Fiji proves it! The women need to be set free!
Yesterday afternoon I spent a very enjoyable few hours watching the women’s Fiji Outerknown Pro. Oh sure, the waves weren’t spectacular but the surfing certainly was and it made me realize how much the women need their own tour. How the World Surf League is not only robbing them but robbing us of a better time.
When sandwiched between men’s heats, or men’s days, on the men’s tour the women automatically become an afterthought. It is all about the men no matter what the WSL tries to sell. No matter how much they tell Ron Blakey to amp his voice excitement. “Up next it’s the WOMEN.”
But when they are on their own program it is a thing of art. The women have as much skill, as much subtlety, as much nuance as the men. The way they approach the waves is a thing to behold. The storylines and built in rivalries sing.
The singing, though, gets lost in the noise of the men’s tour.
I think, if on their own program, the women’s tour viewership would grow exponentially. New sponsor opportunities, new markets, new everything. I would certainly watch much more. I would also bet on it, like real money through a bookie and stuff.
So come on WSL. Let the caged bird free! Let me win money!
And now lets watch Tati-Weston Webb demolish Steph Gilmore.
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
Um, while there *are* more men in the water overall, your 100 to 1 ration is pretty off. It’s more like 2:1 and that’s only overall. In the under 24 age bracket, there are now more women than men surfing in Australia.
that can’t be true, can it?
have you stats to present on the subject?
It is! I do! Stats are my friends 🙂 The most recent survey on surfing is here: http://www.roymorgan.com/fi…
But I’m also happy to direct naysayers to the most recent ABS data and the ERASS results. For those in the states it’s a little different but the recent SIMA results make interesting reading too 🙂
I think the women are at their best at the Maui event. So yes, a separate tour would be cool, but I doubt that it would be viable financially. It would probably have more of a QS vibe.
Oh, but the ‘QS looks like so much more fun than the ‘CT!
I also wonder how much the Dream Tour relies on the women, if only for the political justification of the expense. Would the tour be under threat if women didn’t partake? I would be very interested to see some numbers.
I bet there isn’t enough money on the men’s side to run itself for the whole year much less the women’s. Both probably need each other to move the circus and pay the clowns.
Besides JJF and few others, I generally enjoy watching the woman more than the men. Most of the guys are are boring to watch, while the girls are hot and sexy in their little bathing suits.
Steph seems to be either really amazing or a total disaster in heats at the moment. It’s all or nothing. But Tati was super fun to watch.
Totally agree with this. Totally. It’s ridiculously hard to sell sponsorship for women’s sports — I have friends who do and have done it — so that might be the deal-breaker. Why can’t we have nice things! I want all the nice things!
I think women’s surfing could be more like tennis or golf. Distinctly gorgeous! It would, in fact, be more appealing to me than the men’s tour if I was a non-endemic brand.
Yep, I think so, too! But I’m maybe biased 😉
I do think it would make a lot of fucking sense to sell the two tours separately to sponsors. But maybe this has been tried? Idk.
Edit to add: It depends on the audience right? Do women watch the women’s heats at all, or is the audience mostly men? And, if it is mostly men, could that be changed? Because if you get a bunch of non-endemics hoping to advertise to women, and women aren’t watching the contest heats, it’s not going to work. That’s one of the cunundrums of selling sponsorship for women’s sports — who’s the audience? Do we assume it’s women and find women’s brands, or is it men? And who do we sell to in that case?
Sorry, that was a lotta question marks, but only because I’ve done some work on this and still don’t quite know the right answer to it.
women are not watching. unfortunately, Bachelorette or Keeping up with the K-people is their preference still.
Yeah, I don’t think women are watching now, either. But would they if it were marketed more effectively to them? Maybe? Idk.
Also you need different women friends, dude.
yeah, i know there’s some “normal” ladies around but i live near the OC
Well, I’m not really one to judge, you know? I just came in from mountain biking and I hang around places like this. 😀
You guys should
meet up!
can i borrow your cialis hook?
Of course you can. You’re ok in my book bitter guy
I have the coolest girlfriend ever and she’s fucking enthralled by garbage reality TV shows. My only conclusion is women adore drama, even when they understand its falsity and detriment to society.
This, of course, coming from the guy who writes for BeachGrit.
I think women, in general, aren’t watching because of a few things. To begin with, the way it’s marketed is along much more masculinised perceptions of sport and that doesn’t resonate with women or draw new viewers (so, yes, Jen, I think if it were marketed differently women *would* watch). Secondly, I think that women tend to interact with surfing in a really different way to men and they don’t seem to see any relevance between professional surfing and themselves. If it’s made relevant, more women will tune in.
I dunno. What would Laird advise?
TBH, all the girls I’ve surfed with since Laird came out with those comments are pretty grateful. Nothing quite like yelling “CODE RED!” to clear the line-up and have the bank to ourselves… Probs would help with the overall idea of a comp to ourselves too. You know, so that the guys don’t have to surf in our shark-infested waters and all.
Yeah, I feel like a smart marketing person could come up with a way to tell a story that connects the pro women and contest surfers to women who surf. If I knew how to do that, I wouldn’t be a broke ass freelancer 😀
you and me both!
I live in a household of female surfers and that second point seems to fit the bill exactly…..not to speak on their behalf but the interest is zero in professional surfing.
This may sound wacky as fuck on paper…but you know how women’s surfing could get a boost? By the WSL creating specialty events and letting the women surf against the men in good, performance waves. Think about the fact that some of the biggest events/draws/viewerships/possible match ups in “non-major” sports history have involved women competing versus men. Michelle Wie in golf. Danica in Indy. Billie Jean in tennis… And most recently debated if Rousey could beat a man up in the octagon (which would’ve proved to be bad for Ronda). I’m pretty sure that given the right waves, Carissa, Steph or Tyler could beat some Top 150 QS guys in 3-6ft Honolua, 2-4ft trestles maybe even some bad 1-3ft HB Pier.
womens golf in anyplace but Asia is actually struggling quite badly
Hey, you’re just pissed off that they’ve opted for burkini bottoms rather than bikini bottoms.
I watched more of yesterday’s live webcast than I watched the entirety of the Brazil event.
Me too!
WSL, where you can watch the worlds best women surf the worlds best waves but only in the worst conditions!
Yeah, I was totally feelin’ that one yesterday. It’s Fiji! Please can we see it good please?
The Tampax tour, now with a shark repellent!
Tampax was a sponsor for US Swimming for a while. 🙂
That was before Laird bloodied the waters!
Very true! Now more relevent than ever!