Rules of Henley Squash Club

1. The Leagues consist of divisions of five players and run over a calendar month. At the end of each month, one player is promoted and one player is demoted from each division.

2. Matches are best of five games with 'traditional' scoring - that is first to 9 and only scoring on serve. At 8-all, the player reaching 8 first decides whether to play to 9 (Set 1) or 10 (Set 2).

3. Players score 1 point for playing, 1 point for each game won and 1 point for a victory. So in a match where the final score was 3-2 in games, the winner would score 5 points and the loser would score 3 points.

4. The winner has the responsibility for updating the club website with the match result. To do this, simply click on the 'Leagues' button and login using the password (supplied when joining the club). The website automatically calculates the points scored.

5. Final positions in each division are based on points. In the event of a tie, the winner of the head-to-head match finishes above the other player. After that, games won and then games lost would be taken into account to break any remaining ties.

6. All results should be registered by noon on the 1st of the month. The website will be updated with the new leagues shortly thereafter.

7. The winner of each division (except division 1) will always be promoted. If new players are joining the leagues, or old players re-joining, then divisions may temporarily consist of more than five players, rather than prevent a divisional winner from being promoted.

8. In general, one player is demoted from each division each month. Occasionally it may be necessary to demote more than one player to re-set the divisions to five players. Any players in a division containing more than five players can expect more than one player to be demoted at the end of the month.

9. Any player who plays no games in the month can expect to be demoted. This may mean more than one player being demoted and more than one player being promoted from the division below. Any player who plays no games for three months may be dropped from the leagues at the discretion of the league administrator.

10. Players may opt to drop out of the leagues for one or more months (for example over the summer, or due to injury). They should notify the league administrator as soon as possible so he can make an adjustment to the leagues. Re-joining players will normally enter one division below where they last played - except if they were division winners in their last month, in which case they would re-join in the same division.

11. New players will be placed in the division most appropriate to their level of ability at the discretion of the league administrator.

12. If a match is incomplete at the end of 45 minutes, the options are:
(a) Record the incomplete score if both players agree. In this situation, only completed games would be recorded - any incomplete game would be disregarded.
(b) Play a re-match. The re-match starts afresh at 0-0 in games, but the loser scores the number of games he got in the first match, OR the number of games he got in the re-match match - whichever is greater.
(c) If the reason for the incomplete match was one player arriving late, the on-time player can choose between having a re-match, or adding extra games to his incomplete score until he has 3 games. Similarly, if the match is incomplete due to injury, the non-injured player has the choice of a re-match, or making his score up to 3 games.

13. A walkover scores 4 points to the winner (as opposed to 5 points for a normal win) and no points for the loser (as opposed to at least 1 point for a normal loss). Circumstances in which a walkover should be claimed are:
(a) If a match is arranged and then one player has to pull out due to injury or personal circumstances and there is no possibility of re-arranging the match at a time convenient for the player who didn't pull out.
(b) If one player has tried several times to contact another player, but gets no reply, or if the other player cannot find time to play.
(c) A player plays some of his matches, but then is injured and cannot play for the rest of the month. He should inform his un-played opponents and they should claim walkovers.
The claimer of a walkover is responsible for updating the club website. Refer any dispute to the league administrator.

14. For clarification on rule 10 and rule 13(c): if a player withdraws from the leagues 'for the remainder of the month' due to injury, or for any other reason, then rule 10 applies if they have not yet played any matches and rule 13(c) applies if they have played some matches. In the case where they have not played any matches when withdrawing, there is no need for the other players to claim walkovers.

15. Division 6 players and above must use a double yellow dot ball for all matches.

16. Booking and payment of the court must be made by mutual agreement. The first person to arrive at reception will pay the fee and recoup half that fee from the opponent.

17. League matches do not take a preference over casual bookings.

18. Duncan Nightingale (email littlegogs@hotmail.com, tel 0789 973 1219) is the league administrator and his word is final.