99 problems.
Australia’s Matthew Banting was, once upon a time, a heralded rookie ready to conquer hearts and minds. The electric surfer from Port Macquarie, there in the very middle of New South Wales, debuted his exciting repertoire of aerial maneuvers and slashing down carves on the World Surf League stage in 2015, drawing deeps breaths from Joe Turpel, little grunts from the 1989 World Champion Martin Potter.
The kid was going places.
Unfortunately some poor finishes and injury lightly derailed the trajectory and Banting fell from the championship tour and then, recently, became unceremoniously cut by his sponsor.
Taking to Instagram, the 27-year-old wrote:
Can’t believe I signed a 2 year deal recently with a surf company, I get injured 6 months into it, I tell them to put payments on hold out of respect I can’t do anything at the current time for the company. They say thank you for that, we’ll resume your payments when you return and obviously pay you out the rest of the 24 month contract.
I haven’t received a payment since I’ve been back, I didn’t mind because I knew I was still a little bit away from getting back to 100%.. Then I heard today they aren’t going to resume any payments. haha.
Contracts these days mean nothing!!
A ruthless beheading.
A handful of years ago, this surf industry was fertile land sprouting million dollar contracts for any surfer who could semi-successfully land an alley-oop. The apocalypse then struck, bankruptcies all around, much contraction, but the floodgates have re-opened in these Covid times with money gushing like precious electrolyte-enriched water onto the soil, making the land fertile once again, or theoretically fertile.
Is the professional surfer no longer valuable as commodity?
Too many of them?
Stock mismanagement?
If you were the SVP of Tours and Head of Competition at a surf brand, who would you pay and how much?
ouch
Ok
The contract they gave you means nothing – that is why you hire a sports attorney. At the end of the day these companies outsmart 99% of the talent in which will sign anything. – @seaofseven
Sounds like Matthew opted himself out of a paycheck and then ran to Zuck for..? The legion of fans to call foul?
Matt, if you’re reading this, c’mon over to the Hurluley office when you’ve got a moment.
We’re always looking for young blood.
We’re also looking for athletes in the beginning of their career.
We need fresh faces.
Unfortunately the last bill hasn’t been paid yet and the surgeon won’t consider any more work on us until it is.
You seem like the ideal candidate to
flog our shitefront ourdesperatetalented team offourth tier or forced retiredelitesweaty and nervous“salty” riders.When will Toledo stop branding the two backwards bananas?
Who’s that?
Our logo has a proud poetical cognate with the horns of a magnificently productive bull.
I turned on YouTube to watch a bit of central coast pro inaction this morning and saw the line “68 people currently viewing”.
I doubt these surf industry sponsors are getting too much bang for the buck
Two days ago my 8 year old step son showed me a video of a guy squirting mayonnaise on his mums face as a hilarious prank
17 million views! (atleast one of them didn’t laugh)
This….
Worth noting Matt Banting knocked out earlier rounds also.
Billy for the win!
Chur cuz but I decided to sit this one out
That’s the fucked up state of this world tho – with everyone’s fucking phone superglued to their hand or ear ‘
Not saying surfing necessarily entertaining either!!
Hello Oedipus, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
Very nice CB
Link please. Doubt the young fella had many tuning-in to the live feed of his squirting. Didn’t one of the QSers rock a Borat man-kini in one of the heats? I bet that’ll garner a few silly views.
I don’t see any value in a pro surfer for a brand. This is why you saw ads of unsponsored girls riding longboards in the ad’s for Billabong during the pipe masters.
Just hire some models for the day . Jennifer Hawkins surfing on a log will outsell Steph Gillmore 10000 to 1 any day the week
Furiously googling Jennifer Hawkings…
Fishing for sympathy, getting skunked. Honesty is waaaaayyyyy overrated.
Poor guy would be peaking
Taking it to instagram rather than a courtroom. Smart-adjacent.
Should have at least pulled a Caio, be upfront about it.
How did you use that for Cost Accounting?
Brondo it’s got what plants crave
What a pack ‘o cunts.
Though he also famously dated one Ellie Jean Coffee. As they say, caveat emptor.
Maybe he should contact her regarding work in the porn industry. Like her, his pro surfing career is going nowhere.
Remind me never to accept an offer of a loan of one of his used wetsuits next time I’m up at Port Macquarie.
…”I tell them to put payments on hold”…
Well that was a silly move
Guess some pro-surfers aren’t much aggressive in and out the water. Could very well have said “hey, I can’t surf but I’m willing to do anything for the brand. Do you want me to shave my armpits?”
Can we assume you mean COBOL?
LOL
Matt Batting zero for one
Kind of a one-trick small wave guy once the dust settled I’d say. Impressive at the time for the time but then the injuries etc… don’t quit your day jobs kids.
Derek described his surfing looking like a polite waiter. I think his career was already dead.
Dereks a funny guy ,good for a giggle good for poos and wees jokes ( even in his bob hawk bio)
But I’ve never thought of him being astute at breaking down a surfer or a surfers true class or lack of- that kind of insight ain’t there ….. Banting at lowers would be Oz surfings hottest pros
Prospect
shame he would have to get through Pipe, Sunset, G-Land, Chopes to get there though.
None of which he would make it out of the second round.
sigh,,,,, agree entirely
Bells and Mexico a good fit for him …… Europe’s a crap shoot but I’d imagine an injury free in form matt B would do as good as most of em there
Banting is just an Australian Tomas Hermes
Que?
Manuel!? Manuel !?
“An overly courteous waiter” was the description. I’ve never forgotten. Hauntingly accurate.
Name and shame the brand, I’ll never buy anything off them.
Oh wait, I don’t really buy anything other than boards and wetsuits anyway. Am I and those like me to blame for these decisions and the state of the Surf industry?!?
Yes. Ukraine was your fault too.
Ukraine if you think Ukraine.
…but I’m not China Russia U.S. into no stinking war.
I feel bad that this hasn’t gotten an upvote. Not enough to upvote, but bad enough to comment it hasn’t been upvoted and that’s feels wrong, maybe bad.
Thanks a Ott…
Big W
I don’t know if your comment makes me feel proud or guilty.
Yeah, so Banting, that’s on you.
When you excuse their obligation under the contract to pay you, citing an injury that did not appear to be contract determinative, you’ve opened the door through which your sponsor simply followed your lead.
Soooo LA lawyerly.
Matt is complaining that the contract means nothing, but it still meant something to the sponsor up until Matt announced it didn’t really mean as much to him as did some notion of owed respect. Did his manager (Dad?Mom?) give him such crummy advice or what?
BG needs to start a Dear Otto column for aspiring sticker hoaders..
Trouble is Matt is a honest honourable young bloke up against men like you.
It’s a good thing that he’s an honest honourable young bloke. But he also needs to be honest with himself. That reflection should have lead to the conclusion that his sponsor in all reality hadn’t done anything for Matt to believe his sponsor was owed anything more than his best efforts to recover as quickly as possible from his injury and return to competing. That’s all the respect they had earned.
Ban everybody
Do it for society!!!
Translation: he’s a naive kid, up against the real (cold cruel) world.
27
He should have consulted an attorney or agent.
His decision was honorable, but keep taking the checks through rehab and if you want to do the company a solid, sign a brand friendly contract extension
Law & Otto
Haha
Sounds wicked smaart
Are you expecting surfers to read T&Cs? I struggle to get people with a degree at my work to learn how to read English
Yes. What, do “Professional Surfers” think themselves hip hop artists? Is this a fake it till you make it sort of professionalism? If so, that’s fucking sad, and hopefully isn’t looked upon by up and comers as the way to handle their business.
I think you got your law degree from Meaghan Markle’s cheesy show. I doubt that what he did constitutes a waiver (wanna talk technical stuff, I’m down).
“I tell them to put payments on hold out of respect I can’t do anything at the current time for the company.”
Anything?
That’s a statement of intent not to act in regard to all obligations set forth in the contract. Not just obligation to compete. But also obligations to be available for advertisement, public appearances, etc.. A statement in which a signor states an intention to breach a contract and takes action, here refusing pay, that provides proof of that intention, the other party to the contract may act as though the party has breached the contract.
Oh, Jeebus, here we go…
For your argument to work, the sponsor would have needed to terminate soon after the injury ocurred, not months and months afterwards. By not terminating the contract immediately:
1. the sponsor represented to Matt that it would perform the contract;
2. Matt relied on it; and
3. Matt changed his position (by not seeking alternative sponsors).
Classic promissory estoppel.
Also, I could bet $1 million on the fact that the sponsor replied to his statement as “oh, no worries, thanks for that, we’ll pay you again when you start competing again”. That would be a new term in the contract which amended the previous one but for this argument I’m speculating.
Careful… Otto can go for days and thousands of comments.
Prolific!
The sponsor did treat it as terminated after the conversation.
Non payment would prove that.
Just bc Banting comes out on social media and states representations were made isn’t enough. Nor is there indication he detrimentally relied.
It’s not a classic promissory estoppel.
Banting may win in the court of public opinion with “facts” he presents and you as judge, but that’s not how it would go down in a court of law.
Nope, you’re making the facts fit your argument. Bad form, grasshopper.
After Matt told them that he couldn’t perform, they stated:
“We’ll resume your payments when you return and obviously pay you out when you return for the rest of the 24mth contract”.
If that can be proven, then the contract was amended by the exchange and, even if it was not, the promise is sufficient to establish promissory estoppel. Matt was induced by it as otherwise he would have sought sponsorship from other brands (so much so that he kept posting lots of material while he was injured bearing the sponsor’s name).
Either you have had access to all of the evidence and it contradicts the facts as we have them or – more likely – you have never been inside a courtroom.
You’re assuming facts not in evidence counsel. Matt’s own admission contradicts any assertion that his actions were “so much so” that a finding of detrimental reliance can be found. “I can’t do anything at the current time for the company.” Anything would include any social media postings. Matt created an expectation that the sponsor would not receive any further bargained for obligations set forth in the K. He cannot now claim that while he couldn’t do anything, he was doing something, although he said he couldn’t.
Matt discharged the sponsor from the contract. There is zero evidence he was induced to ever not seek more sponsorship. It wasn’t a major sponsorship. There’s no frickin way he was even precluded from seeking other sponsors by the very terms of the written 2-year K.
The purported verbal statement by the sponsor makes no sense. No sense whatsoever. It would have created an obligation to hold monies due in Trust, to be paid at a later date, wholely uncertain. You have to take that statement to it’s logical conclusion, which is that you’re arguing the sponsor was willing to pay Matt all monies owed in arrears even if Matt were to return 1 day before the 2-Term expiration.
Contracts create certainty. You’re arguing in favor of a purported “amendment” that does nothing but create uncertainty as to rights and obligations and how and when those rights and obligations are to be performed under the 2 year term.
You had originally said it was classic promissory estoppel. This fails to meet all the elements. There’s no evidence supporting your argument such that it would overcome defense objections.
Super keen.
Bingo Otto. The contract was to protect himself against injury.
Yup
Name the company.