"It's disappointing, well, it's devastating, actually.".
The closest squash courts were 30 minutes drive away and the club had been forced to cancel events including a junior tournament next weekend. The club has a growing membership, with more than 100 seniors and 25 juniors.
Past president Claude Shepherd said it had a "proud history" and had produced national champions.
"Those courts were built by the community, for the community," he said.
Both men said they wanted to reassure members they were working towards a contingency plan for the club.
A police spokeswoman said officers were talking to two 14-year-olds who had allegedly lit the blaze using paper and twigs on the veranda of the clubroom at the top of the adjoining grandstand.
The boys told police the wall of the clubhouse then accidentally caught alight and the pair tried unsuccessfully to stomp out the fire, which travelled up the wall and into the ceiling of the clubroom. The boys rang 111 and waited for emergency services to arrive. Charges had not yet been laid yesterday afternoon.
Pete Poharama had run the There's a Better Way Youth Group from the building for about a year.
"We were about to have a big celebration to celebrate one year in that building," he said. Each Friday afternoon Mr Poharama and his partner Teana Apiata opened the space to about 40 young people, feeding them, providing entertainment and a listening ear.
The fire had damaged the group's ping pong table, but the pool tables had survived.
"We're just doing what we do so the kids have something else to do other than, say, burning fires."
