NBL champ dunks on premier as facility shuttered

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Two-time NBL champion Anthony Stewart was close to tears as he described his basketball facility, Swisherr, in Hobart, being forced to close down.

“It’s pretty tough,” Stewart told WIN News in Tasmania.

“Nothing has meant as much as what this place has meant over the last five years for me.”

Stewart won two championships with the Perth Wildcats in 1995 and 2000, and scored more than 6,000 points in 17 seasons. He co-owns Swisherr with Adelaide 36ers NBL champion (2002) Mark Nash and former Tasmanian premier Chris Bartlett.

Why Swisherr is closing

• The venue is leased from the University of Tasmania (UTAS).
• In late 2024, UTAS decided to sell the building (“the shed”).
• That decision effectively forces Swisherr to wind up operations in its existing form.

It means

• Swisherr doesn’t own the facility: no control over its future.
• Once the building is sold: the lease ends or becomes unviable.
• Without a venue: the business model (courts, training, community space) collapses.

Stewart, 56, took direct aim at the Tasmanian government and Premier Jeremy Rockliff for not supporting Swisherr at a time when basketball is booming as one of Australia’s highest participation sports and facilities – a lack of – at a premium.

“When it’s your own community, with your own people and employing your own staff, they don’t really care. There is no care,” Stewart said.

“There’s no champagne or cheese or corporate boxes — it’s actually meaningful here.

“If Jeremy really cared, he would have been here on the weekend and engaging with the community, the parents and the families that were here.

“If you really cared, you’d come and check that out, wouldn’t you?

“Yeah, I’ve got no time for it anymore.”

A spokesman for the Tasmanian Government said: “There is no greater supporter of community sport than this Liberal Government.

“The Minister for Sport (Nick Duigan) met with Swisherr to discuss their plans, and they were encouraged to make a budget submission through the community consultation process.”

One proposal was a $5M investment in building 20 warehouse-style facilities to expand the academy, but the government rejected it because Swisherr is privately owned.

‘Ah, we can’t support you cause you’re privatised,’ and I’m like, well, hold on, you support AFL and the JackJumpers and other professional organisations — there’s no problems there,” Stewart bemused.

Stewart lamented the closure as each of the three owners' kids has grown up playing there.

“Just having that time with them on the floor every day — that’s probably the biggest thing I’ll miss,” he said.

Anthony’s son Tommy Stewart told WIN: “It’s helped me a lot because before this was here, I didn’t really have anywhere to shoot – not much training.

“But as soon as this came, I could just come in every single day, and it’s just helped me a long way.

Bartlett was equally emotional as Stewart.

“I wish my kids could be here with me, but I’ll be equally happy knowing that my kids – and hundreds, if not thousands of other kids — benefited from this place for the time I was here,” the former Premier said.

Academy participant Halley Maughan added: “It is very upsetting, I think. I don’t think it’s hit many people yet that it’s actually closing until the last day, when no one’s even allowed in anymore.”

In February, Basketball Australia released its strategic plan towards 2028, focusing on delivering key initiatives against five identified Strategic Pillars:

• Participation – Enhancing the experience of participants by making basketball safe, fun and accessible
• People – Recognising, supporting and developing the people who make basketball thrive, and building capability across the community
• Performing – Providing Australia’s basketballers and officials with opportunities to be their best on and off the court
• Leading – Delivering best-practice governance and strengthening how the sport operates and engages with its members
• Impact – Celebrating, promoting and growing basketball’s influence and connection with Australian culture.

BA said: “With participation demand at an all-time high and waitlists growing in many regions, the plan prioritises improving participation opportunities and experiences, while laying the groundwork for a long-term national facilities strategy to provide more places to play.”

Swisherr’s facility closure is a blow to that strategy.