ASP cans the mid-year rotation system in 2012 World Title series
The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Board of Directors has deactivated the mid-year rotation in 2012, citing the instability of the ASP schedule in 2012 as the main reason for taking the decision.
With the recent announcements relating to the cancellation of the Quiksilver Pro New York and Rip Curl Search Pro, along with the promotion of O’Neill Cold Water Classic to a World Tour event for the 2012 schedule, the ASP felt that the concept was going to be extremely difficult to manage.
Following a motion against the mid-year rotation system tabled by the surfer stakeholder group that was headed by Australia’s Kieren Perrow, the ASP voted to deactivate the controversial system in 2012.
“As we have been since our inception, we are a sport governed by the surfers for the surfers and it is in this spirit that we have voted to deactivate the midyear rotation in 2012.” Dave Prodan, ASP International spokesman, said. “We believe this decision is best for the upcoming season and we will continue to discuss the future of the rotation within the sport.”
The 34-year-old Perrow admitted that the system had brought in some pretty deserving surfers into the World Tour in 2011, especially Brazil’s Gabriel Medina. However, he and the rest of his group strongly believe that the system is designed to fail.
The mid-year rotation had been implemented by ASP in 2010 as part of the new structure, which offered more prize money, but also introduced the One World Ranking system that had led to large amount of criticism from the World Tour surfers.
The One World Ranking system created a situation where the top World Tour surfers had to maintain their position on top of the ASP World Rankings through participation in the Prime and Star events. Majority of the World Tour surfers and event promoters were not at all happy with the new format.
The mid-year rotation had also attracted a lot of criticism in 2010 when the ASP not only brought in new surfers, but also reduced the number of World Title contenders to 32.
The heavy-weights of surfing began to protest against the new system since its inception and this protest only increased in intensity as time went by. America’s Bobby Martinez went all the way to lambasting the ASP for the introduction of mid-year rotation in the World Tour and announced an early retirement after missing a couple of 2011 ASP World Tour stops.
The 2011 year had not gone too well for ASP in terms of their relations with the surfers, along with the blunder of crowning Slater as the 2011 ASP World Champion before he had actually collected the points needed to seal the deal. The latter led to the resignation of the ASP CEO Brodie Carr.
By deactivating the mid-year rotation, the next year is expected to be a lot less complicated for ASP. There still are a few complication relating to the 2012 ASP World Title schedule that they have to take care of, but they can surely expect a good deal of support from the surfers after finally removing their reservations.
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