Jeremy Flores roasts J-Bay judges

Story by Lucas Townsend 

Jeremy Flores is awaiting a ruling from the ASP Disciplinary Committee after having a public meltdown in the judging tower at J-Bay. Worse still, it’s a decision that could boot J-Flo off tour for 2015 – if he’s suspended from upcoming events.

J-Flo lost his round two heat to Sebastian Zietz at the J-Bay Open in the closing minutes. Seabass narrowly took the lead with two minutes to go, J-Flo applauded the judges’ score (sarcasm, lol) and needed an attainable 6.07, but a closeout barrel ended it and he paddled to the keyhole in a righteous fury. Then he ran up the beach, threw his board on the deck and continued to get all nasty in the judges quarters. He had an opinion to share, fuelled by a number of close heats not going his way this year, but his choice of words was reportedly flavoursome.

Craig Jarvis wrote for Stab, “He came out the water bristling, and continued to bristle all the way up to the tower, where his board being thrown onto the deck made such a loud noise that it sounded like some sort of structural damage had happened.

“Then there was a torrent of angry, abusive words aimed at the judges. Grannies tut-tutted down below, parents put their hands over their kids’ ears, and security went scrambling, eventually placating the situation.

“As everyone watched closely the ASP closed ranks and went into a huddle. Jeremy returned. The huddle broke. It was announced that Jeremy had apologised to the ASP and that a disciplinary committee would deal with the matter. Thus ended Jeremy’s African adventure.”

Seabass seemed surprised he got the score, too. “He left me needing a 6.5 at the very end. It was just a really good wave, I didn’t go too H.A.M. on it, I kind of babied it,” he told Pete Mel in his post-heat interview. “I thought I was going to pay the price and maybe not get it [the score]. But I knew it was right there and yeah, luckily they saw it my way and got me the score. Jeremy had that last chance and you know, I thought it was a fair heat.”

There’s no doubting Jeremy’s ability in serious tubes, from Tahiti to Pipeline, contest vest or no. Surely some impassioned lip flapping against his employer won’t ice another career. Photo by Timo Jarvinen.

Stab loves J-Flo’s passionate approach to life, and as fans we’ve got to take the good with the bad. Because when he’s good he’ll win the Pipe Masters and heats at Chopes with 20-point totals. However this year’s been tough. He hasn’t made it past round three all year, he’s sitting in 28th on the ratings and if he’s suspended for the 6-star US Open or Tahiti or longer, he’ll be relegate to the qualifying series in 2015.

Surf Europe are reporting the altercation turned physical and spoke to ASP head judge Richie Porter. “There has been verbal assault and also a physical one, it could have turned into a fight, so I imagine the sanction will be heavier than normal,” said Porter.

The matter is now being scrutinised at ASP HQ in Santa Monica, but J-Flo’s not-so-clean record won’t help his case. In 2011, Flores was disqualified from the Burleigh Breaka Pro after he and Sunny Garcia had a fight with local, Adam Clarke over an altercation involving Garcia’s then-16-year-old son. It made national news headlines and was captured on film by a 37-year-old man who was also assaulted by Garcia.

“I didn’t swing first,” Flores said at the time. “I didn’t look for trouble, and I wasn’t just going to turn around and run away. The ASP took me out of the event because they think we shouldn’t do violence, and I agree with that.”

Spraying the ASP judges has never gotten anyone anywhere. Ever. Garcia should’ve told him that after he threw a muffin at them in ’95. And Bobby Martinez is the modern day reminder of the hardline ASP take, especially when their tour is called a “fucken wannabe tennis tour”. The ASP have not issued a response but precedence is the corner-stone of any set of laws and Jeremy knows first-hand their reaction to violence in the past.