Max posted this in the Penny topic. Comp reports in the “mag” were always something to look forward to. They either made you want to have been there, relive it, or kick you up the arse to get to the next one.
The only modern equivalent is Voltarol. But obviously there’s not a singular large monthly entity to cover it like in the old days.
So what happened?
Did comps become wack when people started taking them seriously like some kind of career path?
Is it the internet breaking everything as usual.
What could replace it?
Remember the three cities comps around 2001? They were rad. Would something like that work today? They weren’t really comps, but they did get everyone in one place.
Why do I care? Especially when I live in Australia and I am old like everyone else.
Comps (like demos) were a big thing back in the day because they kept the skate scene alive. Nowadays skateboarding is mainstream and accessible via videos and social media so feel like the competition is in staying relevant and producing footage.
I think competitions do still exist locally and regionally except they are usually a means to a greater competition like tampa am, sls, thr olympics! With that it mind the fun aspect sort of disappears.
It also really doesnt help that skate magazines are dead and now it’s just web based with part after part and the odd interview.
Fun thing with actual magazine coverage of events was some of the difference of perspective in reporting or after party/bts bants. Alot of that now is slap hearsay.
I judged a local one at the end of November. More of a non-serious jam for the kids. I wasn’t really involved with any of the organisation but I know @BAGHEADCREW was a great help in sorting prizes.
In my opinion it’s a combination of factors including but not exclusively:
Contests started being viewed as a serious thing as the Olympics etc arrived on the horizon. The idea of jams/chaos and best tricks got edged out in favour of points/qualifications/sports.
Less skateparks willing to let people put events on that had almost zero serious intent and were aimed at creating chaotic outcomes - Night of the living dead, War of the Roses, etc.
Less significance placed on skatepark footage full stop (at least in terms of its value as ‘in the mags coverage’) which then meant that less money/sponsorships were avail able to run them.
People who organised the halcyon day jams you’re referring to having kids, getting burned out, not wanting to do things at a personal loss any more.
A newer generation who were either unwilling or not interested in taking the place of those who organised those events throughout the 80s/90s/early 00s.
Radlands closing and the Champs ending as an annual thing - see also Munster.
The internet (especially Instagram) that incentivises people not to turn up because they could watch the highlights in almost real time.
The few events that tried to combine a bit of chaos with corporate money dying out - Urban Games, NASS etc.
Street League making contests into these rarefied things only for the elite rather than a glorified party with some best trick aspects.
There are more reasons but those are my contributions. Feel free to add your own.
With the above said - there are still a lot of contests/events happening on a more local level plus things like War of the Thistles, Vert Series/Vert Attack, Dadlands etc but honestly most of the ‘serious events’ in the UK cater to a completely different demographic than the ‘fill a mini bus with Scottish lunatics and drive 300 miles’ template. Also, sponsorship is different now - where once Sole Tech or Vans or whoever would be happy to pay for their domestic team to attend everything - these days bigger shoe brands don’t really see any value in that kind of thing. It’s a consequence of relying on Instagram to promote their product/riders.
Maybe a factor is with more new council built skateparks the increased awareness of skating by council types means you have to actually get insurance, council permission, first aid, music licence etc which just sucks the fun and spontaneous vibe out of comps and jams. That’s my experience dealing with Lambeth and Newham anyway. Makes the whole thing very hard to do so people don’t bother
In the past you could wing it and no-one in the council would know or care
We got the council to foot all the costs for a few years. Pretty cool, just had to keep to a curfew.
Instant problem was everyone wanted comp runs which is impossible and then moaned in real time of Facebook that they didnt get a sticker for an Ollie up the step up.
Add in that shit soccer parent kid crew that was going round at the time, it was just really gutting to see that the kids wanted it so serious.
After getting shit for not giving a kid a vans sponsorship for coming 4th in the comp. Not that the was a comp or any sponsorships being given out, I was done.
I think the next year, prizes were difficult to get and the just wasn’t a wanting for a Jam to be held.
I remember feeling like skateboarding was shifting. This was 2011/2012 and was pretty much the nail in the coffin for me skateboarding wise.
A jumbled, in-no-order what-so-ever thoughts on comps…
Comps used to be the main thing BITD, even in the Z-Boys era. Then vert took over and skaters became pros at and through competitions. Comp placement mattered.
Then street skating started to take over, and comps were still a big deal (along with the rise of the video part). Tampa Pro and AM were huge, and Americans were still traveling over to Europe for contests—Münster, Radlands, etc. Video parts really started to take over, especially when the skating bubble burst. Street skating wasn’t about comps but what skaters did in the streets.
The X Games started, and vert got a second wind in a way, becoming the public face of skating again (the Tony Hawk video game era). Skating began to package itself and be seen as a “sport” for the first time in the public eye, as it started to be taken seriously.
So “core” comps became more fun in jam-style formats, like War of the Roses, Battle of the Thistles, and similar events. Early BATB showed that there was still a big interest in competitions, even in new and different formats.
Then SLS started, followed by the Olympics. For once, vert wasn’t chosen as the main spectacle (though it will be in the next Olympics as a one-off, since it’s in America, the home of skating), and things started to become even more serious. Money makes the world go round.
I think this is a big part of it. We did 5 Battle of The Black Country comps across roughly 10 years and by the end there were clear differences in attendees. I put the idea together in the first place heavily influenced by other events I’d been to or seen like War Of The Roses, Night of the Living Dead and The House Comp. Keep it relatively raw and loose and hope people enjoy it and the session gets going. Prizes were kindly donated by people we had met within the industry through going to these events and asked for via a text message begging it. Absolutely no real in to “the industry”. And all of it was because its something I’d like to go to, and it didn’t seem to happen in the West Midlands.
We had some good turn outs and coverage in the mags for it and it was both very stressful but incredibly rewarding, especially seeing some of the faces who turned up during the day!
By the last one though I was really surprised that there were more than a few people who landed in Stourbridge a few days early to in their words “practice”. It just seemed so foreign to me. As silly as it sounds had it been “came down early to skate” which is exactly the same thing really, I would of got it more, but it just seemed a different mindset. Saying that we still had a van full of the welsh guys turn up alongside many more “traditional” event goers, just those few seemed odd.
Maybe that’s it now. Comps are viewed as comps now, not events. I could be wrong as I am totally out the loop now but is it as easy for kids to get to know people who work within the industry to blag product for prizes these days? Do the kids even want to do it or do they not think they can?
I also think social media was a big change. In everyone’s life. You did t need to go out on the town and bump into people. You can play COD or go on Facebook/insta.
You could upload your clip to insta and get likes and all that shit without the need for going to a comp to show off. No gate keeping or ribbing. You could do a stinker of a trick and get likes where you wouldn’t place or necessarily get as much props for a 720 dolphinflip.
No need to find a filmer or butter up a photograph. iPhone footage is now acceptable.
Kinda related but look at the new skate game, fuck all brands on there, the brands im assuming can’t afford to place on it or they get better return on social media etc and skate don’t need brands as kids don’t give a fuck about legitimacy or history as much as we do. I guess skate nerds are a thing of the past since everyone these days is a skater/blogger/model/designer/influencer/Michael Fabricant. So many faucets.
I remember attending a bowl comp sponsored by quiksilver in belgium 20 years ago. I remember there a clear changing of guard in ability and attitude with an aging pro david martelleur busting out his trusted liens to tail between rounds of free beer, and axel cruysberghs blasting airs over the spine between dextrose tabs his mom was feeding him.
If it wasnt for comps like Sugar’s Battle of Normandy thing, we wouldn’t get clips of adrien bullard selling chewy a bag of skunk before filming a line
