Joint Statement from Thor Prohaska and David Pavlich
Before anything else, we want to make a few things absolutely clear.
At no point have we ever tried to stop anyone running Hotham Boardriders.
We have never tried to stop anyone volunteering.
We have never tried to stop anyone running events.
We have never tried to stop anyone raising sponsorship.
We have never tried to stop anyone from selling merchandise.
We have never tried to stop anyone building on what previous generations created.
In fact, over the years we have repeatedly offered support, ideas, sponsorship opportunities, governance assistance, grant opportunities and help.
The suggestion that we somehow wanted to shut the club down, take control of it, or stop people contributing is simply false.
Our concerns were never about stopping people from doing things.
Our concerns were about transparency, accountability, member involvement and ensuring Hotham Boardriders remained a club that belonged to its members and community.
We've stayed quiet for a long time.
Not because we didn't have anything to say, but because we genuinely hoped common sense would prevail and the issues surrounding Hotham Boardriders could be resolved respectfully and internally.
Unfortunately, that hasn't happened.
Over the last year there has been a growing narrative that Thor Prohaska and David Pavlich somehow caused the downfall of Hotham Boardriders. That we wanted control. That we were trying to take over. That we were living in the past.
None of that is true.
So before history gets rewritten, we want to put our version of events on the record.
Not for sympathy.
Not for recognition.
And certainly not because we want anything from anyone.
Why Hotham Boardriders Was Created
Hotham Boardriders was formed in 1988.
Before that, snowboarders were not allowed to ride the lifts.
Before HB there was Snowboardriders of Victoria.
Thor Prohaska was its first President.
David Pavlich was its last President.
HB was formed as part of that movement.
We didn't create it because we wanted to run a club.
We didn't create it for status.
We didn't create it for profit.
Hotham Boardriders wasn't born out of ambition. It was born out of necessity. Snowboarders were told that if we wanted to ride the lifts, we needed to organise ourselves nationally, by state and by mountain.
So we did.
Over the next four decades, hundreds of volunteers and thousands of riders helped build HB into something far bigger than the people who started it.
Presidents came and went.
Committees came and went.
Parents volunteered.
Sponsors stepped up.
Generations of snowboarders gave their time, energy and passion to the club.
HB became part of Australian snowboarding history.
And it belonged to the community that built it.
Four Years Ago
Around four years ago, Garry Wall contacted us both and asked whether we would have any objection to him ‘chipping in short term’ to running Hotham Boardriders.
We said no.
In fact, we supported the idea.
We thought his industry experience and connections could be good for the club.
At that stage we had no desire to run HB ourselves.
We'd done our bit.
We wanted the next generation to take the club forward.
The First Concern
Shortly afterwards, an entity obtained an ABN and began operating as a not-for-profit organisation under the Hotham Boardriders name.
While it was generally understood who was involved, we were never provided with any formal documentation showing exactly who established the entity or what process was followed.
That was the point where we became concerned.
Not because of the ABN itself.
But because for years we had been discussing the need for proper governance and constitutional arrangements.
Our view was simple.
If the club was becoming more formal, then the governance framework should be formalised as well.
A constitution should clearly define how decisions are made.
How members participate.
How committees are held accountable.
And how the organisation operates into the future.
For years we raised those concerns repeatedly.
We offered to help.
Repeatedly.
Not because we wanted positions.
Not because we wanted control.
But because we wanted to see the club properly protected for future generations.
Former Presidents Removed
Around the same period, former presidents and long-term contributors were removed from club communication channels.
We were removed.
Other former presidents were removed.
People who had spent decades helping build and oversee the organisation suddenly found themselves outside the conversation.
For us, that was another warning sign.
Not because we cared about being admins on a Facebook page.
But because organisations benefit from history, experience and oversight.
Removing those voices felt like the opposite direction to the one we should have been heading.
HB Name and Web Domain
There is one issue we should address directly because it is often raised as evidence that we somehow wanted control of Hotham Boardriders.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Many years ago, while riding at Mt Buller with Alan "Greeny" Green from Quiksilver, the conversation turned to Hotham Boardriders, its future and who controlled it.
Greeny wasn't just another person offering an opinion. He was the co-founder of Quiksilver, a pioneer of the action sports industry and someone whose judgement we respected enormously. He had built one of the most successful brands in board sports and had seen firsthand what can happen when names, brands and intellectual property are not properly protected.
During that conversation, Greeny shared concerns about discussions he had heard within the industry regarding Hotham Boardriders and advised us to take steps to protect the HB name and identity. That conversation took place in front of other senior people in the industry, and it wasn't the only warning we received over the years.
The advice was simple:
If you care about what you've built, don't assume it will always be protected by others.
Because Hotham Boardriders had limited funds at the time, Greeny suggested we at least register the business name.
We listened.
Not because we wanted ownership.
Not because we wanted control.
But because the advice came from someone whose experience, integrity and contribution to board sports spoke for itself.
Constitutional Reform
Last year, the committee invited Thor to work directly on constitutional reform.
Anyone who knows Thor knows he has extensive experience in governance, politics and technical writing.
What he produced was not a radical takeover document.
It was an evolution of the original HB constitution.
A modern constitution designed to increase transparency, accountability and member participation.
In our view, it represented a fair, democratic and future-focused governance model.
The committee initially supported the process and gave Thor the lead role in developing it.
For the first time in years, meaningful progress appeared possible.
The Choice
Eventually two constitutional pathways were presented.
The first was to adopt the standard Model Rules with limited amendments.
The second was a more representative and democratic model developed from the original HB constitution.
The benefits of that model included:
Greater member participation.
Greater transparency.
Greater accountability.
Stronger member voting rights.
Better representation of member views.
Reduced concentration of decision-making power.
A stronger framework for resolving disagreements.
The committee ultimately chose the simpler Model Rules approach and rejected the more democratic model.
That was their right.
But it also meant rejecting years of work and rejecting the constitutional framework Thor had spent significant time developing.
In our view, it was a missed opportunity.
The Members Were Never Asked
What disappoints us most is that the members were never given the opportunity to decide.
The future governance structure of the club was never put to the membership.
The people who built HB.
The people who volunteered for HB.
The people who paid memberships.
The people who supported the club year after year.
They never got a vote.
For a club originally created so snowboarders could organise and have representation, that remains deeply disappointing.
Accountability and Transparency
One of the reasons we continued raising governance concerns was because transparency had always been part of the culture we grew up with in Hotham Boardriders.
In the early days, we operated with what could best be described as an open-book approach.
If a member wanted to see the books, they could.
There was no secrecy.
There was no drama.
The club belonged to the members, so members had the right to know how their club was operating.
For that reason, it became difficult to understand why questions about finances, governance or accountability were increasingly treated as a problem.
Our view has always been simple:
Transparency protects everyone.
It protects members.
It protects volunteers.
It protects committee members.
And it builds trust.
For the same reason, we supported the idea of an independent audit.
Not because we were accusing anyone of wrongdoing.
Quite the opposite.
If everything was in order, an audit would strengthen confidence and put concerns to rest.
Likewise, concerns regarding insurance and liability were raised because we wanted to ensure the club, its volunteers and its members were properly protected.
A policy was offered to run for this year while we continue the constitution work.
These concerns were never raised to create conflict.
They were raised because we believed they were important to the long-term health of the club.
What Happened Next
The constitutional work was abandoned.
Questions regarding governance and accountability remained unresolved.
Then came the announcement that Hotham Boardriders would not operate in 2026.
Shortly afterwards, we, along with many other long-term contributors, found ourselves blocked, removed or excluded from communication channels entirely.
The very people who had spent decades helping build the organisation were shut out from discussing its future.
What This Has Never Been About
This has never been about recognition.
It has never been about power.
And it has never been about control.
The real question has always been simple:
Who does Hotham Boardriders belong to?
A committee?
Or the community that built it?
Final Thoughts
We helped start Hotham Boardriders nearly forty years ago.
But we didn't build it alone.
Thousands of people did.
Volunteers.
Parents.
Competitors.
Sponsors.
Committee members.
Friends.
Families.
The greatest irony for us is that Hotham Boardriders was originally created because snowboarders were forced to organise themselves just to ride the lifts.
Nearly forty years later, the dispute that ultimately divided the club was over whether members should have a say in how it is governed.
A committee can stop operating.
A Facebook page can be controlled.
A logo can be changed.
But nobody can erase the community that built Hotham Boardriders.
Nobody can erase the friendships.
Nobody can erase the memories.
And nobody can erase nearly forty years of history.
HB never belonged to either of us.
It never belonged to any committee.
It belongs to the people who built it.
The volunteers.
The parents.
The sponsors.
The kids who became adults.
The adults who became parents.
The generations of snowboarders who gave their time, energy and passion to the club.
HB is your story.
Your history.
Your values.
Your culture.
And whatever happens next, that legacy belongs to you.
Kind regards,
Thor Prohaska
Co-Founder – Hotham Boardriders (1988)
Former President – Snowboardriders of Victoria
David Pavlich - pav@høb.com
Co-Founder – Hotham Boardriders (1988)
Former President – Snowboardriders of Victoria
"If you ride a snowboard at Mt Hotham, you are a Hotham Boardrider."
— Pav, circa 1990s
HOTHAM BOARDRIDERS
This season.
Next season.
Every season after that.