The league is run with the spirit of social competitiveness. We look forward to our league games because we enjoy playing squash, we enjoy the competition and we enjoy catching up socially afterwards.

We should also be aware that we are advertising our sport. Quite often, especially for the Premier division matches, there are people watching from the balcony who are new to squash and finding out what it's all about. We need to be putting on a bit of a show...

Unfortunately, it can get a bit intense inside those four walls and a player can lose their cool. We appreciate that this is an ameteur league but the sorts of behaviour we do not accept are:

• Racket throwing
• Excessive shouting
• Pushing, shoving or excessive physical contact
• Threatening behaviour
• Excessive swearing
• Arguing with the referee
• Kicking or slamming the door
• Anything that might bring our sport into disrepute

If you see a player exhibiting this sort of behaviour, it is within your right to complain. The following is the complaints proceedure.

• A complaint must be made in writing (email) to the league secretary or the chairman within 7 days of the incident
• The complaint will be acknowledged as soon as it is received
• The complaint will be reviewed by both the league secretary and the chairman and, potentially, other members of the committee
• Based on the details of the complaint, statements will be sought from a reasonable number of those present at the time. In particular from the player involved, the referee and both captains. Independent statements will also be sought where possible. This will hopefullybe done within seven days of receiving the complaint.
• The league secretary and chairman will review the statements, bringing in other committee members if appropriate.
• Consideration will be given to the circumstances and any history the player may have. Repeat offenders will be viewed dimly.
• A decision will be made to uphold the complaint or not and, if so, what action should be taken
• The decision will be communicated to the player, both team captains and the person who raised the complaint

The action decided will be based on the severity of the incident and any history and will mostly likely be one of the following

• A written warning
• A ban of one or more matches
• A ban for the rest of the season

At the descretion of the committee, the player may also be reported to England Squash so their behaviour will be recorded more formally. This will only be under exceptional circumstances though.

Note if the player has caused damage, such as a broken door, then they will be expected to pay for the repairs.

Appeals

The player will have the right to appeal and must do so within seven days of the decision being communicated to them. They will need to bring new evidence beyond what has already been provided and be convincing because the decision will already have been made by the committee and there isn't a higher authority in the county to go to.

Beyond that, the player can appeal to England Squash though the incident will only have been reported to them in extreme circumstances. England Squash do not take on appeals unless the player has been excluded from their league for at least 4 weeks.

The England Squash code of coduct can be found here. Their appeals process is covered in section 9.3.

https://data.englandsquash.com/files?fileName=bbe8360c-62d6-4f54-a07a-74c945844e2c.pdf

Other complaints

Note, although this complaints procedure is aimed at player behaviour, it can also be used for any other complaint such as:

• Reporting unfair refereeing
• Disagreeing with the league secretary on a league matter. In this case, the league secretary will not be part of the complaints process
• Any other incident related to squash in Avon county that should be followed up at the county level

This process does not replace the current, informal, 'ask the league secretary' process that is used frequently throughout the league. It is specifically for serious cases where the game is being brought into disrepute.