Bitter turf war lands elderly tennis, pickleball players in court

A bitter turf war between elderly tennis and pickleball players has landed in court. ALL THE DETAILS

A bitter turf war between elderly tennis and pickleball players has landed in court.

A bitter turf war between elderly tennis and pickleball players has landed in court, with accusations of foul play flying back and forth like a ball across the net in a lengthy rally.

Pickleball protagonists took the Pottsville Beach Tennis Club to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Wednesday seeking to overturn a ban on them playing at the Tweed Coast courts.

It followed a nasty falling out between the two racquet sports which once happily co-existed at the 87-year-old community tennis club.

Pickleball - a boom sport billed as a cross between tennis, badminton and ping-pong - was introduced at the club several years ago and embraced by many tennis players.

But earlier this year, tennis officials passed a new by-law banning pickleball for reasons including to “maintain the club’s identity as a tennis-focused-facility”, prevent wear and tear of the courts and to “minimise disruptions to the concentration of tennis players”.

An attempted committee coup by pickleball players was defeated by pro-tennis members at a special meeting last month, but the pickleballers weren’t about to pack up their racquets and balls and go home.

Instead, they lobbed legal action on the tennis club which saw about 20 rival players descend on the Murwillumbah Courthouse on Wednesday for a NCAT hearing.

NCAT member Paul McDonald gave the parties a serve, ordering them out of the court to try to resolve their dispute as he warned they “may not like” a tribunal ruling. He said most disputes were settled by an agreement that “both parties or all parties can live with”.

But the feuding players failed to strike a peace deal and returned to court where pickleballers told Mr McDonald they had joined the tennis club “with the expectation that they will be able to play pickleball” and their claim was for “denial of service” under consumer law.

Tennis officials told the tribunal the club believed “very strongly” that it was acting within its constitution in banning the pickleballers.

“We’re a tennis club and we followed the constitution of the club,” one said.

A bitter turf war between elderly tennis and pickleball players has landed in court.

Mr McDonald questioned whether NCAT had the jurisdiction to hear the dispute and the pickleballers later withdrew their application.

Tennis officials declined to comment outside court but pickleballers said they had decided to back down after “hostile and vitriolic” social media attacks by tennis supporters.

“At this stage, we don’t want anything to do with that committee or the tennis club,” one pickleball player said.

Another said: “The social (tennis) players are okay but the committee think they’re all at Wimbledon.”

Marie Nicholson, a tennis enthusiast who with husband Darryl helped introduce pickleball to the club and sided with the pickleballers in the dispute, said she was shattered.

“I’ve been in tears - I feel like I can’t show my face down there any more,” she said.

Pickleballers said the Pottsville courts sat vacant much of the time and the sport brought in “good money” for the club.

They said they were now looking for another place to play, including a local bowls club which recently introduced pickleball.

In a Facebook post after the court case, the Save Pottsville Pickleball group said they had decided to “walk away from the toxicity” after the court case became “another circus”.

“It was never our intention to take over the Pottsville Beach Tennis Club,” they said.

“We’re tired of the ridiculous narrative ... all we ever asked was for the opportunity to restore pickleball, a sport that brought so many people joy, health and connection to our community.

“We’ve chosen to walk away from the toxicity. Not because we thought we wouldn’t win, but because we refuse to waste another minute on a group that shows no interest in fairness [or] inclusion.”