This particular surfing season has been particularly controversial, especially for the World Surf League. Professional surfers from all around the world gathered for the Corona Open J-Bay 2023. This stop of the Championship Tour was a crucial one, especially for all the Olympics hopefuls. Some such as Griffin Colapinto and Filipe Toledo attained their dream of representing their country at the 2024 Paris Games. However, for others, like John John Florence, it was not a happy ending.

The youngest surfer to participate in Vans Triple Crown of Surfing was up against Connor O’Leary, the #11 on Men’s Championship Tour 2023. Despite an epic performance, John John Florence did not win the heat. This fact enraged his fans to the point of outrightly criticizing WSL scoring once again after the same scenario took place during the Surf Ranch Pro. When WSL shared the news of O’Leary winning the heat, a lot of angry comments could be seen on the social media post.

Did John John Florence deserve to win the round?

Needless to say as professional surfers, both John John and Connor know their game. However, when it comes to competitions, the answer to all questions is, may the best one win. And this is where the controversy kicks in. According to the general opinion of the public, John John Florence was the better one and deserved a higher score, than what the WSL judges gave him. His defeat happened during the final wave of Connor O’Leary when he took an 8.70, which was enough to defeat Florence.

In the end, the Australian surfer beat the Hawaiin surfer by a mere margin of 0.44 points, in spite of John John finishing with a strong 9.23. In fact, as per speculation, coupled with O’Leary’s reaction after getting the 8.70, it was apparently evident that even he did not expect to score that high. Fans were outraged, saying that O’Leary’s last wave did not deserve an 8.70 as compared to other waves in the heat. When the replay of the heat was shared on YouTube, the comments section practically begged WSL to recheck its marking criteria, to ensure injustice does not prevail.

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A similar contention occurred during the Surf Ranch Pro when Gabriel Medina came up short against Ethan Ewing in the quarterfinals and Italo Ferreira lost the finals to Griffin Colapinto. The WSL judges were put under scrutiny once again. Medina felt cheated enough to write an open letter to WSL on Instagram, and fans came in support of him. After John John Florence’s heat, the surfing community is ready to boycott WSL completely.

Surfing fans angry as WSL scoring ensures another major loss

The surprise of winning the heat was apparent on Connor O’Leary’s face after he got a score that high, as can be seen in the replays. Echoing this sentiment, when WSL shared the post, a fan commented, “Nobody, not even Connor, his coach or the commentators thought he got the score”. Another follower was of the opinion, “Somebody should be in jail for that score.” The injustice seemed too much for some from the surfing community, as others said, “thats one of the worst calls in the sports history, how has jjf not won that”. 

The moment gave someone a push to comment on a WSL post for the first time, that is how disappointed they were with the scoring. They wrote, “I have never commented on any WSL post before but that was the worst robbery ever. Sorry John, You are not defined by this tour. John it is so much fun to watch you surf. Go surf with your brothers and make some amazing movies…” The comments section was full of people advising John John Florence to quit the CT and turn into a content maker. If things don’t change with the scoring, he might just do that.

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