On 18 October 2014 the Annual General Meeting of the World Squash Federation approved a revised version of the Rules of Doubles Squash.
Since 12 of the 15 Rules are identical (or almost identical) to the Singles Rules squash players, referees and spectators will need to make very few adjustments. Only Rules 5 (The Serve), 8 (Interference) and 9 (Ball Hitting A Player) contain major differences from the Singles Rules. With regard to the principles of play, these Rules do not change the concepts already found in the current Rules. In fact, there is only one aspect that these revised Rules has attempted to clarify: the obligation of the outgoing striker or that striker’s partner to make an effort to avoid interference if the ball is struck and returns close to one of them (Rule 8.10). For the rest, the language has been simplified in order to clarify the complications that arise when four players are on the court.
The Annual General Meeting also approved the addition of an Annexure to the Rules of Singles Squash; this to advise coaching limitations and to allow the use of player analysis technology.
Both the new Singles Appendix and the full Doubles Rules become effective on 1 January 2015 and can be found athttp://www.worldsquash.org/ws/rules/rules-of-squash-2
We hope that these revised Rules will help to promote the understanding of them and encourage the growth of squash.
1.After the match can the supporters of the winning teams rushed into the court to hug the player before the referee announce the score?
2.what is the exact word to be used to stop the coach from coaching his player during the rally and what conduct to be given if he repeatedly doing the same?
Hi Henry,
The answers to your questions are as follows:
1) Technically, the supporters shouldn’t rush on to the court before the referee has called the score at the end of a match but there would be little point in the Referee doing anything about this from a conduct perspective as the match is over.
2) The correct procedure would be to say something along the lines of “Player A, you are receiving coaching from the gallery. If this continues, I will have no choice but to award a Conduct Stroke against you.” If the coaching then continues, the Referee would say “Conduct Player A, Stroke to Player B for receiving coaching.” If the coaching then continues, harsher penalties could be awarded and/or the person coaching could be removed from the court area.
I hope this answers your questions but please feel free to let us know if you have any more questions.
Kind regards
Ria Kennerley
On behalf of the Squash SA Refereeing Sub-Committee
Is a junior player allowed to stop the game briefly if they feel sick? I thought it would be similar to a nose bleed where they are given limited time to stop bleeding (have some water and feel better?) and then resume play. Obviously if they feel sick again later in the match then it would not be unreasonable for them to concede the match due to their illness. The point I’m getting to is that I think it is unreasonable not to give them a few minutes to gather themselves due to illness??
Hi Anne, according to rule 14 a player who feels sick during a game must either play on or concede the game in progress and use the 90 seconds to recover. If that’s not possible then the player has to concede the match.