Ireland’s Kilkenny Squash Club members are back playing their game after three years and fears their courts and club could be wound up after 55 years.
Having been based at a military barracks in Kilkenny, it was reported that the department of defence had no inkling that members had access to the facility throughout their tenure.
The courts became one of the most modern courts in the country when it opened in 1969. When Squash was in its heyday it had up to 180 members and was played at a high level in the leinster leagues, according to the club.
It had been open to both army personnel and the public for over 50 years until its closure due to Covid in 2020. Â It had nine box leagues running monthly.
Now, after efforts to keep squash alive in the city, the club is based a local college which has two courts.
This month it hosted its first ‘Blitz’ club night since the pandemic.Â
President Dick Hanrahan told Kilkenny media that the club couldn’t accept being ‘put out for no reason’.
Members had been told ‘the Department was heretofore unaware of your pre-Covid access to a military facility on a non-regularised basis and unlicensed basis’.
Kilkenny SC had stated that it would need upwards of 55,000 euros to build a new court and find a new facility.