Longtom on John John: “Airs will be off the agenda for a long time. Maybe for good in competition!”

Fact is, one-in-three NFL athletes have careers ended by ACL ruptures. That knee may never come back to what it was.

John John Florence, two-time world champion and on track to canter to a third title, is out for the year with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.

The ACL is a short ligament, one of the two cruciate ligaments that in their crossed orientation provide stability to the knee joint. You can exist with a torn ACL, you can surf.

But it’ll be old man surfing in a straight line.

Worse news than Arctic ice caps melting for surf fans. We were just starting to see John John really open up and with J-Bay and Teahupoo in John’s crosshairs next the prospect of seeing something truly transcendent was very real.

You want to fold that back knee down and hammer the close-outs with a big layback like John did at Bells you’re going to need that ACL.

It’s all very sad news of course, probably worse than Arctic ice caps melting for surf fans. We were just starting to see John John really open up and with J-Bay and Teahupoo in John’s crosshairs next the prospect of seeing something truly transcendent was very real.

Almost certain. No more.

What now?

John’s ACL is ruptured. Partial tears are uncommon, it’s the same dicky knee he twinged in Bali last year which means this time it’s fully cooked. Surgical grafting of either his own patellar or hamstring tendon or if a suitable donor can be found, someone else’s, is used to replace his ruptured ACL.

Forgive me for indulging a fantasy but surely there must be some Chinese political prisoner of mountain stock with very robust knees who could donate the ligament? What a gesture of international reconciliation.

A period of pre-op pre-hab will be followed by surgery then a six-to-nine-month rehab. Airs will be off the agenda for a very, very long time. Maybe for good in competition.

Based on results in the first half of the year John won’t need an injury wildcard for next year. If the re-hab goes well the first we will see of him will be Snapper next year. Very sad face.

The implications short and long term are hectic.

A tantalising title race was in the offing this year if John didn’t run away with it. Jordy, Pip, Slater, Medina at Pipe all beckoned as dance partners for our faux-hawked golden boy. Audiences were up 25% according to WSL; anecdotally from what I heard in my local lineups, surfers were tuning in to watch JJF do his thing live.

I hate the term: an asterisk next to the Title, but really and truly, with JJF out it’s going to be impossible to say the best surfer on Tour won the Title this year.

Young men and gals are going to be busted up by the time they are 30 and Kelly’s career arc will seem even more of an anomaly. Pro surfers are going to have to be re-engineered from an early age if they are to survive the rigours of advanced progressive surfing. Unlike NFL or NBA or even pissant Australian sports like NRL and AFL there isn’t enough high-end talent to burn through.

John has been busted up before advancing the Sport. Landing into the flats at Snapper gave him a high-ankle sprain, broken back at Pipe, the Keramas landing last year that damaged the ACL. The injury toll is an existential dilemma for a sport supposedly based on progression.

Young men and gals are going to be busted up by the time they are 30 and Kelly’s career arc will seem even more of an anomaly. Pro surfers are going to have to be re-engineered from an early age if they are to survive the rigours of advanced progressive surfing. Unlike NFL or NBA or even pissant Australian sports like NRL and AFL there isn’t enough high-end talent to burn through.

Kelly is a one-off talent, John a once in a generation. There’s no replacement waiting in the wings.

Barrinha was an exhibit A example of a sport held back by the fear of injury to it’s top talent. The high-speed wedges had potential for the biggest aerials ever seen in the sport, as noted by Kolohe Andino.

And no-one, apart from John’s flyaway kick-out which caused the injury, attempted one.

Hard to imagine another “extreme” sport where competitors deliberately avoided going big because of the risk of injury. Andino was being ironic when he said the next day “Go small, don’t fall” but that was about the truest thing ever said in a post-heat presser.

Going small is the norm.

John is putting a brave face on it with modern therapy speak.

“I’m excited for this new adventure and everything I will learn along the way.”

The fact is, one-in-three NFL athletes have careers ended by ACL ruptures. That knee may never come back to what it was.

As far as pushing the limits of high-performance surfing we may already have seen the best of JJF. More very sad face.

What will he learn along the way?

If we took the therapy speak to its logical conclusion would his medical team investigate the use of testosterone to address muscle wastage or human growth hormone as a therapy to “promote connective tissue” growth if it helped get the knee back to full strength. Out of season testing for injured athletes seems lax or non-existent.

Would you begrudge John getting access to the latest medical advances which might intrude into grey areas if it meant he could come back full strength to do what he does?

I sure wouldn’t and I couldn’t imagine Sophie would either.

We’ll soldier on but it’s going to be another long year without John on tour.