By Carolyn Webb
It has wallowed in the doldrums for decades but exponents of squash say the tide may be turning at last for the once wildly popular sport.
New squash courts are opening and old ones are being renovated. Club memberships are on the rise and there is renewed interest from young people.
Matthew Lawlor (left) and James Poynton play squash at the Victorian Racket Club, Carrington Park.Credit: Joe Armao
Administrators say being named an Olympic sport for the first time, for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, will boost the sport’s profile.
James Poynton, director of the new, six-court Victorian Racket Club in Knoxfield, in Melbourne’s east, said in its first two months 90 members have joined.
Poynton, who invested almost $2 million in the centre in a public-private partnership with the City of Knox, admits it is a risk but says: “We have an enormous amount of faith in the sport.”
The courts are designed and built by German company ASB. One is interactive, with its front wall doubling as a computer screen adaptable for training, games or competition.
James Poynton: ‘We have an enormous amount of faith in the sport.’Credit: Joe Armao
The club can live stream games, and has a liquor licence, pro shop and function room.
Forty years ago, there seemed to be courts in every town and suburb and champions Heather McKay and Geoff Hunt were household names.
But according to Squash and Racquetball Victoria (S&RV), the number of squash clubs in the state fell from about 250 in the early 1980s to 150 today.
S&RV president Sarah Fitz-Gerald said many courts were privately owned, and a lack of money to modernise meant they became unattractive. Those on prime land were sold to developers.
But Fitz-Gerald, a five-time world champion, said in the last decade, new or renovated centres with better facilities have cropped up.
Sarah Fitz-Gerald wins the first of her five World Open squash titles in Malaysia in 1996. Credit: Reuters
Fitz-Gerald said COURTDesigns, the court construction and renovation company she and husband Cameron Dalley run, is due to complete 15 jobs this year across Australia, compared with seven in 2015.
She feels “the tide is turning” for squash, with excitement about the Olympics and hopes for more government and corporate funding. Most elite Australian players work.
“We’d welcome [billionaire] Gina Rinehart giving us a phone call,” she joked. “Even to receive $100,000 would make such a difference to squash in Victoria.”
Daryl Thompson, head of squash at Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, said the club added two new courts in 2021 and its squash membership had risen from 159 to 388 in the past 18 months.
Matthew Lawlor and his son Easton, eight, play interactive squash at the Victorian Racket Club in Knoxfield.Credit: Joe Armao
The owner of Tonic Squash and Gym in Dromana, Amelia Pittock, said they opened a decade ago with eight courts and weekly player numbers had risen 30 per cent in the past two years.
Squash newcomer Matthew Lawlor, 32, of Cockatoo, joined the Knoxfield club with a mate six weeks ago and is loving the sport. “You can smash the ball as hard as you want against the wall and it’s a very agile, fast-paced game,” he said.
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