Ref's Rule - May 2026

Two of the most important principles for squash are not actually within the body of the rules but in the “Introduction”.

Squash is played in a confined space, often at a high speed. Two principles are essential for orderly play: 

1. Safety: Players must always place safety first and not take any action that could endanger the opponent. 
2. Fair play: Players must respect the Officials and the opponent and play with honesty.

With these two principles in mind it is interesting to note that they only refer to the players.

Two parts of the rules which keep cropping up and I continually get quizzed on are the Warm-Up and Faults.

The Warm-Up

The players must have equal opportunities to strike the ball. A player retaining control of the ball for an unreasonable time is warming up unfairly and the Referee must apply Rule 14. (Conduct). 

The purpose of the Warm -Up is to warm the ball up to playing conditions.

The contentious point is 'what is an unreasonable time for a player to control the ball'. Is two times up and down the wall then a cross court to the opponent who then goes three times up and down the wall okay? The Referee has to decide.

Recently I have seen top level player hitting four and five times up and down the wall and then cross courting to their opponent. The opponent then does a similar exercise. Neither player seemed phased by this so should I, as the Referee, step in and say something? I will let you decide.

Faults

A serve is good if, at the time the server strikes the ball, one foot is in contact with the floor inside the service box with no part of that foot touching any boundary of that box. Sounds simple enough but it is left to the Marker and Referee to decide if it is a fault (foot fault).

It is a fine line between the foot dragging over the line at the time of striking the ball.

Definitely if the player commences with one foot on the service box line and the other foot outside the line, the call is easy to make.

Is there a better way to define a foot fault? 

When was the last time you heard a Fault (Foot Fault) called in high level matches?

Rule of the Month

Appendix 1 – Definitions

FURTHER ATTEMPT 

A subsequent attempt by the striker to serve or return a ball that is still in play, after having already made one or more attempts.

Note: Shaping (preparing) to play the ball on one side and then bringing the racket across the body to strike the ball on the other side is not a further attempt.

Quote for the Month

"I enjoyed the position I was in as a tennis player. I was to blame when I lost. I was to blame when I won. And I really like that, because I played soccer a lot too, and I couldn't stand it when I had to blame it on the goalkeeper."

-Roger Federer