The league is run broadly speaking over a 4 week cycle.
You need to be able to play about 1 game a week on average. If you fail to play any games at all I may boot you out of the league. There are no designated times to play, you can play any time you want, play all the games on the first/last day if you like! I tend to offer the group a selection of possible times and hope you get a taker. Also, by prior mutual agreement, matches can take place anywhere, I believe there are other clubs that have primitive facilities. Players retain the right to decline offers to play further afield.
Scoring is by agreement at the start of the match (eg point-a-rally to 11 or 15, or standard scoring to 9), I recommend PAR to 11 because of time pressure.
Games are best of 5. scoring is currently:
3-0 - 7 points to the winner, 1 to the loser.
3-1 - 6 points to the winner, 2 to the loser.
3-2 - 5 points to the winner,
3 to the loser.
Incomplete matches:
2-2
- 3 points each
2-1
- 3 points to the winner, 2 to the loser
2-0
- 3 points to the winner, 1 to the loser
1-1
- 2 points each.
Promotion and relegation remains a dark art practiced only by me to arcane rules only I understand. You may want to stand back and wonder at the skilled way the rules (which are only understood by me) are exercised.
The box winner goes up 2 boxes, bottom of the pile goes down 2. Runner up in the box goes up 1 and second from bottom goes down 1, the sharp eyed amongst you will notice that this leaves only 1 player who stays put. There may be deviations from this rule to ensure each box has enough players, and to accommodate new players.
In promotion and relegation between Boxes 1 and 2 the Coolhurst Rule applies. This states that the third placed player in box 1 is measured against the second placed player in box 2. This allows for the possibility of a second promotion from Box 2. The player with the higher points total gets the top spot, level points means the status quo remains, both players must have played the same number of games.
It's the responsibility of the winner to inform me of the result via the online submission system, but I don't really mind who gets the result in provided it gets there.
In the event of a dispute over any part of any given match - I expect the participants to come to some agreement between themselves and present a unified course of action to the organiser.
Squash is not a contact sport, the club will not tolerate abusive behaviour. Players that fail to abide by the rules of squash or fail to respect the personal safety of their opponent will be asked to leave. This has never happened in the history of the club and I hope it never does, however the rule is upheld solely at the discretion of the league organiser with no requirement for justification or explanation.
Previously I have evolved complicated rules to judge the outcome of no-show /cancellation disputes, you can see an earlier version here. I've abandoned that plan now, it's tiresome to spend time raking through he said/she said scenarios. So there are no longer points awarded for walk overs, unless the players themselves agree to this. As with all conduct issues in the club, the overriding themes are respect and manners. So if, for example, a player agrees a game at such and such a time, common courtesy dictates that they be there or make significant efforts to explain their absence, and also to pay for the court, if it's unused.
If at all possible, re-arrange the match for a later time (the court fees should be paid by the no-show - or they could pay for the re-arranged match).
If a player is unavailable to play their matches either through injury, work or travel, they should withdraw from the cycle. This allows me to remove their scores from that box and avoid penalising those players who haven't managed to get a game organised. If you're out of action I expect you to tell me - and if this doesn't happen then I expect the others to tell me, and I will have to act accordingly. Players who neither play any matches nor can be bothered to tell me why, are very likely to be ejected.
For reasons I don't know the cycle starts and ends on a tuesday. I will accept results up to late wednesday night (I don't really mind if you privately arrange to play on that wednesday). But this deadline is absolute! If you send in a result at 6.00am thursday which would ensure your promotion - too bad! Special cases will be entertained on a case-by-case basis.
I'm delighted to tell you that 'better' as GLL management at the Sobell Centre is kindly offering the winners of each league a free court to be taken within the next cycle.