The winner of the UK Pokemon Championships, Rubén Puig Lecegui, has been stripped of his title by the Pokemon Company for failing to 'maintain high standards of behaviour conducive to the family-friendly environment'. How? By allegedly having a poo fight in a hotel corridor. Yes, with human poo.
Firstly, we should point out that the actual 'fight' bit is being disputed, but not the poo. A post on Pokexperto, translated through Google Translate, appears to imply that a single human defecation was placed in a hotel hallway as a joke (presumably to trick fellow contestants into thinking it was a Digglet and subsequently challenge it to a duel). But that's not what other reports are saying.
PokéChamp21 on the Pokémon World forums posted:
After 30-40min in my room relaxing with a quick snooze I awoke to the sound of banging comming from down the hall from where the 'Spanish Team' were staying in. It seems that at some point after they had turned up and when we went to Wether Spoons the Spniards had decided to have a 'Poo' fight in the corridor and this had upset the staff and several guests (naturally) at the hotel enough to call the Police and have them leave.
It's not been explicitly stated that this is the reason for the Spaniard's title to be removed. But Pokemon Organized Play Manager Dave Schwimmer (Ross?) posted on the Smogon forums:
The Pokémon Company International expects its players to maintain high standards of behaviour conducive to the family-friendly environment that we foster. The Pokémon Company International conducts full investigations into any matters where we believe that a player has failed to maintain these standards, and take appropriate action when necessary. In this case, we have found that unacceptable behaviour did take place, and have taken the appropriate steps in response.
If the incident and action are indeed linked, we're not surprised such dramatic action was taken by the event's organisers. It can only hurt the brand. I mean, who isn't thinking 'Pookemon' right now? Disgraceful.
Source: NintendoLife
