For the purposes of research I’ve seen the above clip a half-a-dozen a times and every time Eddie Rothman punches his hand with his fist, a little bit of wee comes out my penis. It is truly terrifying. The clip was shot a few months ago by filmmakers Iwa Izydora and Poli Cali Bali while they were doing research for a prospective sequel to the 1989 movie North Shore. Yes, that’s, right a sequel of the 1987 surf cult classic movie might be coming to a DVD store near you in the not too distant future.
Rothman, who was born to Jewish parents in Pennsylvania before moving to Hawaii as a teenager, focuses most of his anger on the ASP’s decision to change the format for the end of year Billabong Pipe Masters. We covered this earlier, when it was announced that the Pipeline contest would have the same 32 man field format as all other World Championship Tour events. Previously it had been a 48 man field with 16 local “Pipeline specialists” added to the normal 32 man field.
This year the ASP and The Triple Crown (the former having bought the latter earlier this year) there would be just two wildcards. With the World Title again to be decided at Pipe, it was thought that a level playing field should be in operation at all events on the WCT. However Rothman sees this as an inflammatory move from the ASP when he says, “Now that you threw this fucking stone, now that you threw this fucking punch. What, you don’t want to fight now? Well fuck you.”
Now we can never tell what gets lost in the editing process and on paper the argument that only having two Hawaiian wildcards in the Pipe Masters can be considered both disrespectful and also against the very traditions of one of surfing’s great competitions. However what isn’t mentioned is that as part of a compromise, a new Pipe Trials event will be held. It will be a 32 man field, of which at least 28 must be Hawaiian, with a prizemoney of $100,000 and the top 2 gaining entry into the main event.
Kalani Chapman has been one of the few Hawaiian wildcards to make an impact. Photo Joli.The theory here was that despite having the 16 local wildcards in the event in the last eight years only two had ever made it past Round 3. The locals also received less money than the WCT surfers for the same results, which was, rightfully, causing issues. With the improved prizemoney for the Trials each surfer is now guaranteed a minimum of $2000 and the winner $40,000. The ASP were hoping that the increased coin and the extra exposure that comes with a live broadcasted high profile event would be enough of a trade-off for the much fewer local entrants.
It sees Rothman feel this trade-off is just an excuse for a foreign organisation to gain more control over Hawaii’s affairs. “Who are you, to impose your will over here?” He questions the ASP, before adding, “There’s not one Hawaiian blooded surfer in the ASP. That’s the way they structure it, that’s how it is.”
It’s also unclear whether John John Florence and the other Hawaiian WCT surfers Fred Pattachia and Sebastian Zietz pass the Hawaiian blood test, but in any case Eddie is unapologetic. “If I have said anything that has offended anyone, well fuck you!”
Hawaiian (ish) John John at Pipe last year. Photo Joli
