Swimming NSW Meet Levy

On Friday 9th June 2023 swimming clubs were informed by Swimming NSW of the introduction of a new Meet Levy of $1.50 per entry for all Official meets across NSW. This Meet Levy will be introduced for all Official meets post 30th August 2023.

Merrylands club races are held as official meets each week to allow us to upload times swum for official use such as qualifying times for Area and State meets.

The introduction of a new Meet Levy has been made without any consultation with individual swimming clubs and their members.

The new Meet Levy means meets such as our weekly club races, Merrylands SwimFest, Area meets etc will be subject to an increased cost of $1.50 per event per swimmer (plus SwimCentral transaction fee).

What does this mean for our club members?

  • Club race entries would increase from $0.50 to $2.00 for graded races and from $1.00 to $2.50 for Club Championship races (plus SwimCentral transaction fee)
  • Entries to meets such as Merrylands SwimFest, Area Championships etc would increase by a minimum of $1.50 per event (plus SwimCentral transaction fee)
  • The $1.50 Meet Levy goes directly to Swimming NSW with no benefit to our club or members

As a club we are opposed to this new Meet Levy and the imposition it places on clubs such as ours and our club members. This is an onerous levy, which we estimate would add costs for each individual swimmer of at least $100 each season for club races, plus any additional meets entered. For our club this in our estimation is an imposition of over $5,000 per year on our members without any benefit derived from the levy. Given the current economic times with rising interest rates and general costs of living this not an appropriate increase in costs to swim.

More information on the Meet Levy is available on the Swimming NSW website here.

What can be done to object to the introduction of the new Meet Levy?

As a club we are raising our objections with a range of bodies, including directly with Swimming NSW, Metro South West Area (the Area we are affiliated with), State & Federal Members of Parliament and media.

We recommend that you also raise your objections to the imposition of this new Meet Levy, as it is a cost that directly affects you and your family swimming members. You can do this by emailing your concerns directly to kirsten.thomson@nsw.swimming.org.au (CEO of Swimming NSW). We also suggest vocalising your objections on their social media platforms.

If you would like to discuss this with us please feel free to contact our President, Graham Edwards.