‘We’ve lost our identity’: Payneham swim club slowly disbanding as $60m upgrade closes local pool indefinitely
A swimming club in Adelaide’s east is losing its members and may never recover because the local pool won’t reopen for years.
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A local club is facing a race against time to stay afloat amid a $60m redevelopment of the Payneham Memorial Swimming Centre, which is leaving it closed indefinitely.
Members of the Payneham Swimming Club fear they’ve lost their identity, as more kids and parents are left with no choice but to join other clubs around Adelaide.
Committee member Phil Coward said the centre has been closed for two years and would stay shut for at least another two as construction continues, and his son had lost friends to rival clubs.
“Through no real fault of our own that we can see, we’ve lost our ability to recruit and bring new people on because we’ve lost our identity,” Mr Coward said.
“There are lots of things going on that have put hardship on us, and there’s a real risk because we’ve run at an $11,000 loss this winter period and we probably won’t be able to sustain another loss like that without having to think about winding up. It would be a great shame to lose such a community asset.
“It’s been sat dormant for a very long period of time so essentially, the club’s going to go four years without any identity, without any feeder club and without any sort of community feel. It’s potentially going to send us to the wall.”
The redevelopment – set to open in 2026 – has already suffered a $36m cost blowout, increasing from $24m to $60m in the space of two years with council blaming the economic landscape.
In March, Norwood Payneham & St Peters Mayor Robert Bria acknowledged the significant increase, saying supply chain issues, interest rates, inflation and skill shortages had “serious knock-on effects” to the nation’s construction industry.
On Wednesday, he said council had been working with the club for “an extended period of time”, giving them an 80 per cent discount on lane hire to lessen their financial challenges.
“We understand the closure of the pool has been an inconvenience for people, we get that,” Mr Bria said.
“I respect that the sense of loss of identity can be attributed to not having a home, but a bigger and better home is right around the corner.
“We’re investing big money in a brand new pool and we realise there’s an inconvenience for clubs and lap swimmers – and just the general public – but we do know that once it opens it will be a fantastic facility.”
On Tuesday, Mr Coward said his 14-year-old son had gone through a “morale-sapping experience” after watching close friends move to rival clubs.
“A lot of people are basically just going ‘well, there’s no club at Payneham so I will go to Norwood or these other places’. We’re missing out,” he said.
“We now have to drive against peak-hour traffic to the city, then we’ve got to get round to the Thebarton swimming centre. He also has to swim later in the evening than he normally would because we don’t have access to our own pool.
“I think the treasurer said we needed 40 fee-paying swimmers at Payneham to be viable and I think we’re at 26 or 28 so yeah, we’re in big trouble.”
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