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IRVING VIEW:
PAR DISCRIMINATES AGAINST WOMEN

The rules of our sport, a sport played by both men and women, are under review. However nearly all the views in support of changing the scoring system for the whole sport come from men.

Those involved at club level know that there are players, both women and men, who pick up squash later in life and have limited technical ability. I imagine this holds true for most countries. The women in particular (from local A grade down) have said that Pro Scoring would without a doubt be the worst thing for them. It would all be over too quickly.

These are people with other professions who play squash for competitive enjoyment – like 95% of the world’s squash playing community – people who look forward to their weekly duel. For many it costs them a fee plus travel time and all in the hope that they get a good battle. They want their money's worth. They will feel ripped off financially and will not feel like making the effort if it is over too quickly. Such players are the base of every club. The top players are a very small minority.

 The junior level will also suffer. Kids will learn to give up rather than fight on and this is not the makings of growing the sport in the future.

Is the WSF prepared to be held accountable if clubs lose teams and also for the financial losses to clubs? Some clubs are totally reliant on league competition at all levels.

Is it really the scoring system that is ‘to blame’ for the game’s recent decline? It is worth looking back to the days when squash was the biggest participant sport in Australia, and 3.5 million people played squash in England. There were crowds of 3,500 at Wembley Conference Centre for the British Open. These were the great days of squash, when every match used traditional scoring and many were filled with drama and nail-biting comebacks.

"Pro Scoring" says it all. Leave it with the pros. Pro Scoring demands a cool head, technical ability and physical fitness. I know for sure that by making it compulsory we would lose a lot of people to the game at competitive club level. This will outweigh the small extra percentage that will start squash because the scoring system is ‘simpler’. And if we don't get into the Olympics 2016, what happens next? Is there a way back to the traditional game, to its

Liz Irving
World no.2 (1994-95)
Coach to World No.1 Nicol David

 

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