Surfpolitik Brazil Set To Bust Down The Door

In: Surfpolitik by Stu Nettle 9 Comments Mon 19th Jul '10

Tags: pro surfing , world tour , brazil

Stuart Nettle
July 19, 2010

With the Billabong Pro over, and Jordy Bru claiming the title, the top 46 backrunners are bracing themselves for the chopping block. The World Tour is preparing to undergo its biggest change since the tours split in '94 when, after the next competition, the dead wood gets sliced. After Teahupoo there will only be 32 surfers on the elite tour, down from 46, with 14 surfers falling in the sawdust.

However, It's not just the amount of surfers on the World Tour that is gonna change. Looking ahead it appears that the national composition of the tour is also gonna get a big shake-up and the Brazilians look like being winners...big time.

To get an early glimpse of the changes let's assume that the relegation happened now (with one WT comp and two QS's the rankings won't change much anyway). If this hypothetical scenario were to occur Brazilian surfers would fill 7 of the 32 places on the new tour, or 22%. This is up from their current percentage which is 4 out of 46 places, or 9%.

So despite there being fewer places on the new tour the Brazilians would nearly double their numbers.

The percentages for all other countries currently represented on the World Tour would remain roughly the same except, that is, for Australia. In a statistic that is sure to stir patriotic fervour the amount that Brazil gains would come from places that Australia loses.

Australia currently has 21 out of 46 places on the tour, or 46%. This number would go down to 10 from 32, or just 31% of all places on tour. This would constitute the second lowest percentage that Australian surfers have ever had since the tour began.

Incidentally, or perhaps not, the year that Australia had its lowest percentage was 1995, which was just after the last tour shake-up. Considering the Australian numbers bounced back after '95, an argument may be mounted that Aussie surfers are slow to adjust to change - good surfers, slow learners. Or perhaps this time the Australian surfers are the dead wood on tour?

Then again, perhaps there's a different reason altogether...

A quick scan of the WQS tour schedule reveals some telling facts. This year there are 11 WQS events held in Brazil. Only one of them is 4 Star, the rest 5 and 6 Star. In comparison Australia has just 4 events, with two of them being lowly 4 stars.

Therefore Brazil offers nearly three times as many qualifying points and a corresponding amount of prizemoney. With eight events counting toward the total and eleven events on homesoil Brazilian surfers can qualify without getting their passports stamped.

I'm not trying to stir the patriotic pot here - hell, South Africa has just two WQS events! - but if hometown advantage counts for anything then it's no wonder the tour is gonna get a big injection of Latin blood.

The Current ASP Men's World Rankings

1 Smith,Jordy(ZAF)
2 Burrow,Taj(AUS)
3 Slater,Kelly(USA)
4 Andre,Jadson(BRA)
5 Hobgood,C.J.(USA)
6 De Souza,Adriano(BRA)
7 Fanning,Mick(AUS)
8 Davidson,Chris(AUS)
9 Durbidge,Bede(AUS)
10 Reynolds,Dane(USA)
11 Martinez,Bobby(USA)
12 Buchan,Adrian(AUS)
13 Parkinson,Joel(AUS)
14 Wright,Owen(AUS)
15 Alves,Heitor(BRA)
16 Monteiro,Raoni(BRA)
17 Patacchia,Fredrick (jnr)(HAW)
18 Knox,Taylor(USA)
19 Dantas,Wiggolly(BRA)
20 Ross,Daniel(AUS)
21 Hobgood,Damien(USA)
22 Bourez,Michel(PYF)
23 Muniz,Alejo(BRA)
24 Powers,Roy(HAW)
25 Kling,Gabe(USA)
26 Irons,Andy(HAW)
27 Cardoso,Willian(BRA)
28 Kerr,Josh(AUS)
29 Pires,Tiago(PRT)
30 Logie,Travis(ZAF)
31 Flores,Jeremy(FRA)
32 Otton,Kai(AUS)

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