Squash Club League
One group, one winter, every match scored from behind the back wall
A squash club league is a round robin played over the winter: everyone in the group meets everyone else once, the two players book a court themselves and the result goes into a shared table. In JudgeMate you run it as a match league for individual players. You set the match format once for the whole league, for example best of three games to 11, score each match on a board with let and stroke buttons and confirm the result into the table. There is no promotion between groups and no reminders.
From the sign-up sheet in October to the last match in March
October. The list goes up on the club noticeboard or in the members' chat. Eight to ten names make a workable single group. If the standards in the group are far apart, most matches end 2-0 and nobody learns much; run two leagues by level instead.
First week. You publish the fixtures and the table behind one link. Every player sees all opponents at once and can start arranging court times with them.
Through the winter. The two players fix the date between themselves. Ask them to bring a third member who sits behind the back wall and keeps the score on a phone. That is where the WSF seats its officials (rule 3.3), and it gives you a live score instead of a message the next morning.
Around Christmas. Leave a fortnight with no round. A group of ten needs nine rounds, and at one round every two weeks that is 18 weeks, so a break still fits between October and March.
The cut-off. Announce the last date in October, together with what happens to unplayed matches. A player who stops turning up can be withdrawn; their remaining matches go to the opponents as walkovers.
How many matches one group produces
A single round robin of n players has n(n−1)/2 matches. With an even number of players there are n−1 rounds; with an odd number there are n rounds and one player sits out each of them.
- 6 players: 15 matches, 5 rounds
- 8 players: 28 matches, 7 rounds
- 9 players: 36 matches, 9 rounds
- 10 players: 45 matches, 9 rounds
Squash needs one court and two players who agree on a time, so even the ten-player group runs alongside the club's normal bookings. Home and away rounds double everything: eight players then play 56 matches in 14 rounds, which suits a club that wants a league night every week.
Best of three or best of five games
Under the World Squash Singles Rules 2025, a match is normally best of five games but may be best of three (rule 2.3). Each game goes to 11, and at 10-all play continues until one player leads by two points (rule 2.2). Since 1 September 2025 PAR-11 is the only scoring system in the WSF rules; the PAR-15 and hand-in/hand-out alternatives were removed.
A new squash league in JudgeMate starts at best of five games to 11. Over nine league matches per player, best of three keeps each evening shorter, and best of five is closer to tournament squash. In the format step:
- Sets to win: 2 means best of three, 3 means best of five. The app calls games sets.
- Points per set: leave it at 11 (rule 2.2).
The two-point margin at 10-all is always on. You can change the format later in the league settings, and a single match can override it, for example a best-of-five decider in the last round.
Scoring the match on court
Open the match in the league and tap Start live scoring. Send the Judge link to whoever sits behind the back wall. They score rally by rally on a phone, without an account.
The squash board has buttons for the calls that change a rally:
- Let logs the decision and leaves the score as it was; the rally is replayed.
- Stroke gives the rally, and the point, to the player it is awarded to.
- There is no No let button. After a no let the marker adds the point to the opponent with the normal point button.
The rally winner serves next, also at the start of the following game (rule 2.1). The board has no warm-up or between-games timer and no counter for video review requests.
A match played on the free squash scoreboard without opening the league first can still count. Signed in, use Add to a league in the board's admin panel, or later from that scoreboard in your dashboard. JudgeMate creates the players from the names typed on the board, so a misspelt name becomes a second player; join the two in the Participants tab with Merge. A board attached to a league does not expire. A board made without an account and never attached is deleted seven days after it was created.
From the court to the table
In the league module the table changes only when an organiser confirms a result: you or a co-organiser, each with a JudgeMate account. When a match ends on the board, the Next step bar above the league tabs puts it first, ahead of matches in progress and matches not yet played, with Confirm result.
If the players forgot the board, one of them sends you the score and you add it with Enter result manually.
The two routes differ in one detail. A match kept on the board carries the rally points of every game. A manual result carries games only. The points-ratio criterion compares rally points only if every confirmed match in the league has them, so one hand-typed result turns that criterion back into games for the whole table. In a league where rally points may separate two players, ask for every match on the board.
Points in the table
A squash league table counts in games (sets in the app) and starts with 3/2/1/0 points by set margin. In best of three that means 3 points for a 2-0 win, 2 for a 2-1 win, 1 for a 1-2 loss and 0 for a 0-2 loss. A player who takes a game off the leader still scores.
Switch it off and the table gives 2 points for a win and 1 for a loss.
Players level on points are separated in one of two orders, chosen under Tie-break order: head-to-head, then set ratio, then points ratio; or set ratio, then points ratio, then head-to-head. Changing the order later reorders the whole table, rounds already played included.
A walkover in a best-of-three league enters as 2-0 in games.
How the order compares with WSF regulation P9
The WSF has no regulation for club leagues. The nearest written order is regulation P9 of the World Squash Championship Regulations 2025 (V11.4), which ranks teams in round-robin pools at world team championships. Read for single players, it goes:
- more wins;
- two players level: the match between them;
- three or more level: more matches won, then the difference between games won and lost, then the difference between points won and lost, returning to the match between the two whenever only two remain level;
- finally, a draw of lots.
JudgeMate does not rank exactly by P9:
- With 3/2/1/0 on, a 2-0 win is worth more than a 2-1 win. P9 only asks who won. With it off, 2 for a win and 1 for a loss follows the number of wins as long as everyone has played the same number of matches.
- The tie-break compares ratios (games won divided by games lost). P9 uses differences, and the two can order the same players differently.
- Head-to-head in JudgeMate is a mini-table of everyone level on points, also when three or more are level.
- There is no draw of lots.
The closest setting to P9 is 3/2/1/0 switched off with Head-to-head first, then set ratio. If your club rules quote P9, check the top of the table by hand before you close the season.
Setting up the league
Allow 15 to 20 minutes once the list is closed. A league needs a JudgeMate account.
- Open New league, choose League matches and Squash. Entries in squash are single players, no roster.
- Name the league, add the season ("Winter 2026/27") and choose Public so members can read the table without signing in.
- In the format step set Sets to win to 2 and keep Points per set at 11. Decide on 3/2/1/0 and the tie-break order.
- Under Table zones you can colour, say, the top two and the bottom two places. Zones only colour the table and never move anyone.
- Add the players and tap Generate schedule. Dates are set per match, so give each round a two-week window.
- Export the schedule as PDF for the noticeboard and share the league link in the members' chat.
From then on the Next step bar tells you what is due: a result waiting for confirmation, the next match to play and, when every match is confirmed, End season.
Match league or event series
JudgeMate has two kinds of league.
League matches is the one on this page: a fixed group meeting one on one, a fixture list, a scoreboard per match and a table.
An Event series links separate events and adds up placement points across them, 100 for first, 80 for second and 65 for third by default, optionally counting only each player's best results. That is how a skate league or a bouldering league runs: a cycle of competitions with one ranking for the season. In squash it fits a club that holds a one-day tournament with a draw every month and wants a winter ranking from those tournaments.
Rules disputes on the night are covered in how squash scoring works.
What the league does not do
- No promotion or relegation. One league is one group, and nothing moves between leagues at the end of the season. Monthly boxes with movement up and down are described in the squash box league guide; in JudgeMate each box would be its own league and you move players by hand.
- No challenge ladder. The league is a round robin, optionally with home and away rounds.
- No reminders. JudgeMate sends no email, SMS or push messages and does not book courts.
- No scores entered by players. They keep score live through the judge link, and the result counts once an organiser confirms it.
- No federation ranking. Results do not reach the PZSQ or DSQV rankings or the PSA.
- No referee timers. There is no countdown for the warm-up or the interval between games.
Set up your event
Free for organizers. No athlete cap. No commission on registrations. See squash features · Organizer guide