Equestrian Sport/ Award controversy: Two of Ireland's top international riders are set to resign from the Show Jumpers Club in the wake of the controversy surrounding the presentation of the international rider of the year award to Cian O'Connor on Sunday night.

Billy Twomey and Peter Charles have said they are prepared to leave the club, and other resignations are expected to follow.

"I think the people who instigated giving Cian the award should resign, otherwise I'll resign from the club myself," Twomey told The Irish Times last night. He said he was never contacted to give his views on the recipient of the top award.

Senior international Charles voiced a similar opinion.

"Giving Cian this award does not reflect the general opinion of the Irish international riders," he said. "If the people who gave him that award stand up and admit they gave it to him and resign I'll stay, but if not I'm out. They'll have my letter of resignation in the morning."

However, Kevin Babington, who many riders felt should have won the award, feels that resignations are counter-productive.

"The smart approach is to stay involved," he said last night. "If you walk away from the problem then you're giving the so-called 'other side' more power. We need to stay involved."

The award was presented to O'Connor at a ball in Kildare on Sunday night, but since then other Irish international riders have claimed that their views were either not canvassed or were ignored.

"That award did not come from the Show Jumpers Club," Harry Marshall told The Irish Times yesterday. "It came from a group of individuals looking to appease or please Cian O'Connor."

Marshall, appointed as the club's representative for international affairs when it was set up at the beginning of 2001, said he had never been given a chance to state his views on the award. "There were two meetings in Belfast," he said, "and there was plenty of time to propose the recipient of the international riders award. We all have our own opinions about who should get the award, but at least we should be asked."

Marshall said Brendan McArdle, a former chairman of the club, had twice tried to contact him before the Belfast International Horse Show earlier this month but failed to reach him. However, there was no mention of the awards when Marshall and McArdle met at the show in the Odyssey Arena.

James Kernan, who was also present at the two club meetings during the show, said he had talked to McArdle about the awards in a phone call at the end of November. "I said no way should they give it to Cian under the present circumstances," Kernan said yesterday. "The way things are at the moment, Cian shouldn't even come into the equation. He has dropped out of other awards, so why should this be any different?"

The Show Jumpers Club issued a statement about the international rider award on Monday, but there was no conformation of who selected O'Connor as recipient.

None of the senior officers of the club were available for comment when contacted yesterday.