What would you do?

[Chalk]

I'm all for rules but dam

Top Two Teams From IFA Sarasota Event Disqualified For Rules Infractions.


Posted by stardot on Sunday, July 20 @ 09:01:38 MDT

Call it a very expensive mistake, which even still, could have been worse.

At the IFA Sarasota event on July 19th, 2008, the winning team of Scott Peters, Jr. and Mac Gregory weighed in two fish over seven pounds for a 14.33 pound total. Catching their fish on silver spoons, gold spoons, and Berkley Gulp baits, the pair were thrilled to be recognized and awarded the win at Sarasota’s Centennial Park. The victory celebrations were cut short however, when the team realized that they had inadvertently violated IFA’s Rule 7 which states in part:




The consuming or transporting of any alcoholic beverages or drugs (other than prescription or OTC drugs) during official tournament hours, on any tournament angler's boat is prohibited…



Peters and Gregory stepped forward and admitted that they had found a single container of beer in their boat’s cooler under the ice and other drinks. While they did not consume any beer during the event, the infraction is a clear violation of IFA rule 7, and resulted in the team being disqualified.


Then in a shocking turn of events, the second place team who then would have been awarded the win, notified Tournament Director Jerry Stakely that their team had also violated the same rule by having beer in their boat during the event. Mickey Gibbs and Jeremy Heimes, who weighed in 14.22 pounds at the Park, also were not accused of any wrongdoing or cheating, in that it was a case where they just weren’t paying close attention to rule number 7.


“This reminds me of a PGA Golf event where a guy is out there out of sight, with just his caddy. A guy who makes a penalty, and then comes out of the woods and calls it on himself, show true integrity. This is a great example of two things, here. First, it is critical that the teams pay very close attention to the rules and read them and understand them. Every angler signs a statement they have read and that they understand the rules. Every brochure has a copy of the rules, and they are on our web site.”


“Second, it shows true sportsmanship; continued Stakely, “We’ve seen that again and again over the years with a lot of anglers that we admire. All of these guys want to win, and at the end of the day for a team to step up and say ‘Hey, I made a mistake here and want you to know about it’, well that just makes me proud to shake their hands and let them know we’ll welcome them at the next event. It wasn’t an intentional violation, but just a very expensive case of not being careful enough with the rules.”


Official results have not been released yet, but pending adjustments will likely involve some check amounts being increased, and more checks being issued to teams who thought they finished out of the money.


Redfish Country would like to commend these two teams on their honorable actions. That’s the very definition of Honor.



“Doing the right thing, no matter how much it costs you.”

[Jumptrout51]

Rules are Rules.

I commend the 2 teams that stepped forward.
I would hate to be in one of these polygraph events were they ask you "have you EVER violated a tournament rule" and not be able to answer, no.

Virtually every tournament has the alcohol/drug rule. Primarily for liability purposes. Almost every tournament ignores the rule unless a participant is obnoxious and or belligerent.
Pro tournaments adhere minutely to every rule.

[grim reeler]

My work prohibits alcohol too.

[2true]

Sounds a little nazi-ish.....

[wevans]

Sounds foolish to me To disqualify yourself for mistakinly having something on-board is foolish "IMO"

[Reel Cowboy]

That sucks. That'll make for a nice motivational speech one day.

[What a mess]

integrity = what you do when no one knows. They did what was right not what was comfortable.

We frown on cops that take bribes, judges and politions that take kick backs, the folks that take steriods in sports.

The rules are to protect the overall quality of life for many.

People need someone to look up to and doing the wrong thing sends a bad message.

I think the men showed class and charecter in the choice they made.

You want to have a drink no problem, please don't drink and drive boats included.

It may not be that you do something foolish because you drank.

What if someone else does will you be able to react in time while you are impaired?

[wevans]

What the heck ya talkin bout WAM

Peters and Gregory stepped forward and admitted that they had found a single container of beer in their boat’s cooler under the ice and other drinks. While they did not consume any beer during the event, the infraction is a clear violation of IFA rule 7, and resulted in the team being disqualified

They didn't drink any beer, they just had one in the cooler along with their other drinks and IMO, had no reason to tell anyone about it "we all make mistakes and theirs did no harm to anyone nor anything" thus they where foolish to say anything "integrity should be tempered with good sense also"

[BayGator]

Would have done the same if I would have been in that situation, it's not worth it knowing you broke the rules even if it was an accident.

[wevans]

It wouldn't have been an accident ta find beer in my cooler and NO, I would not have told them but then, I don't fish tourneys neither but if I did, I could be disqualified every time for posesion of beer on the boat

[BayGator]

We get it, your comfortable with cheating!!!

[wevans]

NO, I'm comfortable with breakin the rules I would never cheat

[What a mess]

Tell us which rules are okay to break and which ones are not?

Yes I speed so I am by nature a rule breaker I am not holier than thow.

I don't believe in situational ethics though.

I am sure we all do stuff we shouldn't.

But you will never hear me put a man down for having integrity it is to close to extinct already.

[Jumptrout51]

This situation does make me wonder about the quality of the supposed boat checks by tournament staff.
How could boat checks be done correctly and 2 boats with beer passed inspection? Are they not checking coolers as well as live wells?

[wevans]

Why, it's plumb fine to break any of them so long as yer willing ta man up and pay the price if caught "and it don't give me an unfair advantage over the other teams"