CHEATING SCANDAL
Fallout from the popular big ‘Euro’ event prompts moves towards new rules
Changes to rules on the way at the ‘Euro’.
new rules are being considered for Britain’s biggest shore angling match after cheating marred an otherwise excellent event.
The 26th Paul Roggemann European Open Beach Championship, held on February 16 and 17 along 50 miles of the Holderness Coast of East Yorkshire, boasted a £35,000 prize pot, with £4,000 to the overall two-day winner.
The roving nature of such a huge event, with up to 1,400 anglers, and the large prize fund,
have sparked merely rumours of skulduggery in the past. This year the original winner, Martin ‘Marty’ Booth, of Hartlepool, was disqualified after an “ongoing investigation”, but more than a week after the actual prize giving. Due to print deadlines, that meant the previous issue of Sea Angler (issue 568) carried an incorrect result in its coverage of the popular match.
The original runner-up Chris Fisher, from Aldbrough, eventually received news of his upgrade to first place through a phone call from the organisers, East Yorkshire Events, part of East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
The 28-year-old maintenance worker at Cowden Holiday Village fished a mark near his home that he targets regularly and caught cod and whiting on the first day and two cod on the second, all on pulley rigs and black lug.
“I was over the moon to get a phone call to say I had won it overall,” Chris told Sea Angler.
“It’s a pity I couldn’t receive the winning trophy on the night, but credit to the organisers for not letting it lie.”
Chris has fished the Euro eight times, finishing third overall in 2018 and second on the Sunday of that year.
TighT-LiPPED
The organisers, however, have remained tight-lipped about their reason for the disqualification of the original winner and, as a result, social media was awash with rumours. It is fact, though, that he weighed in a cod on the first day, followed by a cod and a thornback on the second.
Both The Sun and local Hull Daily Mail reported that it is believed Marty Booth caught a fish after fishing had finished on February 15, but submitted it as if it had been caught during competition hours on February 16.
East Riding Council declined to elaborate on the reason, after making this initial announcement: “Following the conclusion of the 2019 Paul Roggeman European Open Beach Championships, and after an ongoing investigation, a decision has been made to disqualify a competitor, which has changed this year’s results.”
The statement continued: “As the organisers, East Riding of Yorkshire Council takes any breach of competitor rules very seriously. Our aim is to deliver a fair, honest and open event that can be enjoyed by all competitors, and the Council will not tolerate anyone bringing the reputation of the event into disrepute.
“We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Chris Fisher, from Aldbrough, as the winner of the Paul Roggeman European Open Beach Championships 2019.”
Sea Angler sent a range of questions to the organisers, such as asking the reason for the disqualification, who witnessed the original winner’s catch, and about any action being taken, such as applying their own rules to take legal action against the person and report the matter to the police, and if they would bring in tougher rules for the next event in 2020.
Events manager Will Hall told Sea Angler: “I am not in a position to be able to respond to all your questions, however, I can provide some detail around potential rule changes and emphasis on current rules.
“The current rules that have been tried and tested over a number of years make it quite clear and set out the rules of what is allowed and is not allowed in the competition. The rules do work, and have this year, due to the fact that we have enforced a disqualification on a competitor due to a breach of these rules.”
He was keen to emphasise rule 10, whereby all competitors are required to act as stewards: “This match is unique due the sheer number of anglers and the 50-mile coastline boundaries; that is why it is of paramount importance that all competitors familiarise themselves with the rules before competing, and are all vigilant to all other competitors. This will obviously be emphasised to all competitors in 2020.”
RULE CHANGES
With regard to upgrading the rules, Will said: “We will be looking at some additional rules to safeguard around legitimacy of catches for us as organisers, but also for all competitors. So, as well as witnessing catches and signing on match cards, we will also have some others in place when any legitimacy of catch is questioned.” Work on tightening the rules is ongoing, but will be in place for next year.
“We are currently looking at including potential photo/GPS safeguards, but no additional rules or changes will be confirmed until we go live with ticket sales around late summer. So, at this stage I have no official new rules to be announced.”
The event’s rule 21 allows for objections within half-an-hour of the results being posted, subject to the complainant paying a £10 fee. This procedure will still stand, but Will confirmed “the organisers may add some further detail for 2020” so competitors have more of an understanding of how this works.
Sea Angler has been given a name of an angler alleged to have witnessed the original winner’s Sunday catch, but the organisers declined to verify the name. The event’s original named winner declined to comment.