There seems to be consensus that the sport needs to market itself better, but with limited funds, smallish player numbers, and costly infrastructure, that remains a challenge.
It was the sport I learnt and played growing up in the 1980s and 90s, at a time when, for many people, sports clubs were the centre of their social universe.
Little in the way of malls, certainly no craft markets, and, thankfully, no social media, never mind cellphones! Just sports clubs, a sense of community, healthy competition, and usually a cold beer at the end of it.
Squash is simply a great ball sport, attractive to both those who can master the racquet skill and develop an array of shots, as well as those with limited ability but with a willingness to run, and it’s a sport that can compete with just about any with regards offering an intense workout.
But, these days, that’s not enough, with increased competition from new – or more evolved – sports, and so much more for people to do with their spare time – and that was the backdrop to this journey, to find out where squash in South Africa is currently at, in terms of its overall health.
If you ask Squash SA National Manager Jennifer Sawyer, the current state of the sport is “great”, with Sawyer pointing to the over 13,000 player registrations it has received this year, which doesn’t account for those social players who just pop down to their local club for a game.
But, not everyone shares her view.
“In a nutshell, it’s marketing,” says Craig Wapnick, a former SA number one, who currently holds a Business Development position with the Professional Squash Association in the UK, but has intimate knowledge of the game in South Africa. “There’s none of it and we don’t market the game. We’re not alone – Australia has the same problem. We, at least, have the courts, and the infrastructure is there for the game of squash to flourish, but you’ve got the most unbelievable physical sport and people don’t know about it. So, marketing is non-existent for a game that is dwindling.”
Sawyer concedes that marketing remains Squash SA’s biggest challenge.
“We need to put it out there more and we need people to see squash,” she says. “But with limited funds, it’s very difficult.”
Those funds are limited to the R442 000 Squash SA received from the Department of Sport in the last financial year, along with affiliation fees for clubs and individuals, donations and sponsorship for certain tournaments – the most significant being that of Growthpoint Properties, which in July renewed its commitment for a further year.
That allows Squash SA to stage its national championships and use the opportunity to erect an all-glass court in visible locations such as the V&A Waterfront – an exercise that doubles as a marketing opportunity, although it costs roughly R500 000 for that court to go up and come down.
Squash SA currently has only three full-time employees and an intern, with Sawyer saying they ideally need to at least double that staff complement.
Money, though, as always, remains the game changer.
“We need that extra funding for both the elite and grassroots levels,” she says. “It would allow us to expose our top players to more top competition overseas – as the exchange rate just makes travel unsustainable for individuals – and we need to fund the grassroots, as that is our future.”
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But squash is a tough sell, according to the agency tasked with selling sponsorship for Squash SA.
“Money is the issue,” says Kudzi Nzombe, Head of Sponsorship at Accelerate Sport. “It’s very difficult to make an impressionable impact with little to no budget. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg scenario. You need financial assistance in the form of sponsorship in order to make the right noises. At the moment, squash is very challenged in terms of human and financial resource. The will and plans do exists – it’s just a matter of funding in order to execute.”
Wapnick, though, disagrees.
“I don’t think it’s a money thing – I think it’s a selling thing,” he says. “There’s more than enough money in sport in SA, but people have to know about you and they need to be sold a vision. They’re not going to give you handouts.”
And he believes that now is the time for some ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking.
“The reality is that it’s got to be run as a business to uplift, but where does the money come from?” he says. “I think an inspired membership scheme, so people don’t just pay to have the licence to play, but they receive a host of benefits.”
Wapnick, though, believes that Squash SA is not alone in fighting to remain attractive and relevant, citing the work being done at a global level to make the sport more appealing, including making it easier to learn, with things such as a ball that bounces better for entry-level players, for example.
It’s here that a sport like padel has the edge on squash, with a low barrier to entry and a ball and court that is easy to navigate, even if you have little to no ball sense or skill. It’s also very social, leading to concerns that padel could ‘eat squash’s lunch’, taking squash players away from the sport they’ve played for so long.
“We feel there’s a place for both sports, as padel is a combination of squash and tennis, and we think squash players will play both and not give up squash completely,” says Sawyer. “Squash is a 45-minute good workout and if it’s raining, squash can still be played – not sure about padel.”
Either way, it’s clear that squash in South Africa has some challenges. We haven’t even unpacked the lack of impact that South Africa is having internationally at the elite level, although Alex Fuller has done well to reach a current ranking of 30 in the women’s game, but only by spending time overseas, largely on her own dime. On the men’s side, Dewald van Niekerk at 177 is the highest-ranked South African.
It doesn’t make for great reading, but in South Africa this is a niche sport, and squash clearly has its work cut out for it to remain attractive and relevant.
As Wapnick says, “the sport is amazing, but we’re just one of many great sports at the moment.”
Dylan Rogers