A pickle turns into a legal stoush
Club ban, bullying claims
The boom sport of pickleball has been soured by a legal pickle after a disgruntled Gold Coast player lobbed a lawsuit on officials now headed inside court rather than on one.
Philip Black, a prominent Glitter Strip auctioneer and pickleball fanatic, has served up Supreme Court action against the Gold Coast Pickleball Association and Pickleball Association of Queensland after he was allegedly kicked out of his local club and banned from playing.
His claim, filed this week, alleged he was the victim of “false witness, bullying, lying, extortion, harassment, conflicts of interest (and) denial of natural justice and procedural fairness”.
The 64 year old alleged he was “unconstitutionally stood down” from the GCPA committee in 2021 after he refused requests to resign.
In court documents, Mr Black alleged a fellow committee member and wealthy businesswoman threatened to withdraw her funding for the association’s Currumbin courts unless he resigned “immediately”. “She said that I ‘could just go quietly’, that ‘nobody would know’, that ‘we could just tell people that you got too busy with your own work’, that ‘you couldn’t do the job properly’ (and) that ‘you could still help with social events and just play as normal otherwise’,” he alleged in the claim.
Mr Black said in his claim he was also concerned about alleged “poor and inappropriate governance, accountability and transparency” in the GCPA over finances, including spending on the Currumbin courts.
The claim alleged two female players were also bullied, with one branded a “court hog”.
Mr Black alleged he was stood down from the GCPA committee for a “breach of confidentiality” after posting a Facebook Live video with the national pickleball association president, and later resigned along with a fellow committee member.
He alleged they were then “attacked” on a club messaging forum and the association’s hundreds of members were sent “misinformation” which “greatly (and) unfairly discredited (and) defamed us”.
He said he was “bullied and rattled” at his GCPA membership expulsion meeting in September 2021 and “shut down” after being given 15 minutes to state his case.
“I felt then as I do now that this could have been resolved – and the pain and suffering for many and the friendships lost over the last two-and-a-half years – could have been avoided
with a simple enquiry and a process of natural justice, procedural fairness, accountability and transparency by all,” he said in his court affidavit.
“I have for more than two years since my expulsion … made multiple attempts to get the wrongs righted, the perpetrators brought to justice and to clear my name, but to no avail.
“I am dismayed and shocked this has resulted in it needing to go to the Supreme Court to be resolved.”
Mr Black, who now plays pickleball elsewhere, is seeking orders including his reinstatement
as a GCPA member and a public apology.
The GCPA and PAQ have yet to file a defence – and both declined to comment.
Invented in 1965, pickleball – described as a mix of tennis, ping pong and badminton – is one of the world’s fastest growing sports with about nine million players in the US and 25,000 in Australia, including thousands in Queensland.
US basketball legend LeBron James owns an American professional pickleball team and there are predictions it could become an Olympic sport.