Umpiring - Rule Interpretations

Rule interpretations received from National Umpires Andy Gilbert and Barbara Whittington.

Circles

Refers to Articles 6, 7, 9

1. There is some confusion that has arisen from the introduction of the plastic circle. The FIPJP congress is being asked to amend the rules so that all circles are measured from the inside. Also the measurement to the jack will also be made from the inside. It won't happen for a while and we'll advise when it all changes.

The Current practice is to measure the distance to the jack from the outside of the drawn circle and the inside of the plastic circle.

2. Measuring jack from circle: The entire jack must be within 6-10 metres when it is thrown in a seniors game. That translates as the measure for 6 metres would be to the nearest point of the jack and the measure for 10 metres would be to the farthest point of the jack. Using that as the norm would mean that the entire jack would be inside the required distances.

Note: The jack must be wholly within the piste and not any part of it on or over the lines that mark the piste.

3. Whether it is ok for one team to use a prefabricated circle and the other not during the same game - so that one team will be placing a plastic circle down when throwing, and the other team will be drawing one. This is ok. It is no different to one team drawing large circles and the other small ones, to suit their game.
4. Whether the heel of a foot can be over the edge of the circle if it is in the air. e.g. if people are crouching. No, the heel of a foot should be within the inner edge of the circle even if it is in the air. At the Oceania in Rotorua Andre Deramond (Australian National umpire, qualified at internation level) was most specific that an umpire should be watching for that specific type of foot fault and two players were pinged for that offence during the pointing competition.

Boules left on piste

Refers to Articles 15, 23.

1. The game commences when a valid throw of the jack is made at the first end.
2. After that, the one minute rule applies from when the previous end is complete and a new end should be started.

From these two points it could be comfortably assumed that once a valid throw of the jack has been made to start the first end, the terrain is live and in play.

Therefore, any boule placed on the ground on that live terrain could be considered as having been played. If the player drops it on the ground while in the circle, then it could be considered played. If it was dropped on the terrain before stepping into the circle, then it could be considered as being played from the wrong circle.

Yes it is a technical offence but it is still an offence and the umpire could call the player on it. It is of note than an opponent could also call the umpire over and demand the offending ball be moved out of play for the completion of the end in progress.

Losing the Point when Measuring

Refers to Article 27.

When the jack is moved during measuring. The team who moved the jack has to play next, but then everything goes back to normal. Note that the jack should always be able to be replaced where it originally was, as it should have been marked before measuring; so many of the what if scenarios we discussed will not arise.

Marking boules that enter another terrain

Refers to Articles 17, 21.

If a boule has been thrown/played/knocked into another lane it is common practice to mark its position and remove it so game can continue. However, it should be marked and removed by either the player or his/her team mates and NOT the players in that lane. Marking the boule should be by marking the 4 lines (cross). Drawing a circle around this mark is OK to identify that it is for boule from another game but all marks must be removed when the end is over.

Boules played out of turn

Refers to Articles 15, 25.

Interpretation would be that even if the boule was not holding, by agreeing that it was, the opponents had in effect declared it to be valid under Rule 23. At the end of the end, the boules could be measured, but not to determine whether the team had played out of turn, only to determine the current holding positions for points purposes.

Age limits

Refers to Article 7.

During an umpiring course in Australia someone raised this point with Mike Pegg. It seems every country has slightly different definitions, although most confirm to the French age limits which are: Minors –- up to 11 years, Cadets –- 12-15 years, Juniors –- 16-17 years and Seniors –- 18 and over.