LESS than a year after forming a new entity after the collapse into liquidation of the old one, the Hastings Club has again been placed into liquidation. The collapse of the club follows its closure on 30 October last year due to a water leak under the floor; an issue that is still unresolved and has left the club unable to trade and continuing to accumulate costs.
An information meeting of members was held on 11 March, outlining the difficult pathway forward for the club. And at a Special General Meeting held last Tuesday (25 March), the 64 members in attendance were asked whether to put the club into liquidation. There were no questions or discussion before the vote, and the outcome was unanimous to “lay the club to rest”.
The collapse of the Hastings Club, founded in 1967, comes after the old entity was placed into liquidation in April last year after rising debts associated with the club’s gaming machines (Hastings Club plans pokies-free future, The News 26/3/24). The club re-established itself as the Hastings Community and Sports Club Inc. At the time, the chairman of the club, David Gibbs, said “This is not the end of the road, but the start of a new journey” with a renewed focus on community and sporting groups, but acknowledging “It will be hard work”.
Beginning with no significant working capital, the club struggled to get established and trade profitably through the quiet winter season. On 21 August last year, an urgent call was put out for $50,000 in working capital to be raised to keep the doors of the club open and get through to the busy pre-Christmas period. The target was met by loyal members, and the club appeared to be over the crisis.
Another blow came in early September when a letter from the president of the Hastings Football Netball Club, Dan Lehmann, was posted to social media expressing their desire to become independent of the Hastings Community and Sports Club Inc. The football club had struggled on the field, with Lehmann telling The News at the time “This year, with everything that has happened, it has been very difficult to run a football club” (The Hastings Club celebrates fundraising win, while footy and netball club seek split, The News 11/9/24).
But what would prove to be the fatal blow for the club came on 30 October when the doors shut after the discovery of a water leak under the floor. “The most pessimistic person could not have known the length of time it would take to locate and repair the leak,” said Gibbs in a letter sent to the members last month. “The water leak was eventually repaired on 10 December 2024 and the repairs to the damage caused were expected to be completed by Christmas. [This changed to] early January, before Australia Day, by the end of January, until the most recent advice of mid-March.”
Gibbs went on to explain to members that after the completion of repairs there are many challenges facing the club. “The club is in debt, has no remaining funds after being closed for over three and a half months, has no staff, no stock of food and beverage, and a restart would require re-commissioning of fridges, ovens, beer systems, computer systems etc.”
In the last few weeks, frantic efforts have focussed on garnering the support of the shire; the entity responsible for the building. Passionate and emails were sent to councillors, knowing that failure to get shire support would be the end of the Hastings Club. An email seen by The News from foundation member Brian Stahl told councillors “Without any fear of contradiction I put it to you all to show us any other sporting organisation across the Mornington Peninsula Shire which, along with all the other voluntary expansion initiatives carried out over the ensuing years by members of the club… at no cost at all to the municipality has now had to endure such a long closure of its premises and the imminent demise of its existence forever”.
The cause had the in-principal support of mayor Cr Anthony Marsh who told The News “We respect the committee’s work and encourage constructive discussions among members to find a sustainable path forward”. Coolart Ward councillors David Gill weighed in to the debate in an email to all councillors seen by The News. “We need the Hastings Club to get back to providing sporting and other important community programs before the club potentially folds. Many promises have been made but delivery has been short coming”.
On Sunday 23 March came a glimmer of hope from Cr Michael Stephens when he emailed Stahl “I fully understand the frustration and urgency you feel, and I can see how deeply invested you are in the future of the club”. “As you mentioned, the water leak issue couldn’t have come at a worse time for the club. After being closed for several months, the path to recovery has become even more difficult. The combination of these setbacks has put the club in a much more precarious position, and I fully appreciate the gravity of the situation. “I can confirm that I received the new draft ‘business plan’ from David Gibbs last Thursday. I will be discussing it further with [acting shire CEO] Bulent Oz.”
But on Tuesday 25 March, the day the club would be placed into liquidation, came the news that no help would be coming from the shire. “I met with Bulent Oz yesterday and again today,” said an email from Stephens. “Unfortunately, I am not confident in gaining councillor support for a motion that would provide ongoing financial support, particularly considering the strained financial environment the shire is operating in.” By Tuesday evening, liquidation had become the only option.
The club was placed into liquidation 58 years and 22 days after its formation. Perhaps the final act of community spirit that had embodied the club was that, at the end of the Special General Meeting, members were asked for one final favour. Could they please move the tables and stack the chairs to allow the tradesmen to come in the following day to lift carpet damaged by the water leak. The members performed the task and then left their club for the final time.
Committee member and persistent advocate of the club, Kevin Miles, didn’t hold back in his email to councillors after the demise of the club. “Your refusal to help us in any way just has us shaking our heads”. “To say it was a sad meeting would be a total understatement. How this has happened I cannot fathom.”
Brian Stahl told The News “It leaves me cold in disbelief and totally dismayed that our local municipality could just walk away from such an impressive and much needed community inspired entity”. “In the recorded history of Hastings this will go down as one of its saddest outcomes and one which, in my personal opinion, will also live on permanently as a black mark against the Mornington Peninsula Shire.”
After the club had been placed into liquidation, Gibbs reflected on the outcome. “The end of the Hastings Club is an incredibly sad day for those members who had a dream and built the club from scratch,” said Gibbs. “The club was in reality a community house ‘on steroids’ providing a meeting place for a host of community groups at no or very little cost, a club for members and a low-cost function space for community groups and clubs at the same time. “Since being closed on 30 October last, this loss has already been massively felt.
“It was the end result of a ‘perfect storm’ led by massively increased payment to the state government for the poker machines, increased gaming tax , Covid closures, and then after the water leak the unbelievable time it took the shire, our landlord, to fix the leak and the damage done in the process to the building and its unwillingness to ‘walk the talk’ of the support that we were told would be available.”
First published in the Mornington News – April 1 2025
