Editor’s note: This is a breaking news story and information is coming in fast. This is the timeline of events as it’s understood at the time of publishing. We will continue to update as more comes to light.
The GB Cup Finals have been postponed after a group of freesurfers paddled out during the women’s semi final heat to allegedly disrupt the competition.
It is also understood that some of these surfers were “verbally abusive” to the female competitors.
GB Surfing announced the finals were called off earlier today in a post on Facebook and Instagram. The finals had been running up in Scotland, in pumping conditions.
View this post on Instagram
In a statement to Wavelength, Will Nelson, GB Surfing’s Head of Operations said: “We understand that there is a police investigation proceeding into an alleged incident of abuse towards competitive surfers by ‘free’ surfers, initially directed towards female competitors in the GB Cup.
“The board of GB Surfing is deeply concerned by the news of the incident, which has brought the event to an abrupt end.
“We recognise that surfers in the final will be disappointed by the premature termination of the competition following an incident but we are grateful to the event delivery team for acting promptly and their cooperation with the police in this matter. GB Surfing will issue a further statement in due course.”
One of the names people tagged on social media as someone who was in the water at the time, and who paddled out during the semi-finals, was Ian Battrick. Wavelength contacted Ian who denied what was being said and that he was innocent in the standings. Ian said: “I was surfing the second peak and my board ended up colliding with someone in the foam. I hadn’t done anything wrong and saw people arguing, so I paddled in.”
Multiple eyewitnesses have since come forward, after reading that statement and refuted this account. There have been social media messages claiming verbal abuse, but other people, close to the event, who chose not to be named, have clarified Ian was not the source of that abuse. Other freesurfers, who chose to paddle-out while the event was running, have been flagged up as the alleged verbal abusers.
One eyewitness told Wavelength they had heard rumours about a group of surfers planning to paddle out and disrupt the competition: “One of the girls said she was told to ‘f*** off’ by one of the people disrupting the event,” they said. “There is no reason to doubt this is true. I do not know the name of the person who gave the abuse.”
Commenters on the GB Surfing post have weighed in, giving their side of the story.
Porthtowansurfphotos said: “Such a shame for everyone who have spent money and time to compete. But I guess running a contest with free surfers dropping in on competitors is no good.”
View this post on Instagram
Casper Beck added: “Frustrating trying to watch whilst free surfers mess up the comp!”
Wavelength understands police have been called and there is an on-going investigation. If proceedings become active, ie, if someone is arrested, then a reporting restriction will be in place to protect any Jury from prejudice.
Details are still coming in, and we will continue to update this piece as it happens. If anyone wants to get in touch, you can email me [email protected]
