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.
View this post on Instagram
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.
View this post on Instagram
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…”
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
Funny that she claims that she was banned for having an opinion, clearly it’s because that opinion was known to be untrue , and continues to spread the lie! Liar Lucy is damm lucky Noosa Mal Club has forgiven her! Have searched and yess indeed she did again pedal this trash on a podcast! And SA have confirmed the complaint which actually came from the club wasn’t upheld , Lucy Liar was sent a warning letter and her partner Kate Allman was given an 8 month ban ! All easy to confirm when you look , seems like the heads of equal pay for equal play are willing to lie to promote their dodgy organization
So Lucy Small and Kate allman lied about the unequal prize money at a Noosa Malibu Club event FACT to promote their dodgy equal pay for equal pay. Assumption And continue to do so Without regard for the volunteers they are lying about then she quickly says sorry when she realized the festival is owned by NMC ,yeah way to go
Is there a groveller category at the Noosa festival?
keep the volume down to 11…
ten our father’s and 10 hail mary’s
Hope you don’t bail. You bring a lot here.
Why does anyone care about what happens at or who is in local surf festivals? Nothing has ever happened at a Noosa Malibu Club event that has ever made a difference to the surfing world outside of Noosa. These events are fun community gatherings and thats it. Go surf.
Hey VONR,
ever think about writing a couple of articles for BG, and submitting them?
worked for Rocks.
From what I’ve read in some of your stories, you’re pretty good at storytelling, and you’ve got heaps of great content/experiences to draw from.
seeing you bring that heart of surfing “above the line” on BG, would be pretty cool.
the only people I’ve seen that have Joy in surfing anymore are The Flo Bro’s, children, and VALS that enjoy surfing with 100 of their besties.
Get well soon.
took the girls to the SF Zoo to see the gorilla. silverback. they were not happy. the bud clysdales. good. RuPaul’s Drag Show? I didn’t ask~
RIP Tatiana the tiger at SF zoo. She did gods work.
posed bent over in the zoo field for a silverback gif shot. years later I assumed that was the very VONR gorilla position.
so ma’m? would like crabs? http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qTDAEasFLtU/S3u1LRg5LoI/AAAAAAAAG5s/K0oow_scB0U/s1600/Specimens+of+calligraphy+and+natural+history+illustration,+17th+century.+Author+unknown.+a.jpg
just talking about your hate on BG today……my truth is different to yours as is nearly everybody’s ,as we all have different ideologies?
I’ll do the toons gratis
they’re a bit shit but hey free is free
Lucy took a major L here.
She should have left with her principles intact, instead of whimpering at the back door until she was let back in.
what worries me is today you are hating BG and still here , which means your’e not out looking for a solution to todays hate?
working within the parameters of what’s offered is a game that we all play….it depends on each individual’s wants and needs on why they come onto BG ..??
Is it a need to air personal opinions or put into writing ideas and thoughts we have or have an argument and get personal because ya need to vent?
truth has become just another word like sustainable……..the only truth is the Bible!
Sounds like a cop out.
I like the equinoxes too!
You are one awesome Gorilla. Yours are some long overdue candid and heartfelt words. You hit the target squarely. BG has been circling the drain for a couple years now. There was a time when many insightful funny writers and commenters populated this place. I gotta hand it to the remaining few commenting regulars who are managing to keep this place barely propped up. But just witness the sheer number of all the good writers and commenters who have bailed out long ago.
It’s not the ship, it’s the captain. As evidenced by Rielly’s responses to you here right now, he is the number one reason why BG sucks wind.
And also with Negatron’s most recent caustic comments to you here, his continual personal attacks to commenters only point to a deeper and troubling psychological condition. I’ve discussed with Occ about what an absolute prick he is and both of us have been at the pointy end of his undeserved hateful barbs. Who wants to contribute when a moderator with a Napoleon complex gets off being derisive and demeaning and continually bites the hands that feed BG?
Rielly wants to keep riding the gravy train but it’s deservedly coming to the end of its track. Personally, I’d like to take it out back and put it out of its misery. He seems confused and pathetically embarrassingly desperate at times yet he doesn’t realize that his reliance on gay trans homo issues, sharks and his polarized political stance on the current state of Israel and Jews only serves to drive readers further away. His articles, comments and issues with writers and readers have empirically demonstrated that he exemplifies every negative stereotype that is cast upon Jews. Just look at my own experience with him and his reneging on promised payments. He is indeed the worst kind of money changer and this temple is in dire need of cleansing.
But I digress. Chas’s has got a brilliant short game but churning out thousands of articles have gotta take a toll on quality and his psyche. Here’s what I’d like to see happen: Chas should ditch Rielly and Negatron then take Jen, JP, KVF, Ads, Pauly, yourself etc and deliver to us the kind of content that we need in this time of mindless clickbaiting detritus. I know it’s Rielly’s ball and he’ll probably cry and take it home but all the teat sucking remoras need to be purged from surfing if we ever want to reclaim its soul.
pretty good summary , but we still come here and comment even if ‘s for or against the writers/owners/articles etc…yeah heaps of clickbait , but there are the hidden gems you find here………and it’s the people that post here that are BG…..surfing’s soul will never be reclaimed as there really never was one…..especially a soul called surfing culture….started as something amazing and was bought out as per every other human endeavor!
“…it’s the people that post here that are BG”
Bingo.
If it weren’t for those in the comment section here, I’d be long gone.
It’s a satirical site. Much like surfing, it’s supposed to be silly, lighthearted fun time. Don’t take it so seriously.
Weak analogy.
The site is a poor derivative of surfing, on almost every level.
True. But whatever this site is, taking it to seriously isn’t going to end well for said individuals.
the trouble is we do talk about serious shit here sometimes….politics etc…..I even have people that are off me because of my participation on BG….but they are woke lefty’s who are just as bad as the rabid right….the gorilla is hurting big time today , so do you sink the boot in or show a bit of empathy?
This Gorilla @disqus_ddngKtQbQ1:disqus wears boots, he knows how it rolls and was one of the first to put it in when I’ve been vulnerable around here. But I took, or take no offense. Humour in hard times is the sometimes the thing that gets me across the line. A wry smile is a valuable commodity and I thank you all for those moments.
we just have to be careful that we don’t succumb to revenge , and the idea that humor creates a way out…but at who’s expense and therein lies the problem….one persons humor is anothers nightmare insult….and you know I was once upon a time one of the worst…attacking/insulting and even threatening……I think this was more in the beginning as forums were still estab;ishing rules and MO of the sites…so here we are …..BG has created a community and there is a lot of tuff love being handed out……..so I would like to think how can we make what we say…..actually funny for everyone and also informative with a dash of nothing is sacred?
It’s fine line we walk , but hopefully one that will continue!
you just made a comment on how mediocrity has become the norm for surfing……a mere shadow of the days of when we thought we could change the world for the better, by battering down the “old” way of life and creating ..???…which ended up being the same shit we tried to change….money and power have become this civilizations idols , and are worshipped en masse……therein lies the problem!