Rules question about bridge

joepool said:

I have always thought that when using the bridge, you needed to keep a hand on the bridge. Today, in a league tournament, someone took their hand off the bridge and shot. There was a discussion and tournament director had the game be played over as they could find no rule about it. This is BCA 8 ball.
Is it a foul to take your hand off the bridge when shooting with it?

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I think you want to look at rule 1-3 "Use of Equipment" in the BCAPL rules. Then you have to make an interpretation of whether the wording "You may not use equipment or accessory items in a manner other than their intended use" applies to not holding the bridge handle. Then you have to decide what the penalty is because a standard for violation of 1-3 is not stated.

It was a mistake to replay the game. A decision should have been made at the time of the shot. I would have said that the player got no unfair benefit from what some (but not all) might possibly consider an unusual way to use the bridge. The same method is available to everyone who wants to use it.

In the BCA/WPA rules the only rule that might be applied is under Unsportsmanlike Conduct (6.17(h)) "using equipment inappropriately" which is a little nebulous. If the ref/TD feels that letting go of the bridge handle is not an appropriate way to use the bridge, then he should apply an appropriate penalty. I think the use is appropriate, but if not, then a simple warning seems like the right penalty.

If you watch snooker, you will see the following use of the bridge:

You need to get the cue up higher than usual to bridge over a ball and both balls are far from you. (Cue ball on the other side of the blue ball on a snooker table.) Grip the bridge very firmly with your left fist about a foot from the butt end. Place the knuckles of your fist on the table and twist so that the butt touches the cloth and the bridge head is elevated off the cloth. Such a shot was played in the current World Championships and I have seen Ronnie O'Sullivan use the technique. In my view such use is appropriate and the shooter gets no unfair benefit from using the bridge like that.

hang-the-9 said:

.... I think there is a foul situation when taking the hand off the bridge, and that it to take the hand off the bridge or cue when aiming/lining up the shot. Meaning if you put the bridge down at the shot line, then release it and walk around to look for the shot. I think it's because it is considered as being used for aiming. Same thing for the cue, you can't put it down on the table while aiming to walk around to look at the shot or angles, you need to keep the cue in your hand. ...

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At one time there was a special rule put into the BCA rules that said you could use your cue stick to align your shot only if you kept your hand on the stick. According to what I heard, this rule was against a specific player who would do things like place the stick along the bank line for a bank shot and then look at it from the other side. That rule has gone out of the CSI/BCAPL rules -- see page 24.

In the current WPA rules, a hand is required to be touching the cue stick when it is being used for shot alignment. I think that rule should go away and the player should be allowed to use his cue/hands/arms/etc in any way he chooses to align/measure a shot. The current rule causes too many nasty situations as above. Here is the WSR/WPA rule: