR to seriously and that self satisfied, smug, do NOT have the temerity to criticise my sport, is what ultimately leads to the sort of viewpoint that you are complaining about (loudly:D)
 
grumpyoldmare said:
Really think you should all cop on to yourselves. I agree both pieces were not the most scintillating bit of journalism I have ever read, but I found it quite amusing to see how the higher echelons of equestrianism are viewed by those who have no personal experience of the horse world.:)

I find all the anguish and shock horror, toe curlingly embarrassing actually. I think the equestrian world and H&H in particular takes itself FAR to seriously and that self satisfied, smug, do NOT have the temerity to criticise my sport, is what ultimately leads to the sort of viewpoint that you are complaining about (loudly:D)
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So, so agree with this!
 
I like this bit:

MK: Jump over that. Imperial Cavalier: Don't be stupid. It's incredibly high and I don't even know what's on the other side. MK: Go on. Be cavalier. IC: Oh, ok then

Personally I'm happy to live in a country where not everyone bows and scrapes to the royal family. The BBC has been particularly sickening this year. Not one mention of how the rest of us had to apply for our tickets but they just seem to get as many as they want.

Paula
 
Don't think the RDA where I used to volunteer was particularly elite. :confused:

Given we're not exactly dripping with medals, you'd think the 'Gradian' would err more on the congratulatory side. I see she's trying to be amusing but sadly she fails due to her crap sense (lack?) of humour and she ends up just sounding bitter.

Loving the mumsnet reference in the comments! :D
 
NR99 said:
True, but that is also true of all Olympic sports, those competing don't just up and decide one day they will have a crack at the Olympics. It takes years of training, expensive equipment, physios, psychologists etc etc for most of the disciplines. They are elite for a reason.

This article does nothing but work negatively against normalising equestrian activities. I was lucky enough to be there on test day last year, it was great to open up this fabulous sport to inner city children who know nothing of the process but were fascinated by these beautiful animals in action.

Having sat at Greenwich for the eventing dressage there were plenty of people in the crowds who clearly knew nothing about dressage, but were delighted to watch good sport. Yes the American family beside me were pleased to be watching a royal compete, but so what. Why does that warrant the useless drivel written by Zoe Williams?

Before anyone jumps on me, this is just my opionion and contrary to some I am happy for others to disagree with me. Though in the same vein I would not tell them to lighten up as I would respect their right to an opinion ;):)
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My thoughts exactly I thought the London olympics was supposed to attract more people to sport not put them off! I have a huge chip on my shoulder when it comes to money but surely all olympic sports are elitist, you have to be an elite athlete to be there and that takes hard work and dedication. I think it's a shame no one focused more on Mary and Tina's inspiring background stories. I wonder if the german eventers have this stereotyping problem :cool::rolleyes: or whether they are getting the celebration they truly deserve.

tasel said:
The moment eventers start sporting WAGs... that's the moment I'll probably stop watching them.
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hehe tis mad and this countries media hero worships morally corrupt exorbitantly well paid footballers :rolleyes:

I find it unbelievable how unresearched and poorly written newspapers seem today (general comment) every time I read a new article I think 'hang on a minute that didn't sounds right' or 'now I know that can't be true' I know there has always been a certain amount of artistic license but it seems they just make stuff up as they go along. Doesn't matter if it's sport or gossip or science *sigh*
 
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