Horses for courses.
The World Surf League, at the very doorstep of its 2026 Championship Tour season, was severely jolted, overnight, after its Chief Technology Officer Robert Occhialhini fled to take the same position at the Premier Jumping League.
Billed as the “new global (horse) showjumping competition redefining the sport through elite team competition, record-breaking prize money, and a sustainable professional model for riders,” the PJL is offering a whopping $300 million purse. Its inaugural season will run from March through October in 2027 in Europe, North America and the Middle East and is positioned to “open the sport to new audiences whilst respecting its heritage.”
Continuing along in the presser, “The PJL combines extraordinary athletic performance with premium entertainment, strengthened by the league’s partnership with Emmy award-winning production company Box to Box Films, and supported by a free-to-view broadcasting model. Cutting-edge technology, radical transparency, and innovative team formats enhance the drama, intensity, and rivalry that defines elite sport – unlocking the full potential of jumping, demanded by today’s global sports and entertainment marketplace, without compromising its core values.”
Disgraced Dodger owner Frank McCourt, who was forced to sell the franchise after messing it up, is founder and chairman.
Occhialhini, as mentioned, the CTO. Taking to Facebook, he declared, “My time at World Surf League gave me something I didn’t expect – clinical depression.”
Just kidding.
He declared, “My time at World Surf League gave me something I didn’t expect – a masterclass in building fan experiences and technology for a sport that operates at the edge of nature, culture and athleticism. I’m grateful for every moment of it: the mission, the sport and the teammates, peers, partners and leaders who made it one of the best chapters of my career.”
Back to horse jumping, though, are you a fan?
Could you see yourself becoming one?
Here’s a li’l taste, I think.
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Some may remember the multi Olympic gold medal winning, multi world champion, New Zealand horseman Mark Todd who was embroiled in a ‘champagne, cocaine and gay sex with stable boys’ imbroglio just prior to the 2000 Sydney Olympics (that he still competed and medaled in despite the scandal) which he didn’t deny on live TV, with his supportive wife in the wings.
So this Occy guys move is just a natural progression really as he harkens back to the good old bad old days of how pro surf used to be.
Do you think Sarge will follow this new horsey tour ?
Unbelievable.
has Occhialhini never seen the shot of Gabriel Median launching off a wave at T-POO?
Let’s see a horse do THAT!
As Joseph Turpel III announces on the fairground tannoys “well folks he rode that one out with aplomb, but some hesitation was duly noted. He will hop on the steam train to Alabama and reset his horse no doubt. Please stay with us, as we will return with the bearded lady after this break”
Bahahahaha flog a dead horse league
yep just what the world right now is sport practiced by rich elites…….I really wonder how many people could watch …jumpers/horses ..with hundreds of millions of dollars for prizes…wow what an idea…..meanwhile he’s jumped ship as surfing….well how many governments will still have budgets next year….for a bunch of elites frolicking in the surf on toxic toys….???
I think you might just have pinpointed the elephant in the room , plus how much has the cost of running a wave pool gone up ?
Just had an Apollo Bay mate snap his 6’6″ Desert Storm twin pin. He’s off to Catcus in a couple of weeks. It was his go to. What you got on the racks?
not much….just put a couple on my website …….for the first time in 2 years…..if he was desperate and a real frind of yours…could knock him up a custom in about 2 weeks???
He’s my dearest friend in the world. Cheers, I’ll ask him. Ballpark on a MC board these day under 7ft??
what dims ….
The board was a Webster
Desert twin. Made for good surf.
6’6
20 3/4
2 7/8
42.5L
Imagine he’d want something close.
Ok when does he need it by and how desperate……..and what does weigh ……I have VC /RV Shorty 6 4 x 21 x 2 7/8…..which would handle from waist high to well over double head high…it’s good wave board!
He’s going to Catcus in under 3 weeks now so was a bit heartbroken snapping the Fav at Marango this morning.
He’s weighs at a guess 75kg, a lot fitter than most 52 year old guys, Won’t be cracking lips, but certainly gives it a good nudge in juicer waves. He wouldn’t want to go down from what he has.
He’s got other shortboards of course, but first time at Catus and thought he was all sorted with the favourite go-to.
sorry went walkabout….trying to get a pass sorted for Easter…it’s a bit of a drama , but still trying…..for your mate in Apollo Bay, yeah will need a step up board if he surfs Caves/Sproggy’s etc….does he surf Moo Cow at all??
I could make something for him quik but would need him to contact me thru my website…would do it as a fellow gritter and give him a wholesale price….if he wants get him to fill out website order form and I could have it finished possibly end of next weekend….12/13th???
That’ll be awesome!! He’s not a beach gritter to be clear. But he’d be super appreciative of any help.
He had a look on the site and going to go an all rounder twin.
Thanks! Owe ya one. Xx
hey will be talking to him this arvo…it will be done,LOL!
Epic! Cheers!
Oh yeah, Bells pass. Guess they don’t dish many out and alot of “industry” hands up being Torquay.
it’s official I have been person Non grata at Bells since they lost getting a viewing platform at Bells + the green washing they did which I called out…so onwards and upwards!
Lol, just push past security if you have too, I’m sure it wouldn’t be the first time!
You Brutus are a fucking legend cunt in the truest sense of the term. In the world of plastic wank stains it is genuinely humbling to know there are still humans like you still involved in the surfing world and I tip my hat to you sir xx
The way the turmoil in iran is going the WSL will fold in 27’
and a lot more ..so sit back and enjoy Bells ..sunny nice weather….nice small waves…….and there is rumor running around some vicco fossil might be back on the Bells/Stairs this year…after a 6 year wander in the wilderness, LOL….off course he is not allowed to say anything negative……..or cancelled…..sounds a bit trumpian ……control the narrative and anyone outside their narrative…..is publicly humiliated and banned….FFS is this some kinda American new world order,LOL??
Is that what they said to you ?
oh yeah and even a bit worse……..will see what happens but you can’t negotiate with a trumpian organization…..who’s leader in Australia is all about…..him?
Missed headline opportunity
“Occy defects from WSL to show horse jumping league”
Bells gunna be full slop-fest.
Maybe something at the end.
Trades have kicked in across Indo.
forecast slightly changing every day…..looks like small very clean waves at the start…and really warm…..maybe shoulder to head high Winki-pop….
The weekend looks light onshore and overhead sets…..at the end of the waiting period 8/9/10…looks like a solid swell with off shores…maybe 8′ but still too far out to lock in in..
The forecast is the best it’s been today…..not a great Bells….but certainly plenty of surf!
Mate, theres no waves in Indo this time of year.
It’s still the “off season “.
Shoulder season is the season in some places that hate the trades.
I know you don’t like us ” Mexicans ” but hey be positive. Might be good the day they leave.
Tyler Wright will give you clinical depression. Expect to see Griffin on the jump sometime soon.
Pretty immoral transition if you ask me. Couldn’t think of a worse way to pass my time. Ignorance is bliss as they say. Especially when it pays.
Bells looks smallish and windy for the forecast. This subverts my hopes for the style masters that usually win here, and gives an edge to the QS junk warrior. Toledo and Italo’s frantic energy seems safe picks, as does some outliers like Dane Henry and Sammy Pupo. Tya and the Canadian should mow through the ladies bracket based on size.
Will be interesting to see if Tya does better than Carrisa and Steph this year. New gen vs the grannies.
Heat strategy will play a big factor against the new order.
see below…..it’s going to be OK Bells….some offshores and swell…end of the waiting period looks great! showing 8′ and offshore right now….still a week to go to lock in big end of the period swell….
“, as mentioned, the CTO. Taking to Facebook, he declared, “My time at World Surf League gave me something I didn’t expect – clinical depression.”
”Many a True word is spoken in jest”.
”In psychology, this behavior is often analyzed as a defense mechanism or a form of passive communication where the speaker uses humor as a shield to express uncomfortable Truths without taking full responsibility for them”.
This is a sports organization that looks like it was created with the specific intent of trading legitimacy and sophistication to central Asian and middle eastern dictatorships for a lot money. Probably not a bad career move if you can stomach the whole thing.
Yup. I gave my final fuck about the climate crisis when I read that Middle Eastern sheiks and people of similar wealth own private 747 jets that they use to fly their horses around the world for these events. They’ll literally fly from the UAE to San Diego for a week with their stable of horses.
While corporations try to get you to reduce your “footprint” by 10%, as if personal emissions make anything but a fraction of a difference.
It’s such a trip that people don’t realise what’s coming down the climate pipeline. Maybe there’s a self preservation thing which makes people look away from something that they know is too scary. The IPCC laid it out, with very little glossing over, in their 2023 report and it’s not good.
This corporate guy is doing the right thing by leaving such a tiny thing as pro surfing to go and play with the billionaire sheiks. It’s the smart move.
Ugghh.
I’m not one for hyperbole but….is the corporate world not the most soul destroying, vapid sham in all of human existence?
It’s as though you’ve got to abandon all dignity and integrity just to get a start. Clambering over each other to determine who can more deeply fellate their fellow career-tragic NPC coworkers and gratuitously overstate the pointless busy-work to which they devote their lives.
Every bureaucratic non-event is retold as a defining moment of personal enlightenment. Every mundane task, shuffling letters in an email or numbers on a spreadsheet is described as a spiritual leap towards a higher plane of existence.
The disconcertingly whitened teeth, spirit fingers and showtime smiles of a tiara toddler beauty pageant wallpapering over the cracks of a dank, shadow world existence of plodding white collar grind undertaken under artificial lighting and the blue screen glow of a mouse chasing a curser across a wasted lifetime of pointless spreadsheets.
Vomit emoji.
I dunno man it’s a temperament thing. I dug ditches for a plumber the summer I finished college. I’m glad I don’t have to do stuff like that for a living. Everyone’s lack of pretension in those jobs is nice though.
The catch with an office job is you need some outside physical activity, even if it’s a daily 20 min walk.
It’s pretty fucking comical how people look down upon degrees in higher education. Makes exactly zero sense.
who does that?
Yeah in my world they look down on ya if you haven’t
Credentialism is so 2021.
Read above
Lack of comprehension is his superpower.
Once you get your bachelor’s degree it’s all about having friends at the golf club and tennis courts.
I think you mean the wsl and surfing australia
Fucken hell that last sentence is a paragraph ! Impressive . Needs a badge…like an oxygen tank . Negs ! Hey negs !
This is way cooler..
Didn’t know Occhi was a tech guy.
He calls his horse “Sarge.”
What fun could have been had with that name over the years. If only we’d known. Can’t fault the WSL’s tech, yeah the Occhi, godspeed, just don’t cut to ads mid jump.
Keanu Asig could probably transition to being a horse jockey. About the same height.
I couldn’t see myself becoming a horse, even if there’s a $300 million purse I might win
Yeah. Neighhhhh.
My friend’s daughter in So Cal just got a full ride scholarship to college for horse Jumping, never really watched it though.
PS where’s the beachgrit WSL fantasy league?
your friend’s daughter is a horse?
She jumps over horses.
Its code for freshman slapper
It’s called Surfival League!