Bobby Martinez Talks His Way Into A DQ

by The Editors on September 7, 2011

Directly following his round two, heat four win over Bede Durbidge in the Quiksilver Pro New York Bobby Martinez used his winner interview to speak his mind. Saying he has been a vocal critic of the ASP’s one world rankings in recent months would be an understatement and today Bobby made the following comments on the live webcast:

“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 fucking dumb wannabe tennis tour. All these pro surfers want to be tennis players. They want to do a halfway cutoff. How the fuck 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 fucking 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 fuck? You know what I mean?”

Following this statement, the ASP invoked Article 151 from the official rule book to disqualify Martinez from the Quiksilver New York Pro. The rule states that “All Surfers, shall not AT ANY TIME damage the image of the sport of surfing.” If they do the ASP reserves the right to do pretty much anything they want. And since damaging the image of the sport is as vague as a rule can get, Article 151 can be easily used in almost any situation.

Without going into how unlikely it would be for the ASP to do something similar to a surfer who is sponsored by one of the major labels, or the surfers who have “damaged the image of surfing” in much more serious ways without being cited, Martinez probably could have gotten his point across without getting DQ’d. That said, he did it his way and it may go down as one of the best post contest interviews ever.

Follow the jump for the official correspondence from the ASP to Bobby Martinez.Bobby Martinez Disqualified from ASP Competition in New York
[ 11 ] September 7, 2011 | ASP International

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

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

twitter September 7, 2011 at 3:16 pm

Go read this guys twitter page. It’s priceless.

Estes September 7, 2011 at 4:04 pm

My head hurts digesting this…

JoeShred September 7, 2011 at 9:01 pm

Todd Kline’s reaction is priceless. He’s a complete imbecile. Is that what happens when you’ve been Slater’s caddy for too long?

aol September 8, 2011 at 9:46 am

Bobby and Carol Bartz seem to have the same PR coach.

At first i was thinking that Bobby was an idiot but than i read a couple articles on Bartz’s response to the Yahoo board, I am rethinking my opinion.

Josh Aggars September 9, 2011 at 2:54 am

PR Stunt or genuine? Either way its pretty much one of the most talked about things coming out of Quik Pro NYC even amongst non surfers I know.

To be fair I think he’s got a point. Not sure why the ASP has to be so serious with all this stuff though. I hate corporate governance. Let people speak their mind if they want. I much prefer people to call me an A hole to my face rather than behind my back. If that’s what he’s feeling then say it. No holding back.

All good with me anyhow. Don’t see what the fuss is about really.

JC Vrntura September 13, 2011 at 10:38 pm

You either heard the message or were bothered by the messenger.
Fact is we should all side with the surfers. They agreed to something
without fully understanding all the changes. Just like we all do or have done when we vote.
The Pros need to fix this thing and they need our help. The surf industry owns the ASP as well as the surfers and gets them for cheap. Bob I believe always
seemed troubled and if you recall that movie Mixed Tape he was never completely happy with it. It isn’t a good depiction of who he is. Lets hope at least that some pros with balls speak up before more of them are sacrificed
so that we all eventually understand the points system.

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