There has been a lot of discussion about the foul/fair call on SVB in the UK Open. He made a hit on the 3 ball that looked like a typical ticky situation.
For that particular position and paths of the balls, there were three possibilities that showed up in the discussion. Only the least probable could be considered a foul, and that was that the cue ball entered the cushion and was still in the cushion when it hit the 3 ball.
The current guidance to the ref for how to rule in such a situation is limited. Here is the only regulation that seems to apply:
A second area where the written guidance is not adequate in the current rules/regulations is about video review and other resources the referee might use in making a call. The only such guidance is for an area referee, not for a match referee, in Regulation 5, which reads in part:
While it is fairly standard in televised matches to review problematic calls by looking at the video recording, there is no guidance in the regulations for the referee to do so.
For that particular position and paths of the balls, there were three possibilities that showed up in the discussion. Only the least probable could be considered a foul, and that was that the cue ball entered the cushion and was still in the cushion when it hit the 3 ball.
The current guidance to the ref for how to rule in such a situation is limited. Here is the only regulation that seems to apply:
27. SPLIT HITS
If the cue ball strikes a legal object ball and a non-legal object ball at approximately the same instant, and it cannot be determined which ball was hit first, it will be assumed that the legal target was struck first.
This establishes a precedent that shots that cannot be decided clearly as to fair/foul are assumed to be fair. The discussion is limited to split hits -- which ball first situation -- but the idea can be extended to other situations where it is simply not possible to tell from observation or knowledge of the action of the balls whether a foul occurred.A second area where the written guidance is not adequate in the current rules/regulations is about video review and other resources the referee might use in making a call. The only such guidance is for an area referee, not for a match referee, in Regulation 5, which reads in part:
If a dispute arises between two players in an unrefereed match, and the area referee is asked to make a decision without having seen the cause of the dispute, he should be careful to understand the situation as completely as possible. This might include asking trusted witnesses, reviewing video tapes, or reenacting the shot. If the area referee is asked to determine whether a foul occurred and there is no evidence of the foul except the claim of one player while the other player claims that there was no foul, then it is assumed that no foul occurred.
While it is fairly standard in televised matches to review problematic calls by looking at the video recording, there is no guidance in the regulations for the referee to do so.
Last edited: