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Martin Bronstein keeps up with fight over Britain’s best known squash club.

When Mike Corby  sold Lambs Club to a developer for £4million ($7million) earlier this year he angered a lot of his members  and brought a load of traditionalists out of the closet. Corby, who owns a chain of fitness clubs, said he had to sell in order to keep the business afloat and planned to close it for good next February “after a huge party”.

The members organized themselves, put up objections to the planned development of a block of apartments and successfully had the planning permission denied. The developers have now  come up with a new proposal which is yet will be heard by the Islington Borough Council.

Now Sport England, a government agency charged with developing sport and sportsmen in England, has got involved, putting their official voice, naturally, on the side of the 600-strong objectors.

Sport England senior planning manager Peter Durrans said:

 "The loss of the nine-court Lambs Club would be thoroughly detrimental to Islington's sporting infrastructure and to the Government's aim of promoting a healthy lifestyle.

"Its closure, which could happen as early as February, would threaten London's reputation as the world capital of squash and a hub for the international squash scene."

This is, of course, utter rubbish – which, I suppose, is not surprising coming from a government agency.  London has not been the world capital of squash  for many, many years. Fifty years ago when the Squash Rackets Association was seen as the governing body of world squash with their offices in London, this might have been so. There was also a time, 30 years ago when the men’s professional body, - then known as ISPA – also had their offices in London.  London also housed some very prestigious clubs in those far-off years. And one could make a case for London being central for that golden decade when the British Open was played at the Wembley Conference Centre and Hi-Tec  money made it the most important tournament on the calendar.

But all that is ancient history. Today London houses the offices of  just one governing body: WISPA.  The World Squash Federation (WSF) is in Hastings, a shabby seaside town on the south coast of England.  The PSA  is in Wales and the SRA (now England Squash) has moved to Manchester.

London does not boast one venue with a permanent four wall glass court.  It has just one doubles court, that owned by the RAC in Pall Mall. (And that is created by a moveable wall).  London does not host one WISPA or PSA ranking tournament  and the last world championship was almost thirty years ago.

This year the British Open was due to return to London after its peripatetic wanderings around Britain.  No sponsor could be found  to underwrite an event in “the world capital of squash and a hub for the international squash scene."

Toronto makes a better claim  as world capital of squash with its  many fine clubs, and mixture of international, American and doubles courts. If you really want to find the top venue, then New England   with its Ivy League  universities and prep schools simply cannot be beaten. It’s hard to travel twenty miles without coming upon a brand new state-of-the-art squash center.

In England we have the National Squash Centre in Manchester, which, while it cannot compete with Harvard, Yale or Princeton, is good enough to attract a few major tournaments and national championships.

No, Mr Durrans, you know not of what you speak. You have either been fed wrong information by the objectors, or you failed to do your homework.

Furthermore Mike Corby is getting a rough deal. Had  Corby not used his corporate bank roll, Lambs would not have become the important venue  that it was. To rub salt into the wound,  calls have been made for Corby to stand down from his role as president of England Squash.

Lamb's Action Team spokesman Ken Pottinger, who put the motion forward at England Squash's general meeting two weeks ago, said: "There is a real conflict of interest which needs to be recognised.  On the one hand he is responsible for promoting squash and fighting to get squash recognised but on the other hand he has sold off one of the best facilities in the country to allow developers to turn it into flats."

Where was Mr. Pottinger when John Treherne was the chairman of  the SRA? He was also in the club business and he would buy squash clubs, close half the courts and put in swimming pools.

“If I didn’t do that the clubs would close,” he told me.

Mr Corby said that his decision was not motivated by personal financial gain but the need to pay off his debts.

"I would have loved to have not had to sell Lamb's but it was no longer financially viable.

"I have devoted my whole life to forwarding the cause of squash but I was forced to sell if I wanted to keep my other clubs going.

"The sale of Lamb's is one of the great shames of my life but I feel extremely hurt and angered by this vindictive campaign against me."

And  Mike Corby has every right to be angry. But in the words of a very great man:

“NO good deed goes unpunished.”

And Mike, you did too many good deeds.