Modern Reffing by Ted Gross November 25, 2018
- This is wild, unfounded speculation - but I wouldn't be shocked if
the PSA powers and the refs got together a few years ago and decided
the best way to limit stoppages is to make unpredictable calls.
I watched several Hong Kong Open matches and gave it my best effort,
but I couldn't get a handle on the modern reffing interpretations.
Sorry - there are certain balls in the sport of squash that are a let, and will always be a let.
Not a stroke, not a no-let because the player took the 'wrong line'--none of that BS--but a classic let-ball.
Apparently under the new interpretations, the 'right line' is not
necessarily the line of best access to the ball, but the line that
avoids stopping play - even if that means forcing the pending striker
from what would have been a solid position to a defensive one.
Right now, the fact is players are rewarded for blocking - and maybe
that's okay in the view of the PSA, since that interpretation does
likely result in fewer stoppages.
What I'm seeing though is a version of the short-lived but obviously
influential 'no-let'-based Pro Squash Tour (PST), where players are
afraid to call lets because of the unpredictability of the resulting
calls.
So if the PSA and the refs really did get together a few years ago and
agree to make strange calls to keep the players off-balance--that part
is probably working.
Tough on the paying crowd though to get a grip on what's going on out
there - tough on veteran players as well, to avoid head-scratching.
One thing the PSA shouldn't be worried about is the IOC - and my sense
is the new interpretations are in place at least partly for the IOC's
benefit, to showcase a sport that doesn't excessively replay points.
I'd forget the IOC and do it right. Unless we change the rules to where
players are only allowed to hit crosscourts, there will always be lets
in squash.
