Retro Relay Doubles – Rules of Play

Teams must stay within the values set on the entry forms:

• Section A: minimum league value of 15
• Section B: minimum value of 40
• Section C: minimum value of 60
• Section D: teams stay as divided up

Each relay match is a 5-minute warm-up and 60 minutes of play. Play until the bell rings, and finish the point in progress when it does.

You have 4 players, so decide your playing order before the match starts and stick to it. For example:

• Player 1 (John) starts with Player 2 (Mike). They play until the team reaches 10 points. Then John leaves and Dave (Player 3) joins Mike until 20 points. Then Mike leaves and Paul joins until 30 points. Dave leaves, and Paul plays with John. The cycle continues, switching every 10 points: 1 & 2, 2 & 3, 3 & 4, 4 & 1, and so on. The other team does the same.

Every 10 points, circle the match point on the score sheet: those are the ones that count. For example, if the match points are 14–14 but one team has the higher total points (148–143), that team gets a 2-point bonus, and the final score is 16–14. If total points are tied (145–145), each team gets 1 bonus point, making it 15–15.

In round robin formats, total match points decide the winners. If two teams are tied, it goes to the result between them. If more than two teams are tied, it goes to the team with the most total points across all their matches.

The clock doesn’t stop, so be ready if you’re on next. Get the previous team off court and start your 5-minute warm-up: 2½ minutes per team, drive-and-boast, two at the front and two at the back. When the bell rings, it’s game on.

Use of reserves

If you use a reserve, your team’s value can’t drop below the section minimum (for example, 15 for section A). Every point below the minimum is a 1-point penalty. If your team is worth 13 and the minimum is 15, you take a 2-point penalty, written at the bottom of the score sheet.

The same applies if a player is injured during or just before a match: find a reserve as soon as possible. If you’re left with 3 players, you rotate with 3, and the missing 4th player is given the average of the other three. For example, players in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th leagues average 3, so the team total is 2 + 3 + 4 + 3 = 12, and a 3-point penalty applies.

Formats for each section

• Section A: 2 pools of 5 teams. You play the other teams in your pool (4 matches), then Sunday playoffs: pool winners play for 1st and 2nd, the two 2nd-placed teams play for 3rd and 4th, and so on. Everyone plays 5 matches.
• Section B: same format as section A, with 10 teams in 2 pools. Everyone plays 5 matches.
• Section C: 2 pools of 4 teams. You play the other teams in your pool (3 matches), then knockouts: the winner of pool 1 plays 2nd in pool 2, and 2nd in pool 1 plays the winner of pool 2, as semi-finals for 1st to 4th (and the same for 5th to 8th). Sunday is finals day for every position. Everyone plays 5 matches.
• Section D: 6 teams in a round robin. Everyone plays 5 matches.

Retro Olympics

Alongside the squash, we’re running a Retro Olympics to mark the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Friday 26 July. It’s 5 or 6 events held after your matches in each session, with an overall leaderboard for all 34 teams. Sunday’s prize-giving includes a medal ceremony, complete with podium and anthems.

To prepare, look up “Minute to Win It” games to see what to practise, and maybe a boat race drinking game.

Example score sheet