Surfpolitik Ferdy and the Five Ring Circus

In: Surfpolitik by Stu Nettle 25 Comments Tue 22nd May '12

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Yesterday Fernando Aguerre, President of the International Surfing Association, gave a speech to America's Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA). Ol' Ferdy was the recipient of an honorary award and he took the opportunity to both warn and advise the surf industry. It's a sound read although it does trouble me somewhat. Take a peruse and I'll meet you at the last quote mark...

"I think we are at an industry crossroads. We've had a really nice time for fifteen years. It was a gravy train, guys. ...Then when the world was hit really hard, we were also hit really hard."

"It's challenging. A lot of surf industry members are now part of large corporate companies with the problem [of dealing with] the bean counters deciding what is good and what is cool. It's a challenge for people that work for the bigger companies. But coming up we have a lot of smaller companies and emerging brands and SIMA is now looking to support the emerging brands."

"For the big guys, one advice - act like you are small or otherwise you are going to die big."

"For the small guys, smile and be happy because you are small. Play the contrarian please. If you do that, it's okay. If we don't do that, we are going to eat shit and nobody wants to eat shit. Nobody wants to work in a bank or a corporation or somewhere else. We've got to defend this. This is the best thing – we are the minority of the minority of the minority of the world that we are here guys."

"We must focus - the guys that made it - we need to focus on facilitating the success of the smaller companies. Because we know if we don't do that, we are going to risk extinction. We don't want to kill this. I don't want to sound too grave, but it's a crossroads and it's up to us. There's nobody else who is going to do that for us."

Well Ferdy, thanks for the offer to play the contrarian. I'm sensing a bit of conflict, so pass me the soapbox and can I get a bit of silence up the back...

You speak a lot of sense, Ferdy, with your dire economic prophecy and what it will mean to the surf industry. Tough times do lie ahead. The big guys had better buckle down. The small guys are relatively well positioned. Bang on, I'd say. I'm with you all the way.

But let's not forget that you are the President of the International Surfing Association, Ferdy. You have led an ongoing campaign to get surfing introduced as an Olympic Sport. This troubles me, for is there anything bigger than the Olympic Games? Yeah OK, the World Cup, I hear you say. And the Tour de France, too. But let's not be silly, Ferdy, soccer and bikes aren't cool. You know that.

Yet you know that surfing is cool. And you know that surfing is good. You say so in the speech above as you openly deride the bean counters for trying to steer our sport toward a bland, economically rational future. This also troubles me, Ferdy, for is there anything more bland than the Olympic Games?

It's simple: big and cool don't go together. They're as ill-fitting as a surfer in a coloured tracksuit. They're as ridiculous as a surfer shedding tears on the dais while hugging a stuffed koala and humming the anthem.

You seem to take some pride in surfing being 'the minority of the minority of the minority'. That's great, I do too. So why this relentless push to get surfing into the Olympics? Why project surfing onto an even larger stage where it will be subject to forces it can't control, where surfers will be placed under scrutiny they won't like, and the whole context of our sport will be trusted to the large corporations that you cast suspicion on in the speech above.

Why?

Surfing doesn't need to be in the Olympics. Surfers as a whole - in fact, surfing as a culture - won't benefit from it. The only parties that will benefit are the companies involved, and it sure as hell won't be the small companies you champion in your speech.

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