Some Lessons from Melbourne

We are Experiencing Behavioral Difficulties

By Rod Symington, W.S.F. Rules and Referees Committee

Photo by Steve Line/squashpics.com

Rod Symington is on the WSF Rules and Referees Committee and is a consultant on Rules and Refereeing to the USA. He has also been the Tournament Referee for, among others, the Women's Worlds, Pan Am Games, and Junior Men's and Women's Worlds. To contact Rod with questions or to enquire about clinics and his Squash Rules for Players, email him at symingto@uvic.ca

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What was billed as the largest squash event ever was held in Melbourne, Australia, in late 2001. Though the PSA event was cancelled (due to funding problems), the replacement “WSF Challenge” coupled with the Women's World Open and Men's Team Champs produced plenty of squash each day for refereeing gluttons—and plenty of “incidents” as well.

The Men's professional game still has a major image problem: there is far too much bad behavior that reflects badly on the sport in general and on the men's pro game in particular. The PSA claims to want to “clean the game up” and does, indeed, fine players from time to time for bad behavior. Credit must be given to the PSA authorities for their actions: last summer, for example, Jonathon Power uttered an audible obscenity during a televised match: on reviewing the tape, the PSA fined him. He appealed—and the fine was increased! However, both of the men's events in Melbourne took place under the auspices of the WSF, and any episodes of misconduct (of which there were many) were reported to the WSF (which has no direct jurisdiction over the players) and not the PSA—with the result that players could misbehave with virtual impunity.

Team events typically produce heated emotions and distorted judgments, and this was also the case in Melbourne. One team or the other is always going to believe that the refereeing is biased against its players. On several occasions I witnessed how a team would send someone from its entourage to stand beside the referee during a match. The opposing team, observing this, also sent someone to stand on the ref's other side! I guess you can't stop people from standing where they want to watch a game of squash, but these episodes certainly looked like an attempt at intimidation to me.

One of the most important lessons to emerge from these events was the absolute necessity for the referee to deal with bad behavior immediately at the first sign it appears. Allowing even one episode to go unpunished is a serious error. Referees often say to me after a match where there has been far too much bad behavior, “Oh, I didn't want to impose any conduct penalties in case the behavior got worse.” My response is always the same: “Because you didn't impose any conduct penalties, the behavior did get worse!”

Players (especially those at the top levels) are constantly testing the referee to see how far they can go: if the referee says nothing following an outburst, the player will move to the next level. Power is notorious for doing this, and in one match in Melbourne he outdid himself when he quickly realized that the referee a) did not understand what he was saying on court, and b) was not going to penalize him. (In a later match, however, as soon as the referee issued a conduct stroke against him, he behaved for the rest of the match.)

One of the most serious problems at the top level of squash (and something that inexperienced referees find hard to see) is blocking. Roger Flynn, a leading Australian coach, told our Referees School in Melbourne, “The best players are the best blockers.” We all know the requirement: after playing your shot you have to clear and give your opponent direct and unobstructed access to the ball. But what if a player is just a little slow in moving—that is, slower than he could move if he really tried—with the result that the opponent is slightly impeded in his access to the ball? There are always rumors on the PSA tour about this or that player who has the reputation of being slow to move off the ball, but it takes a very experienced referee to see what is happening on court.

There was one glaring episode in the Team Final in Melbourne that can serve as a model for all referees. In a very close match David Palmer (then the World No. 1, from Australia) was playing Kareem Darwish (former World Junior Champion and the Egyptian No. 1). Near the front of the court Palmer hit a loose shot back towards himself, and when Darwish went for the ball, Palmer stuck out his backside, knocking Darwish off his stride. “Conduct Stroke,” said the referee immediately, “for unnecessary physical contact. And Stroke also as the outcome of the rally.” Thus Darwish picked up two strokes in one rally (the score in that game went from 2-6 to 4-6). And there was no physical contact for the rest of the match.