Has Perry Hatchett been fired?? February 8, 2010 – Tags:

Well the thats the rumer floating around the surfing world today. Personally i hope its not true. I have surfed in a hell of alot of events and it has always seemed Perry was the best man for the job. Here is Phil Macca’s thoughts on the situation.
The Insider’s Perspective – Phil Macca
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
“The first I heard of Perry Hatchett’s firing as head judge of the ASP was on facebook, funny enough! Sunny (Garcia) had posted it together with his thoughts. And, when it comes to judges, Sunny has always been the most honest of all! Without a doubt, Sunny has had more run-ins with them then the whole tour put together, and for Sunny to say Perry is the best head judge the asp has had, you have to listen.
I am retired as of last year, but I have had my fair share to do with the ASP over the last 12 years, as a surfer’s rep and on the board of directors. I have always been pretty open about my views of the ASP and the sport of surfing, so FreddyP called me and asked for my take on the sacking of Perry Hatchett!
How and why Perry got sacked I am not quite sure! The ASP hasn’t released anything, neither has Perry, and I haven’t heard from any of the reps. If Perry has just been sacked as several of the websites state, its pretty crap from the ASP, but then again they are used to doing this.
The first thing people have to realize is that being a judge isn’t easy and it’s not about the money. The money is absolutely crap! I think, not totally sure, they get paid around a little over 2k per WCT and 1.5k per WQS. As there are only ten WCT events, they have to make up the rest of their money following the WQS. They are first at the beach and last to leave, sleep in budget accommodation and have to use cheap tickets with crazy flight routes.
Secondly, when you add up all the comps they have to do to make a mere 40k a year they would have to do all ten WCT’s and at least ten WQS’. The WCT’s are two weeks, and the WQS’ take one week to run, so they are away from family and on the road for nearly 35 weeks of the year when you include traveling to and from events. There is no incentive to be a judge if you have a family as it is financially not an option.
Thirdly, it’s not a legitimate career path. Once you retire, or get fired as in Perry’s case, you have no superannuation, no long service leave and no benefits that should be owed to you like any other normal job. You leave with no skills and no doubt will find it very hard to get work.
Onto Perry! Like most surfers, I have had my far share of run-ins with Pez. Sometimes, I really felt like he sat on the fence, and always told you what you wanted to hear, knowing full well the heat decision couldn’t be changed. Other times he was honest and didn’t agree with my thoughts. The last few years, I did feel that the judging had become very inconsistent.
I had a talk with Pez, and thought they could reward attacking, progressive surfing a little more. I felt they had gone back to judging the wave itself too high and too many 8s and 9s were being scored for average surfing. I think judging should progress like surfing but I don’t think this has been happening.
Surfing is always going to be hard to judge because it is so subjective. What I like, you might hate, and vice versa. Sometimes, I feel that to understand how hard a turn is, you should be able to surf and feel that yourself. Some turns are technically much more difficult than other turns and never get rewarded. I’ve seen Kelly a few times this last year get beaten when there was no way he lost. Sure, the other guy might have thrown more spray, but the turns were nowhere near Kelly’s level of surfing!
I have heard rumors that Pez is a dictator in the judge’s box, telling the judges what scores to put in, overriding scores, intimidating them from behind, and thus influencing their score. Remember, there are five independent judges per score, the highest and lowest are dropped. Sometimes, the judges need guidance, sometimes they don’t. But, educating the judges on scores is a must.
Do I think judging is rigged some times? No, but sometimes I do believe that subconsciously they are influenced by what’s going on at the time! Examples, knowing the scores needed to advance, world title heats, flavor of the month, etc… The judging criteria and environment breeds human error in the form of bad judging and this needs to be addressed.
At the end of the day, being a judge on the ASP tour isn’t all its cracked up to be. I believe that the judges need to get paid better so it’s a legitimate career path. Maybe the ASP should target WQS surfers in to being judges? Because, when you pay peanuts you get monkeys as the saying goes!
Where does Perry sit in all this? He was a judge on the ASP tour for 12 years, he did a job that no one wanted and gave his best to the sport. Not only was Perry a judge but he was also the face of the ASP at events, a position the heads of the sports should have been at! He copped more shit then anyone at the ASP, had to leave his young family at home, and all for a relatively small wage. But, he did it because he believed in the sport of surfing.
I agree, maybe it is time for a fresh face as head judge, but who? I can’t see any real contenders out there. Who would want to take on such a role? I know I wouldn’t. I really believe that Perry should have been made a judging co-coordinator. Recruiting new judges, educating them, as well as younger surfers, and looking at ways of improving the judging criteria and environment they judge from.
The bottom line is, if the heads of the ASP were as selfless, hardworking, and passionate about the sport as Pez, then we wouldn’t be in this situation and the ASP would be in a whole lot better position. In the end of the day the bigger problem is the heads of the ASP. Thanks Pez for all your time and commitment to our sport!”