The Margaret River Pro was canceled last week but
who's fault was it?
The Oi Rio Pro kicks off in just a two short
weeks and can you even wait? Are you thrilled? I would
imagine these days are going by very slowly for the powers at The
World Surf League. The dust has almost settled from the near
blanket coverage of the decision to cancel the Margaret River Pro.
While, at some level, all exposure is good exposure, I’m sure the
slight whiff of incompetence that accompanies the stories is…
uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable and maybe sometimes downright painful. For
yesterday, Western Australia’s leading
newspaper published a story examining the reasons for
the cancellation and concluded that it was mostly Brazilian surfer
Gabriel Medina’s doing. Let’s read the choicest bits.
In an inflammatory post that day on his Instagram account,
which has six million followers, Medina said he did not feel safe
training or competing in Margaret River and he wanted his opinion
known “before it’s too late”.
Remaining heats for the day were postponed, with surfers
advised not to go in the water until the situation
improved.
The decision (to ultimately cancel) is understood to have
blind-sided the contest’s organisers at Surfing WA, who had spent
the previous 36 hours doing everything they could to assuage the
WSL’s concerns.
Among the measures they had proposed was a virtual armada of
jet-skis, as well as extra drones to monitor the water and safety
staff on standby for anything that might happen.
Nothing they could do would change the course.
In a further blow, Medina shortly after the announcement
doubled down on his attack on the Pro, declaring he would “probably
not come” to the event in 2019, even though it has another year on
its current contract as a WCT contest.
The remarks are believed to have infuriated those who had
worked miracles to keep the Margaret River Pro on the elite world
tour.
Medina’s outburst dredged up memories of similar behaviour
at the event in 2015, when the then reigning world champ refused to
surf his heat at a break known as the Box, holding up the entire
contest and its broadcast.
He would eventually surf the heat under threat of sanction
from the WSL, before losing to local wildcard Jay Davies.
Mention was also made of the poll among WCT surfers about
whether to return to Jeffreys Bay in 2016, when Medina was one of
only two to vote against it.
Kelly Slater, the 11-time American world champ, this week
mused about whether Medina’s real motive for attacking Margaret
River might have a competitive edge.
The 24-year-old has a poor record at the stop, routinely
finishing near the bottom of the draw.
By contrast, his great rival for the world title, Hawaiian
prodigy John John Florence, excels at the event, having won there
twice and proclaiming it one of his favourite stops on the
tour.
“There are a few theories about who did and didn’t want to
surf and the larger effects on the (world) rankings,” Slater
said.
“The most vocal against haven’t had a great record at Margs
so we can only be left to wonder if that played into the fear of
surfing.”
Brazil is one of the world’s biggest surfing markets but,
perhaps more importantly for the WSL, it is also a vital growth
market, with a huge and increasingly surf-mad population.
Oooooeee! You catch all that? As the theory goes, Medina is not
only too chicken to surf in Western Australia but also nastily
undercutting his biggest competition at the same time. Such power
for such a cleanly shaven man.
But you. What do you think? Is Gabriel Medina completely to
blame or just a very easy scapegoat?
