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…”
