A small victory for the diminutive longboarder
whose battles are many and varied!
Last week, the Judeo-Christian season’s spirit of wonder
and joy was all but shattered when surfer-activist Lucy
Small, famous for having her daily schedule
upended by the Gaza conflict, was banned from competing in a
regional longboard contest.
“We note that you are currently ineligible to enter any surfing
competitions where Noosa Malibu Club is a stakeholder,” wrote John
Finlay, chairman of the Noosa Festival of Surfing. “Accordingly, we
are unable to accept your entry. A full refund of your fees will be
made as soon as practical.”
Lucy Small responded on Instagram,
What do you do when one of the biggest longboard events of
the year prevents you from entering because you believe in
universal equality? Is it keep pushing back and fighting knowing
that all that is going to come your way is probably more of this?
Is it just accept it?
In 2023 I found out at the Noosa Logger, an event run by
Noosa Mal Club, was offering unequal prize money. I contacted
Surfing Australia to ask them to look into it and they said that
there had been a clear breach of rules, providing this comment to
Kate at the Daily Telegraph. I facilitated people who were at the
event to speak to Kate and provide her background information and
some comment. My own comments were general in nature.
After the story came out it appeared that Noosa Logger had
found a loophole by naming the division with more prize money an
open division despite it being advertised on their website as “open
men’s” and having 21 men in the division. There was one woman – the
president of the club Glen Gower’s daughter. In 2024 Surfing
Australia closed this loophole in the rule book following the
incident.
I did not write the article, I did not make the comments
that the club was being reprimanded, I did not have the power to
retract the story, I don’t even have a podcast! Glen Gower, the
president of the club made a complaint to Surfing Australia against
me which was not upheld.
So here we are. Is this the culture of surfing we’re
aspiring to? Is this the kind of event surfers and sponsors want to
be part of? Is it just easier to ignore it because I am just one
person and Noosa Festival is much bigger? I’m not sure, but I am
definitely sad and hurt…
And so on.
A terrible turn of events it seemed. In solidarity with Lucy
Small, Chas Smith threatened to boycott the Noosa Festival of
Surfing “this year and every year to come.”
The Noosa Malibu Club quickly fired back at Lucy Small on
Instagram.
Ms Small is currently banned from all Noosa Malibu Club
events. Her conduct in creating and promoting a false narrative
(via media channels) brought the Club into national
disrepute.
As it turned out, Surfing Australia had apologised to the Noosa
Malibu Club “after the club was wrongly accused of breaching prize
money equality… Surfing Australia CEO Chris Mater said that he
regrets making any comments that may have caused confusion and
created backlash against the club and Surfing Queensland.”
Like, yike!
Now, it can be reported, the Noosa Malibu Club has received a
“formal apology” from Lucy Small, which it accepted, and her
contest entry has now been banked.
Lucy Small responded to her inclusion in the event with a
victory speech of sorts on Instagram.
It was a small triumph for the diminutive longboarder whose
battles are many and varied.
She rocketed to fame four years ago when she gave organisers of
a longboard contest hell from the stage for paying the women half
as much as the men.
The effect was seismic and mainstream media went into overdrive,
for who, after all, doesn’t love a little patriarchy busting? Is
there no crime greater or more deserving than a little public
vengeance?
Lucy Small went head to head with the founder of professional
surfing, Mr Ian Cairns, via Instagram DMs after she posted a meme
featuring the hanging scene from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
Kanga took it as a personal affront, white man being executed; Lucy
said she did it to highlight the hypocrisy of an amendment to Texan
abortion laws.
Billabong also came under fire last
year for its “overt sexism and its dribbling
boorishness.”
Shortly after the October 7 attack by Hamas terrorists on
Israeli citizens, Lucy reposted a frame from Al Jazeera showing the
terrorists’ paragliders landing in Israel and about to murder
indiscriminately with the caption, “Palestinians in Gaza made
history as they escaped the world’s largest prison”.
In another salvo, Lucy Small cleverly described Israel as being
“at the nexus of colonisation, white
supremacy, capitalism and (the) military industrial
complex…”
