I ran into a BCA senior referee at the Super Billiards Expo in Valley Forge, and he told me that they were going to be testing tips over the next few weeks, and he had done some unofficial testing on his own. According to his tests, the Samsara tip would not be legal in May. According to this person, the Samsara tip is a leather tip that is soaked in resin, so ends up being just as hard as resin. The test that will be performed is to see if a pin is able to puncture the surface of the tip...
Predator (and all) -
BCAPL referees do not make any rules policy for the BCAPL, nor are they involved in any testing performed by the BCAPL. All interpretations, decisions, and testing are the sole responsibility of the BCAPL National Office staff.
I will discuss this issue with the National Office ASAP. While it is certainly never my intention to ever throw a colleague under the bus, I am also charged with ensuring BCAPL referees do not act outside of their capacity regarding a BCAPL issue. That having been said, I feel safe in predicting that any information you believe you obtained from a BCAPL referee regarding the decision on the Samsara tip was purely speculative, not official, and likely misinformed. (If I am wrong, by the way, I will gladly eat crow.:smile
The disclaimers in my signature pertain. If your information was from a referee of a different organization, or referencing WSR instead of BCAPL, then it's anyone's guess.
I will also try to determine if a final decision has been made on the Samsara tips in question. As of COB 3/29/10, to my knowledge they were being considered legal. I will report further tomorrow.
Buddy Eick
BCAPL National Head Referee
BCAPL Director of Referee Training
Technical Editor, BCAPL Rule Book
bcapl_referee@cox.net
Find the Official Rules of the BCA Pool League here:
http://www.playbca.com/Downloads/Rulebook/CompleteRulebook/tabid/372/Default.aspx
* The contents of this post refer to BCA Pool League (BCAPL) Rules only. The BCAPL National Office has authorized me to act in an official capacity regarding questions about BCAPL Rules matters in public forums.
* Neither I nor any BCAPL referee make any policy decisions regarding BCAPL Rules. Any and all decisions, interpretations, or Applied Rulings are made by the BCAPL National Office and are solely their responsibility. BCAPL referees are enforcers of rules, not legislators. BCAPL Rules 9.5.3 and 9.5.4 apply.
* No reference to, inference concerning, or comment on any other set of rules (WPA, APA, VNEA, TAP, or any other set of rules, public or private) is intended or should be derived from this post unless specifically stated.
* For General Rules, 8-Ball, 9-Ball, 10-Ball, and 14.1 Continuous: there is no such thing as "BCA Rules" other than in the sense that the Billiard Congress of America (BCA) publishes various rules, including the World Pool-Billiard Association's "World Standardized Rules" for those games. The BCA does not edit, nor is responsible for the content of, the World Standardized Rules. The Official Rules of the BCAPL is a separate and independent set of rules and, to avoid confusion, should not be referred to as "BCA Rules".
* Since 2004, there is no such thing as a "BCA Referee". The BCA no longer has any program to train, certify or sanction billiards referees or officials.
* The BCAPL has no association with the Billiard Congress of America other than in their capacity as a member of the BCA.
* The BCAPL has not addressed every imaginable rules issue, nor will it ever likely be able to, as evidenced by the seemingly endless situations that people dream up or that (more frequently) actually happen. If I do not have the answer to a question I will tell you so, then I will get a ruling from the BCAPL National Office and get back to you as soon as I can. If deemed necessary, the BCAPL will then add the ruling to the "Applied Rulings" section of The Official Rules of the BCA Pool League.