There’s usually an accepted ideal that an athlete can’t lose his or her spot due to injury. When someone is ready to return to action and at full strength, they usually at least get the opportunity to slide back in
There’s usually an accepted ideal that an athlete can’t lose his or her spot due to injury. When someone is ready to return to action and at full strength, they usually at least get the opportunity to slide back in where they were prior to getting hurt.
A few famous exceptions do exist, like Tom Brady taking over for Drew Bledsoe and going on to win the Super Bowl, or Lou Gehrig coming on for Wally Pipp and going on to play the next 2,130 consecutive games for the Yankees.
The World Surf League provides three injury wild card spots each season — two men and one woman. It’s designed to allow competitors who didn’t re-qualify due to an extended injury stretch a spot back on the world tour.
This year it’s Jordy Smith and Matt Banting on the men’s side and Stephanie Gilmore for the women. Smith and Gilmore were obvious selections, due to their past success. Knocking Gilmore, a six-time world champ, off the tour would go against the spirit of the league. Smith finished in the top 10 four of the previous five seasons and was No. 2 in the world in 2010.
But Banting is an interesting case. He was a Championship Tour rookie this past season and only competed in five contests before injury. He had clearly earned his spot on the 2015 world tour by finishing second on the Qualifying Series in 2014.
However, he has no proven track record on the world tour and he wasn’t a major factor through five contests. He was out in the second round twice, out in the third round twice and reached one fourth round.
The fact that he could not continue competing due to injury is now the reason he’ll be back for 2016. Meanwhile, Adam Melling, who finished just one spot out of the Top 22 on the CT and also put in a heavy QS schedule with a 22nd-place ranking, is now relegated back to the QS full-time. Melling has been on the CT for six straight seasons and always hovered around the cut line, so he doesn’t have the same track record as Smith or Gilmore.
But it must seem unfair for him to see Banting’s name 10 spots below his own and still have to watch him on the upcoming dream tour.
The same is true for Stu Kennedy, who surfed 14 QS events, had five top-10 finishes and came up just one spot short of qualifying for the first time.
Surfers know the circumstances. Make the Top 22 on the men’s side or the Top 10 for the women and none of this matters. It’s not as if the injury replacements are taking a spot from those individuals. But there’s a large money difference between the QS and the CT, so might there be a better way to award those last few spots? Kolohe Andino had the highest QS earnings this season with just under $95,000. Dusty Payne made the same on the CT by finishing in 36th place, worst among all full-time competitors.
We can’t know what Banting might have done with a full season of work and he’s one of the exciting young surfers that people do want to see compete, so his inclusion certainly isn’t a detriment to the tour. But it seems like a competitor who’s off to a disappointing start would see more upside in pulling out with injury late in the year than continuing to compete and miss out on re-qualification.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
