I think we need to understand history to gauge what’s happening. First there was the classic Corey Deuel soft break.
That led to the introduction of the 3 point rule where each ball going in a pocket or past the headstring counts as a point and you need 3 points to be compliant. That led people to assume a forceful break was needed. But players developed the skill to use a cut break to satisfy the three point rule, pocket the wired wing ball, dribble the 1 ball to sit in front of the corner pocket, and get a good bounce of the cueball off the side rail that almost always leaves a look at the 1. Last year’s Asian Open allowed this and it was a mockery of the game. Break and runs were too often and easy. Little actual “pool” was played.
And the game has evolved to 9 on the spot but really that same cut break is available. Break box makes it harder to accomplish and harder yet to control the cueball. Smaller break box furthers that effort. But it’s still possible to satisfy the 3 point rule and park the 1 in the corner. Cueball control isn’t easy but if you master that, you definitely can undermine the luck factor and make the game less interesting with less push outs/safeties, more break and runs, etc Maybe Alex wasn’t trying to do that. Maybe he just accidentally hit it too thin. Either way, the way those balls dribbled around and the 1 parked in the corner is too similar to a soft break. Players shouldn’t chase that outcome and even if a player stumbles upon it accidentally, it’s fair game for the ref to warn them not to chase it. And using Matchroom’s forceful break rule is a fair application. Because honestly what the ref did there was ensure the WPC was giving fans real pool to watch.
