ABOUT ME

I have been playing Squash since 1964, coaching since 1975 with an SRA coaching certificate and marking/refereeing since 1976 with an SRA marking and refereeing certificate having reached a playing standard of UK County Super League (top four counties).

I have an in-depth knowledge of the rules and 60 years of playing the game and that combination qualifies me to analyse playing incidents and comment on them in relation to the rules.

The depth of my experience, knowledge and interpretation of the squash rules was so respected by Mostafa Asal (World No. 3 at time of writing – May 2024), his family and his legal team employed me to be his expert witness in December 2022 for his defence at his appeal with the PSA against a ban. The length of the appeal process enabled Mostafa to become World No.1 in January 2023.

MORE ABOUT THE BANS

I mentioned in the “Home” introduction that different referees can legitimately make the three possible different decision, “Yes Let”, “No Let” and “Stroke” for any incident depending on how they interpret the situation and the players’ movements. This is particularly evident in the 6 decisions which saw Mostafa Asal banned from several months from professional play.

I have analysed the six incidents and found that it is quite possible to apply the rules and find that Mostafa Asal has committed no offence worthy of a “stroke” let alone a ban. If interested, you may read the analysis here.

My aim is to upload videos of incidents and to fully explore the relevant applicable rules.

However, ultimately, decisions made even when applying the rules, may vary with different markers/referees depending on how they interpret certain facets of the players movements and intentions.

So, generally, although I shall be giving my point of view, I shall not be asserting that it is absolute and may well give varying decisions based on how varying markers/referees view the incident - but always constrained by the relevant rules.