“I am dismayed to see traditional NSW Labor Government standover activity extended to the assessment of grant applications from sport and community clubs,” said Mr Aplin.

“I have raised the matter in Parliament and called on the Minister for Sport and Recreation to take action and to reassure country tennis clubs that their applications will be assessed on merit alone.

“Both the Henty Park Tennis Club and the Corowa Lawn Tennis Club contacted me and provided a copy of a letter sent to them by the General Manager of Tennis NSW advising that Tennis NSW had been invited to be part of the panel which assesses applications for CAP grants.

“The letter then informs clubs as follows:

I write to formally advise you that Tennis NSW will not support applications received from clubs who are not affiliated with Tennis NSW and do not support mandatory player registration.....

“Understandably, non-affiliated tennis clubs have found this letter extremely concerning and have seen it as a form of ‘blackmail’,” said Mr Aplin.

“We have in excess of 120 members which represents 10 percent of Henty’s population,” Henty Tennis club president James Male said.

“Based on the membership list, it would cost us in excess of $11,000 to be affiliated with Tennis NSW,” he explained.

“Applications for financial assistance through a State Department program should be judged on merit not on the basis of affiliation with a body which also sits on the selection panel,” Mr Aplin said.