Squash rules

Squash league rules - 2019/2020 season

Schedule

The league is scheduled to run from October 2019 to May/June 2020, divided into a regular group stage and knockout play-offs.

There will be three or four group-stage rounds. Sixteen players will then qualify for the knockout stage.

Groups

All participants are divided into groups. Group and participant numbers will be arranged so that each group has six to nine players wherever possible.

Scheduled promotion and relegation.

After each round, the top two players in each group move up to the group above, except in the highest group. The bottom two move down to the group below, except in the lowest group.

Starting order within a group

For the first round of the season, players are allocated to groups based on their order in the final round of the previous season. New players are added alphabetically. For each subsequent round and the play-offs, the starting order is established as follows:

1 - players staying in the group take the leading places; 2 - players relegated from the group above take the next places; 3 - players promoted from the group below take the last places; 4 - players who have withdrawn are removed; 5 - further adjustments may be made where justified to complete group rosters.

New players normally join the lowest group. In exceptional cases, they may be allocated to a higher group with the agreement of the majority of players.

In each group-stage round, every player plays one match against every other player in their group. Players arrange their match times directly. If a match cannot be played at the agreed time, they may arrange another mutually convenient time within the period allocated for the round.

Scoring

Results are recorded on the designated form. Players receive one point for playing a match and one point for each game won.

If a match is not played because of the opponent, the player is awarded a walkover and five points; the opponent receives zero.

A player who completes every match in a round receives five bonus points. Wins by walkover count as completed matches for this purpose.

If a player withdraws during a round and has played at least half their matches, those results stand and the remaining matches are lost by walkover. Otherwise, their completed results are cancelled and all their matches are lost by walkover.

A player's position in their group for a round is based solely on points earned in that round.

Play-offs

The order of players entering the knockout stage is based on group order: Group A players first in their group order, followed by Group B players in their group order, and so on.

The order within each group is established after the final round under the rules given above.

The top 16 players from the group stage qualify for the knockout stage. If the 16th-placed player is tied on points with the player or players below, qualification is decided by a match or matches between them.

Once the qualifiers are known, players are paired first against last, second against second-last, and so on. In subsequent rounds, the winner of the first pairing faces the winner of the last pairing, the second faces the second-last, and so on. This continues until one player remains and becomes league champion. The players eliminated in the preceding round may play a match to decide third and fourth place.

Playing a match

Players book a court for one hour. The first five games count towards the match result. If they finish five games in less than an hour, they can use the court for the remainder of the booking. The match is played under the rules of squash.

The prescribed ball must be used unless both players agree on a different type before the match. The prescribed ball has one yellow dot from May to October and one red dot from November to April.

Players referee their own matches. If they disagree, a LET is always played, meaning the point is replayed.

Only matches played at Centrum Sportów Spokojna count towards the league standings. If there are reasonable grounds to suspect a recorded result is not from a match played at the venue, it may be removed and the players notified. Players entering results themselves should tell our receptionist that they have played a league match and identify both players. This avoids unnecessary uncertainty.

Please note!

If a player expects to be unable to play at least half their matches in a round, they should notify the organisers, for example due to health issues or travel. If they do not report this, or the reason is not considered sufficient, and they fail to play at least half their matches, the organiser may refuse their participation in future rounds.