Should I Interfere?
Refs and Players Take Note
By Rod Symington, W.S.F. Rules and Referees Committee
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|  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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This month’s column was triggered by an e-mail I received with a commonly asked question:
This situation has come up time and again in our local squash league play. Some players, after calling for a let, rather than stop play will then hit (or tap) the ball anyway. I suppose it is their way of showing that they could reach the ball. On occasion, they don’t have control to stop after calling for a let, and hit the ball after their opponent has cleared, which suggests there may not have been interference in the first place. They don’t endanger their opponents and (usually) these after-the-fact shots are good.
Question: What discretion (if any) does a referee have to award a let even though the player has continued on (even if innocently)—assuming a let was the proper decision at the moment that play had supposedly stopped with the calling of a let?
The answer in a nutshell:
1. A call of “let” stops play—in all instances.
2. The Referee makes a judgement about the request for a let at the precise moment that “let” was called.
3. What happens after the call of “let” is irrelevant to that decision.
4. However, if the player, having called “let,” continues and hits the ball, the Referee must warn the player not to do that—for reasons of safety. Hearing the call of “let,” the opponent has probably relaxed and could well have stopped moving—whereupon the swing of the racquet or the ball might hit him/her. Note: this warning does not affect the decision about the let call.
5. Players do, indeed, sometimes carry on and place their racquet on the ball, to show the Referee that they would have been able to reach it. This is okay, as long as they do not hit the ball with any force. If they do, a warning is, as noted above, the correct procedure.
6. There is no excuse, “I wasn’t in control of my shot, etc.” As a squash player—at any level—you have to be able to control yourself in such situations. It’s no different from stopping yourself from running into someone hard when you want to call let. The latter is not allowed, and neither is hitting the ball after calling “let.” A player who did not stop play, but hit the ball when his opponent was in line with a shot to the front wall would get a stern warning from the Referee—and the excuse “I couldn’t control myself” would fall on deaf ears. So will any excuse of not being able to stop yourself following a call of “let.” The call of “let” should automatically trigger in the player’s mind and body the absolute need to stop play in every respect.
7. A player who plays through the interference and plays the ball should be left alone—unless his play is dangerous. He may play through interference 100 times—and then choose on the 101st occasion to stop and call “let.” The job of the Referee is to judge that situation independently: the player’s past behavior is irrelevant.
8. However, a Referee must always be on guard against excessive physical or dangerous play. If a player is barging through an opponent to get to and play the ball, the correct thing for the Referee to do would be to say to the player: “Your play is becoming too physical. When you encounter interference, I want you to stop play and ask for a let. I don’t want you to barge into your opponent any more—that is dangerous play and it must stop.” In general, too many referees fail to stop excessive physical contact early enough in a match. Frequently, the failure to stop excessive physical play results in even more physical contact—and an ugly match develops.
It should be obvious that the above advice is not merely aimed at referees: it is also directed to players who are reading this. Govern yourselves accordingly! |
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