Squash League Rules

1. The League consists of divisions of five players and runs 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 is responsible for updating the club website with the match score.

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. (When taking games into account in a tie-break, a walkover counts as zero games for both ‘winner’ and ‘loser’).

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

7. The winner of each division (except division 1) will always be promoted.

8. In general, one player is demoted from each division each month. If new players are joining the league, or old players re-joining, then more than one player may be demoted.

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 league at the discretion of the league administrator.

10. Players may opt to drop out of the league 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 divisions. 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 – 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 league ‘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. For clarification on 13(b): if you have tried more than once to contact the other player
AND you have tried by both email and phone/text
AND your first attempt to make contact was before the last week of the month
- then it is fair to claim a walkover.

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

17. 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.

18. League matches do not take preference over casual bookings.

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

The following rules are being trialled from November 2011:

A. Players finishing second or third in their division, are guaranteed to not be demoted IF they have played all their matches. (Previously, it sometimes happened that players finishing third were demoted due to several new players joining the league that month). The guarantee will be achieved by temporarily increasing a division to six players. If that is still not sufficient, then either a challenge match will be played, or (ultimately) a coin tossed.

B. Whenever two team players happen to play a match in the league, it will automatically count as a challenge match for the purpose of altering positions on the teams ladder (order of merit). While this is being trialled, either player has the right to opt-out, but must state this before the match starts. The opt-out only applies for the one match. The winner has the responsibility for notifying the Teams Coordinator, so that the order of merit can be adjusted.