As internal conflict threatens the future of swimming in New Zealand, the Wanganui club has criticised an attempted regional takeover as "divisive".
Wanganui has refused to join a lobby group comprising half of New Zealand's 16 swimming regions and believes some of its suggestions would make the sport "a laughing stock".
The eight rebel regions - including Auckland, Canterbury, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Taranaki and Manawatu - have called for the board of Swimming New Zealand to resign en masse.
The pressure from the regions prompted Swimming NZ president and chairman Murray Coulter to quit four weeks ago, saying: "The behaviour of a vocal few have brought our sport into disrepute."
An attempt to remove the full eight-man board was planned for the sport's annual meeting on September 23 but the meeting was postponed as efforts were made to resolve the dispute.
Following Coulter's comments that "should Swimming NZ not stabilise its governance function, then it will become ungovernable", the Wanganui Swimming Club's board chairman Steve Ross has written to all the regions.
Ross will be at the re-arranged annual meeting in Wellington on October 30, when he will represent the Wanganui region and cast its one vote. In effect, the Wanganui and Wanganui East clubs make up the region, and the clubs have taken up the regional duties and responsibilities.
Ross said power was with the regions as they voted on six of the eight Swimming NZ board members. However, there was a debate over how much power the regions should have and a suggestion that swimming clubs should be the focus, with just four or five bigger regions handling administrative matters.
"We want to retain our identity as a club," he said. "We have taken over the functions of a region but we compete nationally as a club.
"We wouldn't want to become part of Manawatu, for example, because they have a regional focus rather than a club focus."
In his letter to the regions, Ross said Wanganui "favoured a club-centric approach to any reorganisation of the regions", pointing to the growing success of the Wanganui Swimming Club.
However, the rebel regions are not keen to relinquish power and have suggested elections from the floor of the annual meeting - or a subsequent special meeting - to replace the Swimming NZ board.
That idea cuts no ice with Ross.
"Electing new board members requires careful consideration of the contribution each of the nominees is able to offer ... that should not be a five-minute job," he said.
"Electing board members from the floor of an AGM or SGM would make us the laughing stock of the New Zealand sporting community."
He added: "Ultimatums from a part of the swimming community are divisive.
"Such a takeover should be done with the unanimous support of the regions and the swimming community. Obviously, the proposals do not have the support of a significant portion of the swimming community."
Accepting the need for change in the makeup of Swimming NZ, Ross called for sensible discussion and sensible compromise. That may now be happening as efforts go on behind the scenes prior to the re-arranged annual meeting.
Swimming NZ's acting chairman Ross Butler said "excellent progress" had been made in discussions between the board and the regions, coaches and teachers.
The outcome may be a review of the structure of the sport.
Swimming has been in turmoil since a damning report in June, initiated by sports funder Sparc, criticised its structure and methods at elite level. High performance coach Jan Cameron has already resigned in the wake of the criticism.