News
Bobby vs ASP: final round
The Quik Pro NY geared up for its second day of competition this morning with steadily increasing hurricane swell, courtesy of Katia, and sideshore winds, making for funky yet very contestable conditions. The story of the day would have little to do with the swell, or even surfing for that matter. 
Bobby Martinez has been at odds with the ASP for some time now, taking aim at them on twitter and in interviews. Once a top 5 contender, the goofyfoot has slipped in the ratings over the past few seasons. Some would blame the shift in judging to reward big aerials as part of it, or possibly that Bobby's surfing isn't staying relevant enough, but Bobby chooses to point the finger directly at the ASP. Now sitting 49th on the world ranking, Bobby will not be making the mid year cut to surf the rest of this season.
Day 1 of competition saw Bobby paddle out for his round 1 heat in what appeared to be boxing shorts. Not boxers. I'm talking about shorts that boxers wear. If this was a movie that would be what's known in the business as 'foreshadowing'.
After narrowly escaping Bede Durbidge in their round 2 battle Bobby gave possibly the most controversial post heat interview of all time. Within minutes of the rant, facebook and twitter were abuzz about what he had said. There have been a lot of great post heat meltdowns in the past, Freddy P at Bells, Andy had some good ones, Christian Fletcher was famous for them, and Sunny Garcia let his share of f-bombs drop in his day, but none was seen by so many people live all over the world, and none has garnered this much debate in its wake. Hours later the ASP issued an official statement disqualifying Bobby from the event. He was set to face Kelly Slater in round 3.
There has been quite the public outcry about the matter. Sunny Garcia, Dusty Payne, and Jamie O'brien have backed Bobby on twitter, thanking him for voicing what's on a lot of people's minds. Many have taken the opposite route, pointing out that Bobby gets paid to surf, thus nullifying his complaints about something this trivial.
From: @sunny_garcia
Sent: Sep 7, 2011 2:04p
@Bobby805 is a great guy he's just saying what all the other surfers are to scared to say to the @aspworldtour
Anyway, here's the video clip of it, hopefully this doesn't get taken down.
press release:
LONG BEACH, New York/USA (Wednesday, September 7, 2011) - Bobby Martinez (USA), 29, has been disqualified from the ASP World Title competition in New York. What follows is the correspondence between the ASP Rules and Disciplinary Committee and Bobby Martinez:
Date: 7 September 2011
To: Bobby Martinez
Date of offence: 7 September 2011
Dear Bobby,
We are writing to officially notify you that you have breached Article 151, contained in the 2011 ASP International Rule Book (Rule Book).
Article 151 outlines that all Surfers shall not at any time damage the image of the sport of Surfing and can be found by clicking here.
Article 151 has been breached as a result of the numerous comments you made publicly in an interview on the webcast of the current ASP World Tour Event in New York City, which included the following language:
"First of all, I'd like to say (an the ASP are going to fine me) 'cuz I don't want to be a part of this dumb f***ing wannabe tennis tour. All these pro surfers want to be tennis players. They want to do a halfway cutoff. How the f*** is somebody who's not even competing against our caliber of surfers ahead of 100 of us on the one world ratings. They've never been here. They've never f***ing made the right to surf against us, but now we're ranked upon them. Come on now. That's Bullshit. That's why I ain't going to these stupid contests no more. This is my last one because FTW, my sponsors is here and I just tell it like it is. This is my last one and I don't like tennis. I don't like the tour... Who gives a f***? You know what I mean?"
"I've been here before. I love this city. I'll tell you right now, if my sponsor wasn't here, I wouldn't be here for this dumb contest. ASP? They f***ing...surfing's going down the drain thanks to these people."
The interview was conducted on the event live webcast being watched by a global audience, which includes many young children.
Article 147 of the Rule Book provides the ASP Rules & Discipline Committee with the authority to decide appropriate penalties to be issued where there is a breach of the Rule Book.
After careful consideration of these comments and taking into account your multiple offenses of this Article during 2011 that clearly "efface a pattern of unacceptable conduct," the Rules and Discipline Committee have approved the following action in accordance with Article 147.03 of the
Rulebook:
Rule Breach: Article 151 - Damage to Surfing's Image
Action: You are suspended from the ASP World Tour
IMMEDIATELY. You will not take part in the remainder of the World Tour Event currently underway in New York City. A Rules and Discipline Report will be submitted to the ASP Board of Directors to consider expulsion for the remainder of the 2011 Surfing Season. Your suspension will remain in place until such time that the ASP Board of Directors have considered the Report.
Please refer to the ASP Rulebook at the link here for your rights to appeal this decision. Should you wish to have a written submission considered with the Rules and Discipline Report to be considered by the ASP Board of Directors in relation to this incident, please send it to rules@aspworldtour.com before 12 September 2011.
Yours Sincerely,
ASP Rules and Disciplinary Committee
