Townsville club threatened as part of bitter grassroots gymnastics split
Diane Stephens has been involved in gymnastics in Queensland for more than four decades, but never felt more threatened than when she reached out to the state body with a question many across the state have asked.
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Gymnastics club owner Dianne Stephens did something earlier this year that she’d never done before.
She complained.
“I’ve been involved in this sport for over 45 years, so it’s a big deal for me,” she tells CODE Sports.
“It’s taken time to decide to say anything because my experience has resulted in me feeling a little like an outcast.”
The past 18 of those 45 years has been spent managing a club in Atherton, just out of Cairns with close to 200 active participants.
In 2022 she and a business partner opened a new club in Townsville, where from a base of zero participants, there’s now more than 740 budding gymnasts.
Mild-mannered and community-minded, Stephens has happily toed the line for the sport she loves. She has supported those who led gymnastics for all those years. She was simply grateful to earn a modest living doing something she loves.
Naturally she’d been a loyalist to the state and national bodies, but amid snap changes to Gymnastics Queensland by-laws earlier this year she was required to alter plans for the Townsville venue, just to comply and open the doors.
Aware of another option, she wondered if there might be a better direction.
Over the past two years, almost 100 venues across Australia have switched the affiliation of the recreational parts of its business (typically young children doing simple non-competitive play programs) from state bodies to a private company that offers more cost-effective insurance and coaching accreditation support.
After investigating, Stephens found that switching affiliation for her recreational base would likely result in savings of more than $20,000 per year.
Those savings could be passed on to members and allow her to hire new coaches. The end result would be more children being introduced to the sport.
“If there’s a competitive group in the marketplace that provides a service that keeps kids safe and may be positive for your business, then surely we should be allowed to make that choice without being penalised,” she says.
“Having just opened a new business, any saving and service had to be seriously considered.”
She called Gymnastics Queensland and asked questions directly about the by-law changes, the reasons why they had happened and what would be the consequences of making the switch.
After this, future exchanges quickly turned in another direction.
According to Stephens, other clubs and colleagues were disparaged, along with references made to what she’d ‘liked’ on social media from other club owners.
“I felt threatened,” Stephens says of the exchange.
“The message was very heavy-handed – ‘we have disaffiliated other clubs and we won’t hesitate to disaffiliate anyone who wants to take us on’.”
She says it was particularly unnerving given she was at pains to say she wouldn’t be deserting them.
“It felt aggressive, and it put me under quite a bit of pressure, it was – ‘we’re watching you’.”
Rattled, she complied.
Yet it didn’t sit well that someone who’d always done what was best for her sport, and had served on state bodies and committees as a volunteer, would feel she was being treated this way for simply asking the question.
Eventually she escalated the matter to higher levels at Gymnastics Queensland, detailing her experience.
After numerous attempts requesting updates and feeling ignored, she notified Gymnastics Australia, who responded and heard her story out, but ultimately passed it back to the state body.
Three months passed before being accidentally copied into an email with an attempted recall. Coincidently, 24 hours later she received a reply indicating the matter had been looked at and there was essentially no case to answer. She has yet to receive a reply after asking for an explanation of the process and the error.
“Despite my best efforts, and numerous communications sent, I’m not getting anywhere.”
Stephens sympathises with the Toowoomba Allstars club, who have been banned from competition for switching recreational affiliation (though they had no intention of switching affiliation for competitive gymnasts), because ever since the complaint she’s felt her club has been marked.
Not long after her initial questions her Townsville club booking system was audited without any written notification requesting it.
Typically an audit would only occur if clubs are in the bottom 10% of growth, signifying a dramatic drop in member numbers, which wasn’t the case here.
“It feels like it’s almost forbidden; you can’t cross that line, you can’t ask those questions, you’re unfairly seen as a problem,” she says.
“It makes you feel black-listed.”
Gymnastics Queensland maintains the audit was conducted in accordance with its constitution and member by-laws, due to a drop in registered numbers. Stephens disagrees and says that reductions were at another club, separate the Townsville business. She says there were no reduction in numbers at Townsville that should trigger an audit. Ironically, the club received a ‘Club Growth Award’ from Gymnastics Queensland that very same year.
She still remains an affiliated member, but fears here experience is emblematic of problems in the sport.
“Asking directly backfired on me because then I got treated really poorly. That says a lot to me about the current governance of the sport.
“I truly believe it’s now a national problem.”
Ultimately the split comes from clubs shopping around for a better deal.
Given the vast majority of clubs are small businesses Stephens thinks that is good governance in a time of escalating cost of living pressures, rather than a swipe at authority.
“Rather than demonstrating positive action with, ‘How can we be competitive so that our members want to stay, how can we provide better service, and what can we do competitively with our insurance?’, they went straight to reacting with, ‘This is how it’s going to be and if you don’t toe the line, you won’t be affiliated’.
“For some clubs this is a matter of helping keep your lights on.”
In Stephens’ mind it’s bad news for the sport’s broader goal of increasing participation.
The more clubs trying to earn a living out in the suburbs and country towns of Australia, equals more kids being exposed to the sport.
“The effect it’s having is clubs are leaving in droves,” she claimed.
“It’s very concerning and it’s time for those in authority to step in and seek answers.
“Many of us are hurting right now, however I have faith something positive will come out of it all.”
A spokesperson for Gymnastics Queensland told CODE Sports that “we take Ms. Stephens’ concerns seriously and regret hearing about her claims around certain interactions with Gymnastics Queensland.”
“We always strive for open and collaborative communication and encourage all our clubs to reach out directly with any concerns. As part of our commitment to maintaining high standards and ensuring member safety, we regularly conduct audits to ensure compliance with our constitution, by-laws, and policies.
“Gymnastics Queensland (GQ) takes its obligations under its constitution, by-laws and policies very seriously and strives to work cooperatively and collaboratively with all our members clubs.
“We will continue to engage with Ms. Stephens and are committed to having constructive conversations and supporting our members. GQ’s priority remains the safety and wellbeing of all our members.”
Originally published as Townsville club threatened as part of bitter grassroots gymnastics split
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