The oldest association on earth!
So we all know that our World Surf League was not established in 1976. The world’s greatest living surf journalist, Nick Carroll, spelled it out very clearly in the comments just yesterday eve and I’ll reprint here, for you, since it should have been a post all by itself.
Shall we list the acronyms for them, one by one?
1. IPSA, formed in 1968/9 by various scions of the Outrigger Canoe Club who thought that because the Duke Classic had prize money, they would soon be running a 13-event world pro surfing tour. Sadly this did not eventuate, and the IPSA kinda disappeared around 1972.
2. IPS. Private company formed in 1975/6 by Fred Hemmings to administer a world rankings system. First known as “International Professional Surfers”, changed in 1978 to “International Professional Surfing” so as to dissuade the surfers from thinking they had ownership of it.
3. ASP. Non-profit association formed by Ian Cairns in late 1982. Shared ownership structure involving surfers and event promoters. Forced a takeover of the world rankings system from IPS in 1983. Much stuff then commenced for many years until
4. ZoSea Media took control of ASP in 2013, re-established it as a private sports management operation, and eventually changed the branding to World Surf League in 2015.
World Surf League, est. 2015.
Ok. But we know what Dirk Ziff means, right? He means, “I own professional surfing. I bought it for free and in so doing own its history too.”
Great. He is co-Waterman of the Year so can do whatever he wants BUT why didn’t he go all the way back into the mists of time. To Peru in 2500 B.C. where the first brave fisherman invented surfing? There is no doubt they had some sort of competitive aspect tied into the wave riding. So… yeah. Why not World Surf League, est. 2500 B.C.?
Can you give me a good reason?
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Yeah but pfffft…they didn’t have, like, Insta, ya know? So it didn’t count.
I mean, can you image the Kapu shitstorm if a commoner poked an Ali’i on FB? Or failed to ‘like’ their latest lifestyle blog post?
I think they’re rehearsing for ET, the musical.
This guy is ruling it.
He’s so rad he’s taking the piss and still more stylish than the rest of them.
“What ho, chaps! Jolly good lark this eh!!!?” https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
That’s how I imagine you kicking it!
No way. I’m am humble before this dude’s rad steez.
Surely I can add one more sqiggle and not face copyright infringement for my brand with this deeply complex image. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Stop persisting with this bullshit thing about Peruvians inventing surfing. They did not. This has been proven by actual scientists. Thor hyerdahl was a crank
Fake news!
You’re not a bad bloke Chas 🙂
C’mon deSousa (ADS) come out of the closet and stop hiding behind the ever so accurate description of your surfing “style”.
In real life I’m Patrice Lumumba.
Surely it would have been proven by historians? Why would a scientist care about surfing?
Archaeologists, ethnographers, geneticists etc.
There’s simply no evidence Peruvians headed west into the wind and got to hawaii. The kon tiki had to get towed out of the harbour by a motorboat!
Maybe they invented motorboats too!
wrong
Only an “unofficial” historian would care about surfing
I’m stealing this. Thank you.
Look into it, many judges and athletes on this.
Well Chas, to answer your question– obviosly Ziff knew he couldn’t pull off the BC thing. But he probably thought he could maybe slip the 1976 year by, as Ziff probably believes most surfers are newbies, wannabes, ‘has beens’ (grumpy old locals), or Adult Learners, and Ziff probably thought they would not pick up on the 1976 fact. Little did he know. I think he might have colluded with Logan on this one.
come on Matt. after he was awarded waterman of the year it is surely no surprise he thinks that these idiots will believe anything.
Anyone know if E Lo pioneered standup foiling?
This is what happens when you let learner surfers run a multi million dollar business . Either let professional business people to run it or professional surfers. Learner surfers who think they know surfing are the biggest problem in WSL. The WSL is fucked and the ship is sinking
Noooooooo!
The guy from ELO used to be in a band with George Harrison so he got his shit together, aight!
Chas,
D Ziffy is going to put a hit out on you if you don’t get off his game!
Body guards to the beach and Seaside market …. going to look funny.
Lemme see, gotta find someone who ain’t afraid to throw the first punch. Where do you find such a man?
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
something so biblical about that.
It’s a very renaissance scene.
don’t know, looks like a Francis Bacon to me!
Bacon was influenced by renaissance gravitas. But yes the masculine brutality could be Baconesque.
I don’t know, I’d say it was baroque drama that tickled Bacon’s beard.
Besides, gravitas is not the first word I think of when looking at the pic of the Ashton & Chas slap ! Ha ha ha!!!!
Endearing tomfoolery, I laugh every time I see this frame.
“songs of the scuttled” is quite fitting.
Don’t worry,
he’s ultra hard!
or maybe Derek is ultra hard and chas is the candy.
Take turns probly.
And why is it still called a “league”?
Perhaps ‘legume’ would be more appropriate.
is it short for beleaguered?
Beard-Leaguered, did you say?
that picture is clearly from a time when the judges were still scoring floaters.
Adult learners mate. They know so much but they don’t know shit.
Didn’t WSL use “Crowning Champions since 1976” initially ?
Something like that.
I thought that was a massive stretch of the truth at the time ….
This est 1976 claim is a pathetic attempt at next level spin.
Adult Learners have probably achieved success in their working life and by doing so developed an arrogance and false sense of confidence that transcends into surfing when they start.
It’s beneath them to start at the bottom
Elo is a prime example
Don’t see any insta photos of him with a short board because it would make him look bad.
For someone successful in their working life cannot look like a fully blown kook to the general public.
Well yes and no. For sure with the life experience providing a false sense of confidence thing, but the beneath them to start at the bottom thing? I think maybe it’s more not knowing where the bottom is.
I will always applaud the adult learner, especially one who is successful in the rest of their life, for willfully slotting themselves in embarrassing fashion at the bottom of the totem pole. That takes guts.
…they know just enough to be dangerous!