Northerns loses appeal at Jarvis

DECISION OF THE APPEALS COMMITTEE OF SQUASH SA COMPRISING RICHARD ROBINSON (CHAIRMAN), GLYNIS PROSSER & ALLAN EDELSTEIN IN THE APPEAL OF FREE STATE SQUASH AGAINST THE DECISION OF THE JARVIS CUP DISPUTES COMMITTEE ON 14 JULY 2016

Date of Appeals Committee Hearing: 07 November 2016.

Having discussed the matter and considered the relevant documents, including the minutes of the Disputes Committee hearing on 14 July 2016, the Appeals Committee makes the following decision:

  1. The appeal is upheld
  2. The decision of the Jarvis Cup Dispute Committee against Free State in the Men’s A Section, as recorded in the minutes is set aside and all penalties are reversed;
  3. The original match result between Northerns & Free State in the Men’s A Section on 14 July 2016 is reinstated;
  4. Any penalties imposed on Free State “B” in the Men’s B Section Flowing from the decision in 2 above are reversed.

Reasons for the decision of the Appeals Committee are set out below:

  1. On 14 July 2016, the Disputes Committee found that the Free State Men’s team were in breach of Rule 11.6 of the Jarvis Cup Rules which states: “It shall be considered contrary to the spirit of the Tournament for any player who is injured or ill to play a match unless, despite such injury or illness, he/she is able to and does play to a standard that can be reasonably expected of him/her and is able to complete the match.”
  2. After considering representations of various parties the Disputes Committee concluded that John Kuhn (representing Free State at number 4) had started his match against Craig Ruane (representing Northerns) whilst suffering from an injury as contemplated by Clause 11.6 of the Rules.
  3. The Disputes Committee held further that because John Kuhn had played merely to preserve the order of the team (ie. Free State) they would forfeit the match between the number 5 players (which had in fact been won by Free State) and the overall result (which would have been 14 – 8 in favour of Free State) would now reflect that Northerns had won the match 14 – 6.
  4. The consequences of this decision were serious as it means that Free State will be relegated to a lower section in 2017.
  5. Free State squash appealed to Squash SA against the decision of Disputes Committee.
  6. A dispute exists as to whether John Kuhn had sustained a serious injury prior to the match commencing (as alleged by Northerns) or whether he sustained the injury when he bumped into his opponent during the first game of the match (as alleged by Free State).  The minutes do reflect the match referee’s comments that the players bumped into each other at the start of the match and this may have caused the injury.
  7. The absence of proper minutes, the Appeals Committee is unable to endorse the decision taken by the Disputes Committee as it is not clear as to what extent the relevant issues were raised and dealt with at the hearing. Consequently, Free State Squash should be given the benefit of the doubt that exists with regard to the physical condition of John Kuhn when the match in question commenced and whether the injury was sustained before or during the match.
  8. The Appeals Committee also noted that the match scorecard was signed off by both Captains without any indication that Northerns intended disputing the result recorded therein.  This creates an impression that both teams were satisfied with the outcome and that the complaint was lodged as an afterthought.  It is suggested that in the future, if a team has a grievance and is considering lodging a complaint, this should be noted on the scorecard eg. “Complaint to Dispute Committee pending – Rule 11.6 “Failure to do so will preclude any aggrieved party from lodging a complaint afterwards.