Swim clubs

The earliest formal swimming clubs formed from the 1ate nineteenth century onwards and were based at a particular pool. Men and women usually had separate swimming clubs, even where they used the same baths.

Commitment to the ideal of the amateur sportsman meant the dominant form of swimming club was the Amateur Swimming Club (ASC). Anyone who earned money from any sport-related activity was considered a professional and excluded from amateur ranks. Renowned swimmers like Annette Kellerman and Alec Wickham ceased to be amateur swimmers when they developed and marketed their vaudeville acts showcasing their swimming and diving skills. Former Olympic swimmer Harold Hardwick was not allowed to continue swimming as an amateur because of his brief career as a professional boxer. Even competing in the same race as a professional threatened the loss of a swimmer's amateur status and chance to swim at the Olympics and other amateur competitions.

While amateur competition was the rule at most ocean baths, the Bronte Baths catered to professional swimmers and other members of the NSW League of swimmers, a rival body equivalent to the NSW Amateur Swimming Association. Rivalry between these two bodies was strong during World War I.

A separate NSW Ladies Amateur Swimming Association split from the NSW Amateur Swimming Association in 1906. From 1906 to 1912, male spectators were excluded from events associated with NSW Ladies Amateur Swimming Association. The practice was abandoned after it threatened the selection of Fanny Durack and Mina Wylie for the Australian swim team at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.

The 1920s saw emergence of a new sort of swimming club - a winter swimming club. Their popularity grew after WWII, especially at ocean pools. The clubs were less committed to ideals of amateurism and often strongly associated with a surf club.

Many swimming clubs developed strong links with local surf clubs and well as a strong commitment to providing learn-to-swim classes. Amateur swimming clubs based at the ocean baths also often pursued a range of water sports from swimming to diving, and in some cases water polo and synchronised swimming. The Bondi ASC has a long and strong association with water polo. A few clubs like the Merewether Ladies ASC and the Dee Why Ladies ASC offered their members additional activities ranging from fitness classes, dancing, mah-jong to march past competitions and basketball (netball) competitions. The Bondi Icebergs winter swimming club fielded a huge array of sporting teams.

Some specialised swimming clubs drew their membership from a particular occupation or were associated with community organisations such as RSL clubs.

In the 1960s, the NSW Women's and Men's Amateur Swimming Associations merged to form the NSW Amateur Swimming Association.

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