Ainslie disqualification is wrong message to media

THE disqualification of Britain’s triple Olympic gold medallist sailor Ben Ainslie after a confrontation with a media boat at the World Championship in Australia is surely sending the wrong signal to the media.

What next: paparazzi racing onto the pitch and interfering with play during the World Cup or setting up on the track during the Olympic Games forcing the sprinters to run round them?

It is about time the Hooray Henry’s in the Royal Yachting Association stopped fawning over the television industry. I trust they invited the skipper of the press boat over for a pink gin and reminded him of that old law of the sea: “sail before steam”. Or would that be too provocative?

DR JOHN CAMERON

ST ANDREWS