Final rally in long-running Gold Coast pickleball feud

A protracted pickleball feud that went from the playing courts to the law courts is set for what could be a final rally between the warring sides.

Pickleball player Philip Black. Picture: Nigel Hallett

A protracted pickleball feud that went from the playing courts to the law courts is set for what could be a final rally between the warring sides.

Gold Coast pickleball enthusiast Phil Black lobbed a Supreme Court lawsuit on pickleball officials in December 2023 after he was allegedly kicked out of his local club and banned from playing.

The now 66-year-old alleged in his claim that he was “unconstitutionally stood down” from the Gold Coast Pickleball Association 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”.

He alleged in the claim that he was the victim of “false witness, bullying, lying, extortion, harassment, conflicts of interest (and) denial of natural justice and procedural fairness”.

The Gold Coast Pickleball Association, as well as fellow defendants the Pickleball Association of Queensland and Pickleball Australia, have been vigorously defending the claim.

But they have lost patience after the self-represented Mr Black was allowed to file six different versions of his statement of claim over the past 12 months in a bid to comply with court rules.

Pickleball player Philip Black has rejected an offer to settle the protracted case. Picture: Nigel Hallett

This happened after his original claim was struck out by the court and costs were awarded against him.

Mediation last September failed and, after Mr Black lodged his sixth statement of claim, Judge Frances Williams in February made orders allowing pickleball authorities to apply to have the case dismissed.

Lawyers for the pickleball associations last month offered to settle the case, which they have alleged is “unsupported by any material acts” and “trivial in nature” and has so far racked up an estimated $250,000 legal bill.

In an attempt to settle the dispute, the Gold Coast Pickleball Association late last year admitted its decision to terminate Mr Black’s membership was not valid and rescinded the decision.

But Mr Black has rejected the offer to settle, and a dismissal hearing has been set down for Friday, where he risks a hefty legal costs order.

In court documents pleading for the case to continue, he said his reputation had been “totally trashed” and he “needs a trial to clear (my) name”.

He alleged he has been “denigrated and vilified” and “everyone needs to be under oath to establish the facts and the truth”.

“(I) have the courage, the tenacity, the ability and now the support to go all the way,” he said in court papers.

“Please don’t dismiss it now. Please don’t turn this plaintiff away. No-one knows how hard it is to get it this far. I don’t want to start again. But I will. I will never stop to get these matters heard and dealt with.

“It is just too important, and I have no intention of living the rest of my life like I have the last four years.”

Invented in 1965, pickleball – described as a cross between tennis, ping pong and badminton – has become one of the world’s fastest growing sports with about 9 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 pickleball could become an Olympic sport.

Originally published as Final rally in long-running Gold Coast pickleball feud