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By Rod Symington, W.S.F. Referees and Rules 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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If I had a dollar for every time I have been asked that question, I could buy a mansion in Florida and retire! The problem for most Referees is caused by the way in which Rule 17 (which governs conduct) is written: The Rule is intentionally flexible in order to allow the Referee to apply the appropriate penalty depending on the circumstances.
However, for most Referees this flexibility leaves them floundering in indecisiveness: “What should I do if a player deliberately breaks his racquet? Or swears at the Referee? Or hits the ball in anger into the gallery?” And so on.
What most inexperienced Referees would prefer is a table of offenses and penalties that they could refer to—X type of behavior is penalized by Y type of penalty. Unfortunately, life on the squash court isn’t so simple. The circumstances are always changing, and—just as in a court of law—what is called for is wise judgment.
Nevertheless, it is possible to give struggling Referees some sentencing guidelines. Below are some suggestions on how to react to various categories of bad conduct on court. Please note that these suggestions are not written in stone. They should not be followed slavishly, but rather used as a basis for reaching an appropriate judgment of the situation.
The first thing every Referee must realize is that if bad conduct occurs, the match Referee must take action: That is prescribed by the Rules. Of course, the Referee does have the discretion to decide initially whether or not bad conduct has taken place (and in some instances diplomatic blindness or deafness might be advisable), but once the Referee has determined that a conduct offense has taken place, the Rules state that the Referee must act.
In the 1994 British Open first round, Anthony Hill (R)
was awarded a Conduct Match after being head-
butted by Pakistan's Mir Zaman Gul—a severe example
of "unsporting conduct." Photo by SquashPics.com.
Here, then, are the guidelines:
•Abuse of equipment:
•Minor offense (e.g. throwing the racquet onto to floor after losing a game, hitting the ball hard after the rally is over): Conduct Warning
•Major offense (e.g. deliberately breaking the racquet; smashing the racquet against the wall; hitting the ball or throwing the racquet out of the court): Conduct Stroke
Audible or Visible Obscenity:
•Minor offense (e.g. muttered expletive; blaspheming): Conduct Warning
•Major offense (e.g. audible obscenity): Conduct Stroke
•Time-wasting:
•Minor offense (e.g. a few seconds late back on court; taking excessive time to serve): Conduct Warning
•Major offense (e.g. very late back on court; prolonged discussion with Referee): Conduct Stroke
Dissent (to Referee’s decision):
•Minor offense (e.g. disagreeing with a decision): Conduct Warning
•Major offense (e.g. prolonged or repeated questioning of or disagreement with decisions): Conduct Stroke
Abuse of Official:
•Minor offense (e.g. unflattering comments about official or decisions): Conduct Warning
•Major offense (e.g. pejorative comments about official or decisions): Conduct Stroke
•Severe offense (e.g. hitting ball at official or into spectators; throwing racquet at official or into spectators): Conduct Game or Match (depending on the severity of the offense and the danger caused)
Excessive physical contact:
•Minor offense (e.g. running into the opponent): Conduct warning
•Major offense (e.g. physical abuse of the opponent): Conduct Stroke
•Severe offense (e.g. deliberately injuring the opponent; dangerous play that injures the opponent): Conduct Game or Match (depending on the severity of the offense and the extent of the injury caused)
Unsporting conduct:
•Minor offense (e.g. making negative comments to the opponent): Conduct Warning
•Major offense (e.g. repeated negative or pejorative comments to the opponent; any attempt at intimidation of the opponent): Conduct Stroke
•Severe offense (e.g. extreme behavior that brings the game into disrepute): Conduct Game or Match (depending on the severity of the offense)
Coaching:
•First occurrence: Conduct Warning
•Second occurrence: Conduct Stroke and expulsion of offending person
•Repeated and excessive bad conduct:
When, in the Referee’s opinion, the player is guilty of repeated acts of unacceptable conduct on court following the imposition of the penalties outlined above, the Referee may impose for the next occurrence of the offense either the same penalty, or a more severe penalty than the one already imposed. However, if a Conduct Warning has been given for both the first and the second offenses, for the third offense of a similar nature, a Conduct Stroke should be applied. (Example: If a player has received a Conduct Warning for Dissent, on the next occurrence of this offense, either a Conduct Warning or a Conduct Stroke may be imposed. On the third occurrence, however, a Conduct Stroke should definitely be awarded.)
A final note: It is essential that Referees take immediate action to control bad conduct, both for the good of the game in general and for the further course of the match. If you do not do anything when a player misbehaves, you are sending a message that such conduct is acceptable—and the player’s conduct will very likely get worse and you will look foolish and weak. |
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Feb 2008
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