Bobby Martinez Disqualified from ASP Competition in New York
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
Category: All ASP News, ASP World Tour News
You tell’em Bobby!!… Bobby stands for something here… Bobby is representing what surfing is all about, not what corporate wants it to be… Yeah okay its true that he didn’t have to do it on a live webcast and he should be the happiest guy in the world to have surfing as a job… But even tho he’s lucky to have surfing as a job, that shouldn’t restrict him from saying what he really thinks and sticking up for what he believes in!!! : look at Biolas for example, he didn’t care about being the coolest guy or the best surfer and look were that got him : one of the best shapers in the world now… Look at Laird hamilton for example, he never cared about having loads of sponsors, he just wanted to do what he loves which is surfing, look were that got him : he’s one of the most respected watermen in the world………….. Bobby Martinez currently is representing everything that true sole-surfers stand for… Stik it out Bobby ur the man, waterer the outcome!!!!!
bobby that was gold! your right about tennis comparison, Pro surfing would be a very difficult occupation to stay humble in. I quote you said “our calibre of surfers”I say if you don’t think they are up to your calibre what is it that your scared of.
Bobby probably needs some time away to take stock and think through a couple of dozen issues. That said, he is a talented surfer as results prove and the tour will be the poorer for his absence, not for the rants but for his surfing. Time to do some growing up….
The funny thing about Bobby Martinez is know one will know who he is in 12 months and no one really cares. Imagine Peyton Manning tell the NFL to F off? You can’t because he isn’t stupid and he is a professional. Bobby is a has been and I am glad to see him go.
If you can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen!
If the ASP need someone to fill his space, I’m free! I could do with some warm water surf as the UK ocean is starting to cool down.
I would be knocked out in my first heat, but I won’t starting crying and shouting about it.
Hey you know what, there was a guy by the name of McEnroe that played excellent tennis and contributed greatly to the interest in the game. Sure he got fined plenty (and we all heard about it) but man what a loss to the world of tennis had he been banned from performing.
Well said, Rob.
What a rebel. What a dick.
I just cringed at this rant of bobbys!! some sort of FTW promo??? makes them look lame. he could have shown his point in so many better ways………his choice aye. I used to like bobby now I think hes a KNOB!
I work in a school where this language is regular as seconds in a day. Money makes people have to cow tow to industry demands unfortunately but, Bobbys frustration is understandable. Surfing contests should be in epic breaks and change isn’t always GOOD THING. I cant speak for the rest of the world but swearing is everywhere in Australian culture its pandemic. The ASP needs to lighten up with all its policy and rules. Your making surfing sound too serious. Have you all turned into a bunch of Toffie grandmas???
Epic breaks? Yea Tahiti sucked this year. Where was Bobby?
i feel this post is heavily censored, bog money is damaging the image of surfing, not extroverted surfers!
So true
Bobby Martinez will wake up and realize his own mistake, especially when he has to start working a 9-5 to pay the bills again. JB made a great post covering this entire incident. There is a reason Kelly has the sponsorships, as well the “paydays” to go along with them. As a young man, he recognized he needed be himself, yet be cordial to all knowing he was to be an ambassador for this sport.
As for selling out, think about the days of Rabbit, Corky, and even before them, what it was like to surf professionally. They literally made absolutely nothing surfing, and it was more a way to determine the world’s best surfer, rather than making it a lifestyle.
It’s a fine line here that needs to be crossed, but I personally think it’s great they are bringing the venues into area’s that they can increase the purses and get more exposure. Saying this is selling out…….I beg to differ. We just saw great waves in NY, and one of the busiest spectator venues around. If this means that sponsors are there creating revenues for their companies…….”Bully” for them, after all they are putting money out to help create a surfing venue for us amateurs to watch.
I’ve been enjoying the podcasts, as well the growth that is taking place, but Bobby’s point about the boyz on the WQS gaining more ground, I tend to disagree with that decision. But that is one, that needs to be brought up in a formal discussion, not in a rant. Oh well, live and learn, and only Bobby will have to suffer the consequence of his actions. He will learn from it and grow. Bobby is a great surfer, who I hope one day, can earn his place back on tour. It looked to me like the grind was getting to him….
As JB eloquently stated……….the tour is a grind, and it does take a toll.
Glad he’s gone. I was getting sick of his wrants. The ASP doesn’t exist for Bobby Martinez. His actions have been immature, irresponsible, and just plain pathetic. Get over it Bobby, and get over yourself. Learn to be a man, not a foul mouthed cry baby.
Alright since my last comment was legit, but for some reason deleted (even though it followed all guidelines for submission)…I’ll write another one, but shorter. Prime Event Points shouldn’t count towards WT Events. It’s simple. Why even consider the WT elite? It’s not, not with this system. Martinez warned the ASP, maybe not in the greatest way, but he did it in his way so good on him. What did you expect, a guy in a suit to make a formal announcement to ASP? No, you get someone passionate enough to be pissed off about something that needs to be corrected, because he knows surfing will be full of little Prime Event Surfers who hide away in no mans land scraping gaining points while not gaining them against the best, and we will not want to watch it. I wish I could name drop examples but I know this comment won’t make it to the comments if I do, but look at the stats, and seriously understand how it is possible that some of those names are in higher contention for a World Title.
“Dream Tour” hehehe. Ya, like back in the day when they were slogging it out in ankle high waves in Japan
Bobby has been a phoenix once before. He is a fighter. Hopefully he will rise from the ash of this incendiary outburst.
Some things do need to be said but one thing about the truth: It often matters more how it is stated than whether it is said at all. Bobby’s outburst may have created more heat than light and that is a shame. The ASP is still a work in progress and it needs measured responses.
Many of the comments here demonstrate considerable ignorance of what the WCT and WQS are like. Sure, it’s a party the first few years you are travelling but to make a real, long term commitment to a career on the tour is grueling. You are away from home, friends, family, and loved ones most of the year. You surf crap waves most of the time. Sponsorship pressure is extreme (unless you are a freak like Jordy and Dane). Most local surfers are not stoked to see the tour rock up to their spots. Most tour surfers aren’t killing it financially and likely never will.
Oh yeah, you’re also expected to literally put your life on the line when the waves get heavy for an audience that is primarily in it for the entertainment value. Of course, if you’re not up to the challenge you shouldn’t be touring; you could always pull a Donovan.
All this said (and there is much more to be sure), the ASP could stand to make certain adjustments. First and foremost it MUST assert itself as a truly unique board sport. Pandering to conventional sports formats is not assertive, it’s meek and passive – and not in a good way. Make the audience come to surfing, not the other way around. One such example is the Hurley Lowers Pro “playbook” that takes lingo and terminology from other conventional ball sports and laminates over the surfing vernacular. This is both shameful and totally embarrassing. The Hawaiian “sport of kings” should not be bowing in submission to corporations and a public that had nothing to do with its creation.
Had Bobby been thinking more rationally (certainly, he could stand to read more and box less) he may have meant to say: “Imitation is the sincerest form of unoriginality.”
There is nothing in the world like surfing. Similarly, there is nothing in the world like professional surfing. The format needs to reflect this undeniable fact.
One thing the ASP really must start doing is getting their pros to start doing PSAs that can be broadcast during webcasts that help the newbies better understand the proper etiquette so that those of us who have been surfing all of our lives for the passion don’t have to suffer so much for the profit motive that has blinded the industry to why people started surfing to begin with: for the fun.
what a cry baby, all he had to do was surf…
Bobby’s comments: wrong on the format, right on the contents…
Cut-off is stupid. One ranking is change enough and not even tennis has such a cut-off. Looks like a “bonus round” from a playstation game. Doesn’t bring credibility to the circuit. More than not liking it, simply just don’t get it. Why do you need more “excitement” (to quote Brodie Carr) in a short 11-stop tour?
As much as I dislike Bobby getting disqualified off the ASP Tour,
John John Florence is going to upset some Top Ranked surfers when
he gets his time to shine on Tour. Just like when Rick Ross said
“Tupac Back” in his rap song, Bobby Martinez will be BACK ON TOUR.
It might be with the WQS and doing some community service
announcements to get back into the good graces of the ASP, but he’ll
make a comeback! There hasn’t been a more entertaining surfer on
and off the surfboard since Sunny Garcia! Surfing needs down to
earth people like that to keep surfing rad. If not it will become
Corporate and sell out like HURLEY…. Let’s Keep it real folks, he just spoke his mind that’s all……….
yeah bobby messed up. that was his choice to say what he wanted to say. it was a couple of cuss words big deal. people are like omg the children! the children will be ok. im mean come on they hear those words everyday in life from somewhere. if you raise your kids right you aint got nothing to worry about!! who is to say bobby wont be back he might change his mind the asp might change theirs. i thinks its funny all these jealous people ranting and raving over it. two words: ha ha
Bobby Martinez real man
he says what he thinks
respect for the man !!!!
TENNIS RULES !!!!
funny thing is.. wouldn’t have noticed his absence from the tour if it wasn’t for this little dummy spit.
and the cynic in me thinks perhaps this chosen form of exit from the tour will enhance his image and be in perfect synergy with his ongoing sponnos.
seeya!
All this whinging about free speech is hilarious. He WAS free to express his opinion.
The problem was the WAY he did it. If you turn up at a kids party and start effing everywhere you’d get kicked out.
Having rights doesn’t stop you from being a complete moron.
I am a latin surfer as Bobby, I live in California as well. And he’s one of my favorite surfers.I work my butt off to make as much money as he makes so I can afford good boards and stuff. Everything he’s make was do to his sponsors and his surfing skills (winning contests), but he’s always had an attitude, got dumped by reef, dumped by Oneill, and now who knows if Monster and FTW will stay with him after this career suicide.
I agree that he has the right to express himself, but there are ways to express your ideas to convince people that you’re right. Unfortunately looks like the only way he knows to express what he thinks is the “hood” (barrio) way….The guy doesn’t know better!….he rips in the water back, now and then, but he’s mouth is going to always keep him in trouble (no wonder why box bro). ASP be the better guy here and help him, forgive him…because he needs help otherwise he’s gonna do something more stupid with his BIG mouth…..Bobby shut that hell up!…and live the life we all want.
Bobby contradicts himself by saying that people who just qualify need a year to adjust to competing against himself and other seasoned pros then he has a tear about them getting better results and being better ranked.
Seems like he is just seeking some attention.
must be so stressful having to turn up to and surf in 12 comps a year
oh and “FTW” YUK!
Stupid decision, Martinez. You just cut your throat when you could have used your talent to bring positive change. With regards to your language-outta line. Stupid. But hey, it’s not like we don’t read it in surfing mags sold to a mass child/teen audience worldwide so let’s not get hypocritical. Dumb move nevertheless, regardless of the validity of your statement.