Hey bodybuilding forum members,
We are posting this with the permission of Kevin Grech who is a friend of musclemecca and the owner of EOB.
Trying to silence the independent bodybuilding journalist.
We have been contemplating publishing such an article for the last nine years, but it’s about time the bodybuilding industry learn the truth.
As the majority of bodybuilding fans and athletes are aware, there was a big split in 2017, between Jim Manion (NPC, IFBB Pro League) and Dr. Rafael Santonja (IFBB, IFBB Elite Pro).
The IFBB is an amateur federation. Before 2017, every athlete competing under the IFBB, earned their pro status and competed in the IFBB Pro League. Jim Manion was the president of the IFBB Pro League and NPC, while Dr. Rafael Santonja had the enormous task of running amateur competitions all over the world.
In 2017, there was a major disagreement and Jim Manions’ NPC and IFBB Pro League cut ties with Dr. Rafael Santonja and went on their own.
The IFBB did not think twice and created the IFBB Elite Pro, while Jim Manion made sure he took control of the Mr. Olympia competition and the star athletes within the IFBB Pro League.
Since then, there has been major confusion about the ‘IFBB’ name, but it should only be used by the IFBB run by Dr. Rafael Santonja. The IFBB Pro League should have had its name changed to NPC Pro League. The reason Jim Manion continued to keep using the IFBB name is for obvious reasons, but that was already explained in previous articles.
Jim Manion tried to take more control of international amateur competitions by creating NPC Worldwide, but five years later, they are allegedly still having difficulties running competitions in foreign countries. In regards to the amount of competitions, they are not even close to the number of events the IFBB organize with Dr. Rafael Santonja at the helm.
The NPC and IFBB Pro League are now a privately owned by the Manion family, while the Dr. Rafael Santonja’s IFBB remains a true federation, recognized all over the world. Dr. Rafael Santonja is voted in as President at the IFBB World Congress in a democratic voting system.
When Evolutionofbodybuilding was created, way back in 2013, this site was originally created to be a site dedicated to the history of bodybuilding. The owner Kevin Grech, contacted numerous legendary bodybuilders and started to publish features about them.
As well, to work in a correct manner, the IFBB had a wealth of historical information about bodybuilding in their archives, and IFBB President Dr. Rafael Santonja gave this site full permission to use whatever information I needed. Dr. Rafael Santonja believed this was a great way to promote the sport, through Evolutionofbodybuilding.
Even on the side of the NPC and IFBB Pro League, before 2017, J.M. Manion (Jim Manion’s son) was very helpful in letting me use photography and any information this site needed from their archives.
Eventually, Evolutionofbodybuilding.net would expand and become a full blown bodybuilding news portal.
Then, the big split happened in 2017. Since Evolutionofbodybuilding.net is based in Europe, this site remained very close to the IFBB and Dr. Rafael Santonja. Evolutionofbodybuilding.net traveled to cover numerous events prior to 2017, such as the IFBB European Championships and the Arnold Classic Europe.
After 2017, the owner of Evolutionofbodybuilding.net started to receive subtle messages of what federation this site should be 100% loyal to. It was a “you are either with us, or against us”, situation.
This was allegedly coming from the Jim Manion’s side of the fence. Evolutionofbodybuilding's Kevin Grech, discussed this situation with IFBB President Dr. Rafael Santonja and he agreed that the site should remain independent and cover whoever and whatever they want to, in a balanced manner.
IFBB President Dr. Rafael Santonja always supported this site in the way it publishes the news for the good of the sport and not to destroy it.
From that moment on, the owner of Evolutionofbodybuilding.net decided that they would report the news about any federation and any athlete, regardless of who they compete for.
The pressure started to increase on what federation or private entity Evolutionofbodybuilding is loyal to, but Evolutionofbodybuilding remained independent.
As the years went on, Evolutionofbodybuilding proudly reported and published results for a number of major federations and entities, such as the IFBB, IFBB Elite Pro, NPC, IFBB Pro League, PCA, NABBA, GBO and many more.
Jim Manion’s so called puppets, sent the owner of Evolutionofbodybuilding.net a simple message stating that they do not want to be on the same website with material about other federations.
Obviously, Evolutionofbodybuilding.net did not accept this. Not only did we continue to cover all federations, but this site continued to report the news about the NPC and IFBB Pro League in a more prominent way.
This decision allegedly did not go down well with Manion and his puppets. It got to the point that Evolutionofbodybuilding.net was “banned” from all events organized by the NPC or IFBB Pro League. Legally, the Manion’s cannot really to this, but lets leave it at that.
Regardless of a ban or not, Evolutionofbodybuilding.net continued to give great coverage to major events, such as the Mr. Olympia, New York Pro and the Arnold Classic competitions organized under the NPC flag. All this was done with great success.
In the meantime, Evolutionofbodybuilding.net also was and still is very successful in covering events for the IFBB and IFBB Elite Pro. A huge task with all the events organized all over the world, but it is a job that is taken very seriously.
Because of the Manion’s, Evolutionofbodybuilding.net received a lot of hate from representatives and athletes within the NPC and IFBB Pro League. On a personal level, the Manion family event went as far as to block this site and its owner (Kevin Grech) from all their commercial and personal social media pages.
Even on popular bodybuilding forums, Manion’s puppets tried everything to silence or ridicule the owner of Evolutionofbodybuilding.
We are posting this with the permission of Kevin Grech who is a friend of musclemecca and the owner of EOB.
Trying to silence the independent bodybuilding journalist.
We have been contemplating publishing such an article for the last nine years, but it’s about time the bodybuilding industry learn the truth.
As the majority of bodybuilding fans and athletes are aware, there was a big split in 2017, between Jim Manion (NPC, IFBB Pro League) and Dr. Rafael Santonja (IFBB, IFBB Elite Pro).
A little history
The NPC was previously the American representative of the IFBB, before the split in 2017. The IFBB, formerly run by the late Ben Weider and now by Dr. Rafael Santonja, have over 190 countries affiliated to the IFBB.The IFBB is an amateur federation. Before 2017, every athlete competing under the IFBB, earned their pro status and competed in the IFBB Pro League. Jim Manion was the president of the IFBB Pro League and NPC, while Dr. Rafael Santonja had the enormous task of running amateur competitions all over the world.
In 2017, there was a major disagreement and Jim Manions’ NPC and IFBB Pro League cut ties with Dr. Rafael Santonja and went on their own.
The IFBB did not think twice and created the IFBB Elite Pro, while Jim Manion made sure he took control of the Mr. Olympia competition and the star athletes within the IFBB Pro League.
Since then, there has been major confusion about the ‘IFBB’ name, but it should only be used by the IFBB run by Dr. Rafael Santonja. The IFBB Pro League should have had its name changed to NPC Pro League. The reason Jim Manion continued to keep using the IFBB name is for obvious reasons, but that was already explained in previous articles.
Jim Manion tried to take more control of international amateur competitions by creating NPC Worldwide, but five years later, they are allegedly still having difficulties running competitions in foreign countries. In regards to the amount of competitions, they are not even close to the number of events the IFBB organize with Dr. Rafael Santonja at the helm.
The NPC and IFBB Pro League are now a privately owned by the Manion family, while the Dr. Rafael Santonja’s IFBB remains a true federation, recognized all over the world. Dr. Rafael Santonja is voted in as President at the IFBB World Congress in a democratic voting system.
“Don’t publish our results and news on your website”
Before the split in 2017, being a bodybuilding journalist was fantastic, there were no boundaries or hidden rules of what you can or cannot report about.When Evolutionofbodybuilding was created, way back in 2013, this site was originally created to be a site dedicated to the history of bodybuilding. The owner Kevin Grech, contacted numerous legendary bodybuilders and started to publish features about them.
As well, to work in a correct manner, the IFBB had a wealth of historical information about bodybuilding in their archives, and IFBB President Dr. Rafael Santonja gave this site full permission to use whatever information I needed. Dr. Rafael Santonja believed this was a great way to promote the sport, through Evolutionofbodybuilding.
Even on the side of the NPC and IFBB Pro League, before 2017, J.M. Manion (Jim Manion’s son) was very helpful in letting me use photography and any information this site needed from their archives.
Eventually, Evolutionofbodybuilding.net would expand and become a full blown bodybuilding news portal.
Then, the big split happened in 2017. Since Evolutionofbodybuilding.net is based in Europe, this site remained very close to the IFBB and Dr. Rafael Santonja. Evolutionofbodybuilding.net traveled to cover numerous events prior to 2017, such as the IFBB European Championships and the Arnold Classic Europe.
After 2017, the owner of Evolutionofbodybuilding.net started to receive subtle messages of what federation this site should be 100% loyal to. It was a “you are either with us, or against us”, situation.
This was allegedly coming from the Jim Manion’s side of the fence. Evolutionofbodybuilding's Kevin Grech, discussed this situation with IFBB President Dr. Rafael Santonja and he agreed that the site should remain independent and cover whoever and whatever they want to, in a balanced manner.
IFBB President Dr. Rafael Santonja always supported this site in the way it publishes the news for the good of the sport and not to destroy it.
From that moment on, the owner of Evolutionofbodybuilding.net decided that they would report the news about any federation and any athlete, regardless of who they compete for.
The pressure started to increase on what federation or private entity Evolutionofbodybuilding is loyal to, but Evolutionofbodybuilding remained independent.
As the years went on, Evolutionofbodybuilding proudly reported and published results for a number of major federations and entities, such as the IFBB, IFBB Elite Pro, NPC, IFBB Pro League, PCA, NABBA, GBO and many more.
Trying to silence the independent bodybuilding journalist after 2017
With the success of being one of the only independent bodybuilding websites in the world, the day finally arrived when the powers that be at the NPC and IFBB Pro League, sent a message to Evolutionofbodybuilding with an ultimatum.Jim Manion’s so called puppets, sent the owner of Evolutionofbodybuilding.net a simple message stating that they do not want to be on the same website with material about other federations.
Obviously, Evolutionofbodybuilding.net did not accept this. Not only did we continue to cover all federations, but this site continued to report the news about the NPC and IFBB Pro League in a more prominent way.
This decision allegedly did not go down well with Manion and his puppets. It got to the point that Evolutionofbodybuilding.net was “banned” from all events organized by the NPC or IFBB Pro League. Legally, the Manion’s cannot really to this, but lets leave it at that.
Regardless of a ban or not, Evolutionofbodybuilding.net continued to give great coverage to major events, such as the Mr. Olympia, New York Pro and the Arnold Classic competitions organized under the NPC flag. All this was done with great success.
In the meantime, Evolutionofbodybuilding.net also was and still is very successful in covering events for the IFBB and IFBB Elite Pro. A huge task with all the events organized all over the world, but it is a job that is taken very seriously.
Because of the Manion’s, Evolutionofbodybuilding.net received a lot of hate from representatives and athletes within the NPC and IFBB Pro League. On a personal level, the Manion family event went as far as to block this site and its owner (Kevin Grech) from all their commercial and personal social media pages.
Even on popular bodybuilding forums, Manion’s puppets tried everything to silence or ridicule the owner of Evolutionofbodybuilding.
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