A new sad episode for the WSL was revealed yesterday when the entity decided to sanction the legendary longboarder, current world champion, Joel Tudor for an unlimited period of time for having expressed himself against the entity.

Tudor was penalized for “unsportsmanlike conduct,” “damage to the image of the sport” and “verbal assault.”

At DUKE we have followed Tudor's statements on social media step by step and honestly, they did not resemble any of the three things he is accused of. Even the WSL, through the commissioner of the longboard tour, Devon Howard, called it: "Inaccurate and misleading."

Unfortunately, the controversial Tudor took down the posts and kept quiet about what happened. What happened in the meantime? Only they know, Tudor had declared that the VP of Tours and Competition, Miley Dyer, had already asked him to take down the posts.

But reviewing:

Act 1: Tudor posts complaining that there are no confirmed longboard dates and makes a comparison about the success of female longboarders versus female shortboarders.

Act 2: Tudor posts a video in which he thinks that the Lowers finals could be used to host a longboard event because the wave is very good for the discipline.

Act 3: The three-time champion posted the letter sent by Devon Howard, commissioner of the longboard tour, and informed that he was asked to take down the previous post. In the text he exclaims: “You can do better than this!”

Act 4: The most raunchy post, if you will, uses the image of Bugs Bunny sitting on a pile of dollars as an allegory for the WSL. He writes: “Hey WSL, Erik Logan, Jessi Miley Dyer, we are one week into March, month three of the year, and still no plans for our existence within your organization! The letter in response we all received was laughable and insulting! I would love to say ‘that’s all folks’, but sadly here we are, still with no response and no hope for a future. Beyond disrespectful and not very egalitarian.”

Reviewing the charges: “Unsportsmanlike conduct,” “damage to the image of the sport” and “verbal assault.”

Each of Tudor's actions seems to be that of an athlete defending a discipline with the weight of his name.

Maybe his way of expressing himself is not the best, and maybe the “funny” image of the rabbit on the dollars is not the most appropriate, but the bottom line is that it is a legend defending his discipline before the entity in charge of promoting it.
Punishment is done by forcibly trying to configure what the rule book says in order to silence Tudor.

The saddest thing is that if one reads the comments (which are no longer there) all the longboarders on the tour would fall into one of the three ways that Joel is penalized. If they are all penalized, the WSL will no longer have control over the discipline.

The career of one of the most legendary figures in the sport is arbitrarily ended for basically thinking differently.

It is sad to behave this way and it is sad to silence people this way. A better society is built with better dialogue, a worse society is built without dialogue, as happens in dictatorships.

It's a shame for Joel, but it's even sadder for the WSL and all the surfers who are part of it, who tomorrow might want to speak out against it in order to make a better future for the sport, but they're going to choose to keep quiet because they'll be afraid to speak out, because if they speak out they could be banned for life.