The man who started professional surfing in WA, Jock Campbell, is confident the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro will continue into the future.
“The Pro turned itself from a beach that had no roads, nothing, into the most powerful surfing outlet in Australia as far as surf goes and perceived surf goes,” he said.
“Did I ever think it would be like this? I would have to say – yeah.”
Campbell said after the state government got involved in 1990 the event had continuously grown and he did not think the WA government could afford to let it go.
He said it took a government with foresight and a council like the Augusta Margaret River Shire to make events like the Pro work.
“I imagine this would continue in its present form and it would take an awful lot to stop it,” he said.
The initial pipe dream to turn WA’s amateur surfing contests into professional surfing began in 1978 at a surf shop in Scarborough, said Campbell.
At one of the meetings, Campbell said ex-NSW surfing identity Tim Duff attended and put forward a pathway that would result in what’s now the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro.
Campbell said the pathway involved staging a major professional event at Trigg Point, the Philashave Tracer Wind and Waves Pro Am, with a view that WA would become part of the world circuit.
“That event took place in November 1984 and was a precursor to Duff’s dream of a major event in the South West,” he said.
For the event to take off in the South West, Duff had Campbell select a venue and look after the competitive side of things while Duff looked after sponsorship and logistics.
The pair chose early November to stage the comp as it would be possible to get a big surf – essential for the integrity of the event – and a good lead into the Hawaiian leg of the tour.
The event was tagged ‘Thriller,’ and for the first three years Campbell said it had the biggest competitive waves in Australian surfing history to date.
“The 1990 event provided better quality, big waves than the earlier years, but the five metre swell on the Saturday was 1m short of the benchmark,” he said.
Yallingup was the first choice for Campbell and Greg Laurenson because it was known as a big wave venue with good alternate locations to cover days that had variable conditions.
Yallingup also appeared to have the infrastructure, accommodation and parking required to stage the event.
But it was not to be, in 1985 the Yallingup community organised a meeting with Duff and Campbell to discuss the idea with most residents adamant they did not want the event at their beach.
Duff and Campbell could have pursued the idea but decided to look for other locations.
Cowaramup Bay was considered, Campbell said it had good back up waves if conditions did not suit the North or South points, but crowds would have been a problem.
Which is how the Pro ended up in Margaret River, with Campbell recalling, at the time there was not much in terms of infrastructure, a phone service, power, toilets, parking, fencing, stairs or fresh water.
For the first three years, Duff overcame all the issues related to staging the event and attracted the Drug Offensive organisation as a sponsor which have maintained their involvement.
Campbell said the early events were held over three days with rock concerts and in 1985 generated more than $1.9 million for the local economy.
”In excess of 10,000 people came to the beach on the Saturday. Just like Kevin Costner's movie – Field of Dreams - ‘If you build it the people will come’," he said.
In 1987, the financial crisis caused delays raising the sanction fee to hold the event the following year even though sponsorship was in place.
The event had grown so much in size that Campbell said the Augusta-Margaret River Shire and state government needed to upgrade areas of Surfers Point at Prevelly.
“It demonstrated that the event had outgrown the initial structure,” he said.
“Broadly speaking council and the local business community were keen to reboot the event in 1989 and when discussions between Duff and the council broke down Lindsey Thompson approached Duff about taking over the reins.
“Parking, crowd control and disputed costs associated with the 1987 event created angst between the organisers, some residents and council.”
Campbell said he met with Duff and Thompson at a hotel where they passed on their knowledge about the event prior to Thompson meeting with Events Corp.
In due course, Campbell said that Thompson became a major player and the event grew into what you see today with the dates moved to March and April.
“Tim Thirst and Surfing WA through Mark Lane are now the custodians and their combined efforts have been acknowledged worldwide,” he said.
In 1992, Campbell and Duff were inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame honour role in recognition of their outstanding contribution to Australian surfing.
Whether or not Margaret River stays on the WSL circuit is still unknown.
Surfing WA chief executive officer Mark Lane and chairman Mike Best have left no stone unturned in their efforts to keep the Margaret River Pro on the WSL tour.
The pair said the huge swell on Saturday could not have provided better conditions for surfing and hoped it would help convince organisers to keep the event in Margaret River.
While professional surfer Mick Fanning has not had much luck at Main Break he said the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro was an incredible event.
“I love coming over here, I think every surfer does,” he said.
“It is a little hard because you have the Box or North Point with incredible waves but do not break that often, if they were consistent we would be there everyday of the week over any event on tour.”
