"If there’s not a massive change soon, Australian surfing is doomed," says surfer-shaper Maurice Cole.
A few months ago, Surfing Australia announced with much fanfare that it was going to demolish the old high-performance training facility in Casuarina in northern NSW and build a much grander version at a cost of $5.6 million.
The NSW state government threw in three mill, the federal government two and a half, and Surfing Australia a hundred grand.
A beautiful example of governments helping the kids, a, or money squandered on a failing system? I choose…b.
Explain to me this.
More and more money is being tipped into surfing in Australia and yet competitive surfing here is at its lowest ebb. How many surfers have we got coming through the WQS? How many have qualified?
Of eight new surfers on the WCT, five are Brazilians, two are Americans and there’s the single Australian, Wade Carmichael. (Side note: A few years ago, I spent a bit of time in Hawaii with Wade. He’s quiet but fuck can he surf. When I got back to Australia I showed Quiksilver footage of Wade. Said they could pick him up for fifty grand. They wanted to back Matt Banting instead. Good call that one.)
And that piece of shit ISA world titles in May? Australia finished twelfth, only a few hundred points clear of Germany. Round four was the best an Australian did in the blue-ribbon Open Men’s. A colossal failure.
At the world junior titles in Kiama, Australia didn’t get one surfer into the quarter-finals. In one-to-two-foot junk. Indonesians and Japanese finished higher than Australians at our home break. We should have the best one-to-three-foot specialists in the world. I see all these kids doing contests every weekend and we couldn’t crack even the minor finals.
And who won the world juniors? A Hawaiian kid. Finn McGill. In shit surf. A kid who can ride Teahupoo, Backdoor, Pipe, Waimea and Jaws. The complete competitor.
Australian surfing is really the tale of two surfers: Ethan Ewing and Jack Robinson. Is Trevor Robinson, Jack’s dad, a genius? Because Jack is twenty and he can win at big Pipe and match anyone at Teahupoo. He’s ready to go. The problem is, he can’t get out of a fucking heat in the WQS. But that’s easily fixed. Get a good coach. Jack should be on the WCT, easy, until he wants to retire.
But how long will it take Ethan to learn to surf big Pipe, big Backdoor, big Teahupoo? Who’s taking care of the surfers who come through the Surfing Australia system?
It’s a system that’s broken.
It’s not producing anything except salaries for the people at the top. They’re more interested in having shitty contests every weekend in every part of Australia.
But when do kids learn to surf? To really surf?
Meanwhile, the French kids, the Hawaiian kids, they’re out there charging. Killian Guerin just surfed Waimea. He’s fourteen. These kids can all surf top-to-bottom barrels no matter where. By the time they get to the WQS they’re ready to graduate to the WCT.
If there’s not a massive change soon, Australian surfing is doomed. It’s like Australian tennis. In the sixties there wasn’t a country in the world who could touch the Australia. Now, our best players, the prodigies Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic, are spoiled brats. How did they get to that point? Why didn’t they straighten that shit out? What’s Tennis Australia doing?
Jack Robinson’s dad didn’t let him go into the Surfing Australia system. Trevor might be hard to deal with, and maybe he’s only liked by the lunatic fringe like me, but what we’re dealing with is a surfer who has no mediocrity in him, except going into a heat.
Surfing Australia, I feel, is a mediocre bureaucracy that produces mediocrity. We have some of the best free surfers in the world, Ando, Creed, Noa and we have that in bucketloads, but for the competitive kid, all they get prepared for is years and years on the QS.
Look at Jack Freestone. Two-times world junior champ. Came through the Surfing Australia system. For the amount of talent that he’s got, his mediocre results are a failure of the system. He never learned to surf Teahupoo, Pipe or even Fiji. Jack Robinson, meanwhile, had the passion to learn to surf those places.
Right now is the lowest Australian competitive surfing has ever been and the Olympics are coming up. God knows how we’ll go. Normally, I’d say Australia is odds-on for a medal but I fucking doubt it. We don’t have the depth of surfers. But we have all the infrastructure, all the academies, the six-million-dollar high-performance centre, all the bureaucracies.
What do we want to produce? World champions. Australia loves world champions. Nat Young’s still walking around with his hand in the air saying, “World Champ!” No one remembers second. You could have twenty-five seconds in a row and no one would remember. Being a world champion sets you up for life.
We used to be a nation of mongrels. We were that strong, we were that dominant. We’d go to Hawaii and fucking surf and fucking party and fucking headbutt each other, knock each other out and then buy each other a beer. We were raw. We were passionate. But loaded with ability.
And then came Surfing Australia. More money than ever. Worst results ever.
Right now is the lowest Australian competitive surfing has ever been and the Olympics are coming up. God knows how we’ll go. Normally, I’d say Australia is odds-on for a medal but I fucking doubt it. We don’t have the depth of surfers. But we have all the infrastructure, all the academies, the six-million-dollar high-performance centre, all the bureaucracies.
Why has Brazil produced all these amazing, hungry surfers? Not because they have more talent. They do a few local contests, do the ISA, world pro juniors then they’re straight onto the WQS. We dick around for another two years, hold onto ‘em until they’re twenty. Meanwhile, teenage Brazilians are spending their winters in Hawaii.
What are the Key Performance Indicators for Surfing Australia? All this money has been given by the state and federal governments, supposedly with KPIs attached, but where is the success?
My question to Surfing Australia is this: do you believe your system is a success and can you show us the how you reached that conclusion? Are we teaching kids to get out of heats or to become competitive? What are we actually doing?
As for me, why am I qualified to ask these questions? I’ve been competing sine I was thirteen. I became a shaper as well as a pro surfer and I was on the advisory board of the ASP for twenty-plus fucking years. It’s part of my culture and I’ve been mentored by the best since I was a kid. My networking is second to none. I can call any owner or CEO of any major surf company. In my forty-five years of surfing I’ve seen the cycles come and go. That’s who I am and what I am.
Big fail once again for some heavily hyped surfers in Burton pro surfing is about making heats , you can be the so called best upcoming talent in Australia but if you do not have competition skills and the ability to surf a range of conditions wave types and heat draws then you are not the best professional surfer in Australia and in the end the discussion was around professional surfing not so called sponsored non completion orientated surfers.
When was the last time a kid had to work a paper route for his first board? Respect Maurice.
Talking about wasting money… what about the $2000 Maurice received from Surfing Australia to make some Grom development Boards? Terrible dimensions, terrible design and now they gather dust in the darkest corner. Given your recent stance I presume you will be giving the money back?
#Hypocrisy #BitingTheHandThatHasFedHim
I just don’t think Pro surfing is the pinnacle for these young guys anymore, A lot of surf media, including this site are very anti pro surfing, if you’re a good looking young Aussie ripper you can make decent bank without ever going in a heat, I think for a lot of the Brazo’s pro surfing is their way to a better life for them and their families so the hunger is there for them.
there’s so much to that point Mort…I will attempt to expand
and that ‘s what Competition is , fighting to win , and having all the tools at your disposal to be the very best you can , Surfing Australia seems to have given our young surfers a half empty tool box!
Nobody is talking about a different equation. The equation of having similar talent among your closest peer’s driving the young to be hungrier than the prodigy a few rail lengths away in the same home brake. 1.) Mick, Park, Dingo 2.) Andy/Bruce 3.) Hobgood’s 4.) Shea and Cory.. more? The modern super grom is identified early home schooled put on the competitive weekend #Momtour. Separating the prodigy away from all local young talent. Something said to have another talent fighting for what you want right next to you day in and day out!
Good point , and that’s why Trevor Robinson took his son to every great surf spot on the planet for the last 5 years , results are in Jack has incredible respect from his peers and made heaps of good local mates now he just has to learn to get out of a heat!
What kind of pressure is he under?
To Qualify or close to it this year as his contract expires at the end of this year.
There is also the Trevor factor , where he is probably one of the most unpopular Dad’s amongst industry people .
so there are a lot waiting to see Jack fail , “and I told you so,” as he refused to conform to the system on offer , and now its , ” No I told you your system was and is fucked!”
I’ll do it for him. Maurice was the defending Victorian champion at the time he was jailed. The sentence was grotesque even by 1976 standards: four years with a two year non parole period for possession of hashish oil. Off he went to max in Pentridge. It seemed as if he would be given the opportunity to spend some weekend time out of prison to surf and train since he was a champion surfer, under some rulings which saw sporting prowess as a form of criminal rehab. But before his application could be finalised, Stan Couper and the Victorian ASA committee stripped him of his Victorian title on the grounds that he had brought the sport into disrepute. Bang went any chance of weekends out. I personally think this was an appalling thing to do to a fellow surfer, it had a terrible effect on Maurice and it remains a stain on the reputation of that body, not on him.
Generous of you to call Stan Couper a surfer. Think Principal Skinner.
And who is going to go into bat for poor Stan, who has been dead for 20 years? Yes, you know the guy who you wrote in your book “didn’t like goofy footers” despite the most famous goofy footer of the 60s coming from the same town. Slagging off dead people, who don’t have the right of reply is poor form.
Which Australian Surfers have qualified for the CT since 2012 and requalified through the CT in the same year ? Julian Wilson and Connor O’leary .( both from beach break towns who get their best results in waves of consequences) Julian gets 2,000,000 a year and Connor gets ?( Stu Kennedy did but was a wild card) So if you gave all the free surfer money to Connor and not to Noa , Dion Ag etc and the former world junior champs and those who can’t win a heat ,when given a wildcard ( even though they are absolute genius in waves of consequences and have 6 billion followers on social media ) then you might encourage kids to compete and give money to the likes of wade Carmichael and not to possible potential CT qualifiers like K King or a very young and now back on the QS EE .Mr Cole I really enjoyed this article and am in awe of your contribution to Australian surfing since Wayne Lynch was a kid . I would love to see Surfing Australia and the worldwide surfing media cover the QS so that the new 1/3 of the CT has a back story so we know the Wade Carmichaels and the Michael Rodrigues , or the Kung fu panda 🐼 who are going to blow up this year and not just those who we know because of Redbull , Volcom , Vans or Billabong Quik etc because they drop 6 clips a year , live in San Clemente and journalists feels / are obliged to talk about the new kid in town who pays the advertising 💰that gives them a ghost / free board / job etc. So this is how you can do it it . ELOUERA BOARDRIDERS SHANE CAMPBELL JUST TOOK OUT THE CARVE 1000 Pro at Maroubra .The Canadian born Australian , inspired by fellow club mate Connor O’leary ( Wsl rookie of the year ) and Jared Hickel who finished equal 9th in Israel 2 days ago would like to thank Beach Grit for its support of young Australian talent .
Wow, I’m surprised someone cares this much
All due respect James but cronulla is home to probably the most “best” Australian slabs within 10ks of each other.
Connor has had plenty of slab training.
One end has shark island and the other Cape fear.
I know , I blew in there at age 10 and still hold blow in status there 40 years later .I been wondering if one could surf over those nasty rocks at both ends of the beach for years .
If you want to be the magazines then I suggest you do.
If you merely want to surf the WSL then I suggest you surf the beaches.
Follow the path of those who did both . Banks , Occy , Green , Marsh and a list to numerous to mention .
I did I watched bunyip dreaming and green iguana thousands of times.
Watched Gary green in the search and occasionally spoke with him during my short stay in cronulla..stood on the Jim banks star and made a wish ..Didn’t see the dog but patted most of elouras ones on my early morning walks up to the point.
Made water friends with Conner O’Learys mum,
The sharks won the title while I was living there and Connor made the tour….
So…
All is well
Mostly.
I agree there are a lot of new coaches that have not the runs on the board , but the ones I have spoken with are all seasoned veteran coaches , and have athletes that won World titles .
like you they are questioning why are they being dictated to by the Admin , when the results just keep getting worse?
I’m serious. The girls want to get somewhere way more than the boys. Much hungrier. Nobody’s paying them to smoke ciggies and smash guitars, and they don’t wanna do that anyway. under 12 to under 16 girls divisions in Aust competitions are the hardest fought events in surfing right now. The QS rack is full of Australian girls and they pretty much dominate the CT top end. They are all exposed to the same forces – first world wealth, lack of good surf, money wasting by Surfing Australia, blah blah blah – that everyone is talking about in here as being the ruination of Australian surfing. So what have they got going for them that the boys right now just don’t seem to have?
A lack of competition worldwide? Might it be analogous to men’s pro surfing in the seventies?
Not in the global competition sense so much as in the blue-sky sense, I suspect. The girls can see and feel a space ahead of them and they just know they can fill that space. They have a great range of role models, but not so many they are daunted by the achievements of surfers past. The dead hand of History is not weighing on them. They’re encouraged by their surfer Dads and they’re stoked and excited to try to do their best. When you are in that mind set, everything just lines up behind you and the bullshit just falls away.
I think girls are more competitive in everything when they get their mind set on a goal, and feel more of a need to prove their independence. Dudes are lazy. .
Coolum has a few blokes doing QS stuff, but there’s not a lot of next gen guys coming through. There’s way more youth girls in the water that are ripping harder. Probably scaring the boys away.
for one, they don’t have the free-surf pro thing as available to them. You’ve gotta be pretty for that gig and surfing ability doesn’t matter as much.
I can answer that Nick-I have a coupla’ fillies in the game and they are right there at the pointy end. Both under 16 and both better surfers than probably 90-95% of guys in the surf and they really want it – they work so bloody hard to improve and need to battle against all kinds of bias in and out of the water.
What they have is a fierce competitive drive, borne out of having to fight for every wave, knowing they can rip, if they can just get a wave off the fellas. They have a peer group that feels the same way.
Basically, the bias and sexism, has given them mongrel-something so very much lacking in the bulk of Australian competitive surfers.
Fascinating irony eh DD.
What the fuck did I just read? I’ve never even heard of this guy.
I’m sure Matt Warshaw won’t mind me hurdling the paywall to cut and paste his entry about Maurice.
Bearish surfer-boardmaker from Victoria, Australia; three-time finalist in the Australian National Titles (1979-’81); boardmaker to many of the world’s best surfers in the ’90s and ’00s. “Cole’s manic energy, hair-trigger temper, outlandish generosity, insomniac work regime, and insatiable thirst for wild times are all legendary,” surf writer Tim Baker said of Cole in 2002. “It is exhausting work just contemplating his life’s journey.”
The part-Aboriginal Cole was born (1954) in Ararat, Victoria, moved with his adopted family to Warrnambool at age four, and began surfing at 13. Chubby, strong, and determined, Cole won the 1973 Victoria state titles. In 1974 he was arrested for possession of hash oil, and in 1976 he was convicted and served just over two years in prison, with part of the time spent in a maximum security cell. Released in February 1978, Cole returned to Torquay, his home since 1972, and the capital of Victoria surfing. The following year he again won the Victoria state title. Competing in the nationals, he placed fifth in 1979, third in 1980, and fifth in 1981; he also finished sixth in the 1980 World Surfing Championships. Throughout this period, and after, Cole was close friends and frequent travel partners with Torquay surf legend Wayne Lynch.
Cole began shaping surfboards since 1974, and by 1976 was one of his country’s best-paid boardmakers. He became a partner in Watercooled Surfboards in Victoria in 1978; two years later he sold his interest in Watercooled and moved to Hossegor, France, to make boards under his own name. Cole’s reputation shot up in 1990, as California pro Tom Curren won his third world title while using Cole-made boards; the following year, Cole made Curren a board with reverse vee—putting a slight vee-panel concavity in the tail of the board, instead of the usual convexity—and the design feature soon became a shortboard standard. The bearded and frequently scowling Cole went on to build boards for world champions Barton Lynch, Kelly Slater, Tom Carroll, and Mark Occhilupo, as well as pro tour standouts Kalani Robb, Taj Burrow, and Jake Paterson, and big-wave rider Noah Johnson. His French-based surfing business, meanwhile, put him deeply into debt by the early ’90s. “Design and building—that’s always come easy to me,” Cole later said. “But on the business side of things, I’m pretty hopeless. Too much ego, too much arrogance.”
Cole moved to Margaret River, Western Australia, in 1995, and two years later founded MC Surfboards. He was soon making news as a vocal critic of arch-conservative politician Pauline Hanson, leader of the anti-immigrant One Nation party. “Are we on course to become the South Africa of the new millennium?” Cole asked in an Australia’s Surfing Life magazine opinion piece before going on to describe Hanson and her followers as “short-sighted, power-hungry lunatics.” Cole also lampooned Hanson in full-page color MC Surfboards advertisements.
In 1999, Cole, along with pro surfers Ross Clarke-Jones, and Brenden Margieson, introduced tow-in surfing to Western Australia. He helped start the short-lived and cash-hemmoraging surfboard company BASE in 2003, then quit the company one year later to resume shaping under the Maurice Cole Surfboards label.
Cole appeared in a small number of surf movies and videos, including A Day in the Life of Wayne Lynch (1978), Wizards of the Water (1982), and Storm Riders (1982). https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
I still have no idea who this guy is. I do back that he is a vocal critic of Pauline, but disagree with his archaic views on the importance of big waves in modern day surfing.
ah where was big waves mentioned?
And who won the world juniors? A Hawaiian kid. Finn McGill. In shit surf. A kid who can ride Teahupoo, Backdoor, Pipe, Waimea and Jaws. The complete competitor. Because Jack is twenty and he can win at big Pipe and match anyone at Teahupoo. But how long will it take Ethan to learn to surf big Pipe, big Backdoor, big Teahupoo? Meanwhile, the French kids, the Hawaiian kids, they’re out there charging. Killian Guerin just surfed Waimea. He’s fourteen. These kids can all surf top-to-bottom barrels no matter where. He never learned to surf Teahupoo, Pipe or even Fiji. Jack Robinson, meanwhile, had the passion to learn to surf those places.
Ah needs a bit of explanation …..by big Backdoor/chopes as opposed to head high , kids charging Jaws/Waimea means they are pushing their boundaries and are passionate to learn about step up and gun boards , which is setting them up for CT dream tour……
Great reading!
Greetings from Brazil Maurice!
If you want to be a pro, really, you have to have balls and guts… and run after your dream.
Being a Cali Boy, an Australian boy, a hawaiian boy, having infrastructure or waves, or being a rich kid in Rio, has nothing to do with it or with money… you don’t have a treaty or contract with destiny, or gods, that garantee you acomplish that.
You have to struggle and want from the deep bottom of your belives…and if you have the talent… then maybe you do it the path.
Passion to learn and surf out of your comfort Zone , is why the Brazilians are leading the charge , meanwhile in Australia our juniors get to surf a comp every weekend in crap surf till they are 18 , it was 20 last year!
Exactly Brutus!
I call the ball and guts to pursuit the dream.
In a previous article I made a parallel of why the surfing competition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, died (being one of the precursor states of surf itself and professional surfers in the 60s / 70s and early 80s), and seeing the same scenery with the boys in California …
Daddy and mommy little children, without strength, will, balls … since early, rich, sponsorships, wearing surf clothes bla bla bla…
Like Maurice said, Australia goes through the same, albeit on a smaller scale …
In Brazil it is the poverty factor, the need for a roof, a place in the sun, that pulls the kids …
As boxing was in the USA. Now MMA does this also in Brazil and even in USA …
But it is not just poverty, it is about having dreams and pursuing them with desire, and accepting the sufferings and hardness of life from being professional until you become a champion … if you ever become a champion.
What these boys without strength and willpower desire, is to try without suffering and having to fight a lot, but having a plan B in his underwear for in the first difficulties, abort his original dreams …
No need for poverty, you need to want to be … if you go in the movie Bustin ‘Down The Door, in Rabitt’s part, he says this …
This is what Rabbit, Shaun, Mark Richards, Ian, Pete, Michael, talk about in the movie
This is what is lacking in these boys full of sponsorship from early days, and full of money…
Time, decades can pass, but the way to become great sportsmen and competitors, and champions, is always the same:
It starts inside the boy.
It comes down to desire-how much do they want it!
Hey Maurice, only Johnny-come-lately dumb cunts need to justify their credentials to the readership in the last paragraph. You’re clear of that requirement, I reckon.
It’s hard being a serious feral fossil without sounding bitter , but I have spent nearly all of my life behind the scenes in the “Inner Sanctum” of surfing and as you can see there are some people who think I am just shaper who surfed …but have always been active in trying calling bullshit when I see something that is a negative for our surfing culture!
to shake up the system and start a conversation on how do we fix the broken system , but first you have to acknowledge there is a problem.
The ex-coaches of SA are the ones saying that SA is broken , so who’s Australia’s Head Coach?
Great piece, but not sure if the Jack Robinson way is easier. What’s his coaching situation like now? He’s been struggling for a couple of seasons now to develop a QS brain.
Jack can basically surf any wave on Tour , and loves Chopes/Pipe flairs up on Lowers type waves , but grovelling in 4 man heats can easily be fixed by getting a coach who simply teaches him how to build a house in a heat.
So that’s easy if Trevor does it , but the example of Ethan Ewing is that it will take him at least 5 years to learn to surf all the waves that require stepup boards , as per Jack Freestone , who just never bothered to learn.
A tale of 2 x talents!
Trev needs to throw some $$ at Snake.
I guess I don’t understand the need to push kids to become good pros. Home school, high-cost travel and almost none make it. I’d lay off Surfing Australia and point a finger at all the dads who think their kid’s the next Mick the moment he can do a proper turn.
Yeah but at present the only system where you can take your kid is, Surf Australia’s pathway , unless you are a Jack Robinson who has sponsorship $’s to first learn to surf and build a quiver of boards and actually prepare for the CT .
I agree that there are parenting issues , but when you talk to the coaches , they are the ones saying how fucked the system is , money goes to the bureaucrats , with a trickle down to the programs and coaches.
why does a kid need to be on any path? There’s heaps of waves in Oz to surf, from perfect little beach breaks to points to slabs, a kid can get all the training he needs just surfing and doing local comps. Let them do that until they’re 18 or so and see where it leads.
But really, the issue isn’t the system, it’s the 1st world life of surf kids taking away all the desire. No different than SoCal, which should have 10 guys on tour every year but is lucky to get one or two. 1000’s of brazilians are surfing to have a better life, whereas Americans and Australians already already have everything they need.
BTW, parents who want their kids to be pro surfers when they’re 10 are the worst kind of dicks.
That’s most parents do…
Around the world… sports, classic music and his little genius, gymnastics etc…
It’s the competitive nature that drives sports people .
Surfing as a sport has always been part of the surfing culture , and once upon a time showcased new Surfboard designs and we could watch the elite surfers compete against each other .
At the moment the more funding/money the bureaucrats get , the worse the results get , so there is proof that the system is broken and not producing anything but wages and expense accounts , meanwhile the young surfers are being given little or no chance of success!
i would love to know the sum total of the endorsement deals being paid to pro surfers worldwide at present, from JJF to Knost and Ford A. take that figure and divide it by, say 500, and what have you got? if you’re playing the odds i’d send my kid to concussion city, NFL practice team guys make $465k and there are 850 spots.
The problem is that the Surf Co’s use a % of their turnover for marketing , for example take 5% of combined Billabong/Quiksilver turnover 5 years ago , they had a combined turnover of $4B ,so 5% is $200M , now they have halved their combined turnover to $2b , so $100 m less for marketing.
The turnover of nearly all surf Co’s is currently being savaged and still spiralling down , so it looks like in the next coming couple of years there will be $100m’s less for sponsorship , advertising , ah , don’t you love , “The Cleansing!”
now that Oaktree owns everything, Bong and Quik won’t be bidding against each other to sign these guys anymore either
Rip Curl is a possible next up for them.
That last line reminds me of Popeye : I am what I am and thats all that I am.
I mean that in a nice way Maury. Great piece.
Hell, if I was a young ripper I would rather shoot vid in tropical perfection than scrap for points in crappy beachbreak.
Australia is such a great place to live but there is still significant inequality and poverty. Just research the differential in life expectancy between the aboriginal community and the rest of the population.
Yeah thats a sad story which most people dont give fucuk about. Standard egocentric nature of most Australians ignore this.
agree
Looking at their staff page bears you out. Bede, Samba Mann and a slew of bureaucrats. So what to do? If you whinge loud enough, will the top brass be replaced by a results-driven visionary? And what to do with Jack Robbo? Maybe he needs to post up at Surf Australia so he can learn to win heats in slop, hey?
That’s the thing Maurice is waving his hands in the air about. The kids coming out of the Surfing Australia system aren’t winning heats in slop. Evidence: no Australians in the quarters at the world juniors, ongoing failures at those dang ISA events.
Well, that’s my main concern. How can we help Jack Robbo? He needs to be on tour.
easy , all Jack has to do is get a personal coach to teach him how to surf heats in shit waves . His Dad Trevor is very disliked by the system as he refused to play ball with them , so a private coach !