Canberra squash club with half a century of history slated for apartments, devastating club stalwarts
Dick O'Rourke's home away from home will be squashed to make way for apartments in just under a year.
The Canberra man presides over Dickson Squash Club — and has led the institution through most of its 50-odd years.
He said the club was still going strong.
"We have got players that are knocking on the door waiting to get in and I can't fit them in because we don't have enough courts," Mr O'Rourke said.
He fell in love with the sport in 1973, after giving up football in his 30s and rising through the ranks to play competitively.
"We used to play competitions on a Sunday night because there was something like 11 or 12 clubs," Mr O'Rourke recalled.
"Here I am 40-odd years later, not playing [but] organising, and I just enjoy the people I deal with."
Players 'quite emotional'
Dickson Squash Club has 200 current players, including Donna Hewitt, who has been striking the four-walled courts with small, hollow, rubber balls for 30 years.
"It is like a party every week and I love to catch up with people," Ms Hewitt said.
"I absolutely love it, and I would be so sad if we lost our courts and we didn't have anywhere to go... [I'm] quite emotional.
"It is a really important part of my life."
One of the club's successes is a Tuesday night all-ages social competition, which has been popular for 12 years.
Player Denis Mettam, 80, said he had been working other players around the Dickson walls for 40 years.
He is among the club's oldest current members and part of a family dynasty of players stretching across generations.
"I just love the game," Mr Mettam said.
"It is beautiful and like playing a game of chess inside four walls."
Slated for apartments
The Dickson Squash Club hosts players from across the ACT, as well as NSW regions such as Goulburn and Wagga Wagga.
It has seen thousands of junior and senior squash players over the decades.
Prior to COVID, the vibrant inner north hub was the third-largest squash club in the nation, with 270 registered squash players and a further 150 social players.
Hospitality company the Canberra Tradesmen's Union Club owns the site and had set it aside for squash and other activities, with Mr O'Rourke leasing the courts.
"I have been told that probably this time next year it will be demolished and high-rise apartments will take its place," Mr O'Rourke said.
"We have asked for the squash courts to be part of the new build."
'Committed to providing urgently needed housing'
Players and supporters, including the Dickson Residents Group, are lodging formal objections to the development application.
In a statement, the Canberra Tradesmen's Union Club said it was focused on housing supply.
"[Feedback] has largely been positive," the spokesperson said.
"We are committed to providing urgently needed housing for Canberra, along with broader community benefits.
"We have a long-standing relationship with the squash club, having provided support to the club for several decades."
Community petitions legislators
Squash players and supporters are petitioning the ACT government to provide more indoor sporting facilities in Canberra's north.
The government has already committed to a new tennis facility in Gungahlin, but petitioners argue that more facilities for a broader range of sports should be made available.
"The petitioning is going really well," Mr O'Rourke said.
"We have got another month to go and I reckon we will be pushing up towards a thousand [signatures]."
It already has 500 signatories, so it will be tabled in the ACT Legislative Assembly.
'Can't just discard us'
The players say the ACT government and The Tradies Group — the business group behind the proposed development — need to do more to help the club remain at the Dickson site or secure a new, nearby location.
Mr O'Rourke said the uncertainty was devastating.
"We don't have a home."
"[The government] spouts on about public sporting and everything like that, and then they just want to leave us high and dry," Mr Mettam added.
Ms Hewitt shared his concerns.
"I think it is up to the government to step in," he said.
In the meantime, Mr O'Rourke said the Dickson Squash Club committee was exploring other locations, including speaking with the developer of Kaleen shops.
"We are working on it. But I still think that really the government and The Tradies need to get together and support the club and find us a new home," he said.
"They can't just discard us ... We are an institution here in Canberra."