I have been watching the events unfold with respect to the controversy in the upcoming German and Dutch Open tournaments. Obviously as a parent of a competitive Canadian squash player, I am very disappointed with the ESF's decision in this matter.
In addition to the comments made by Mark Sachvie and others, I offer the following points:
- It is ironic that these tournaments require the national squash association of the respective players to confirm the player's ranking as a condition for tournament registration, yet the ESF does not recognize our national rankings, other than the European rankings.
- Although the North American players would obviously like to play in the main draws; at the very least the ESF should allow any ranking points earned in the consolation draws to be used towards a player earning a European ranking. By not allowing such, the North American players will not have any confidence or trust whatsoever in future ESF sponsored tournaments. Furthermore, how would it be possible to earn an ESF ranking if it is impossible to even gain any points via a consolation draw.
- The ESF has now opened the door for those of us involved in squash to develop a world junior ranking system as a result of this poorly thought out decision. I will do my part to lobby and contribute to such goal of a world junior ranking. The ESF has now also given the Canadian and U.S. national squash associations a reason to hold major junior open tournaments during the summer, which will compete with the summer ESF tournaments such as the Pioneer and Dutch Junior Opens.
In closing, I have been involved in junior sports programs for more than twenty-five years. I have seen other ill conceived decisions such as this one by the ESF in other sports that I have been involved with. At the end of the day, it is the players who suffer from such poorly thought out political decisions; and European players will undoubtly suffer as a result of potential retaliation from the national squash associations (via future tournament seeding decisions) who feel that they have been dealt with unfairly. Although the members of the ESF committee that made this decision may feel comfortable now with such decision, they will come to regret it when they realize the harm that it will have done to our sport.