What penalty points?

[muzicman147]

[QUOTE=APK;515475]tcollick,

What you may have missed is that you DO nominate a colour every time you play one.

You can nominate in 2 ways, declaration and direction.
A striker may verbally declare which ball he is 'on' or if the referee asks, he MUST declare.
Also every time you line up to play your shot, get down to the table and start feathering, you ARE nominating by direction.

So is this the same for a free ball ? Or should the player state which colour he intends to play ?

[Souwester]

If you look at the wording of the rules, it says that "A free ball is a ball which the striker nominates as the ball on when snookered after a foul (see Section 3 Rule 10)." (s2 r13). Given that Section 2 Rule 12 says that " A Nominated ball is the object ball which the striker declares, or indicates to the satisfaction of the referee, he undertakes to hit with the first impact of the cue-ball" then strictly I'd say that a player does not need to declare what colour he is choosing as his free ball, as long as it is obvious, in the same way that he doesn't declare which colour after potting a red, where the choice is obvious.

However, I don't think I've ever known a player not verbally declare his choice of free ball, and I'm sure there would be many referees who would wrongly call a foul if the player didn't do so. I think it's good practice for the avoidance of any doubt or argument!

[muzicman147]

I hope some of the Farnham & Aldershot league members read this !!!!
The amount of rows this rule has caused,where people refuse to call the colour and moan when you call a foul.

[The Statman]

If you look at the wording of the rules, it says that "A free ball is a ball which the striker nominates as the ball on when snookered after a foul (see Section 3 Rule 10)." (s2 r13). Given that Section 2 Rule 12 says that " A Nominated ball is the object ball which the striker declares, or indicates to the satisfaction of the referee, he undertakes to hit with the first impact of the cue-ball" then strictly I'd say that a player does not need to declare what colour he is choosing as his free ball, as long as it is obvious, in the same way that he doesn't declare which colour after potting a red, where the choice is obvious.

However, I don't think I've ever known a player not verbally declare his choice of free ball, and I'm sure there would be many referees who would wrongly call a foul if the player didn't do so. I think it's good practice for the avoidance of any doubt or argument!

Absolutely. It used to be the case that the free ball had to be verbally nominated and I have played a few older players who believed it still to be the case, but the rule was changed in 1973. I have before me a copy of the November 1973 issue of Snooker Scene, and an article on page 15 states:

"RULE CHANGE

As from December 1, players will not be required to nominate their colour when taking a free ball unless there is doubt over which ball the player is attempting.

In other words, this brings the nomination of a free ball in line with nominating after potting a red.

The amendment was introduced by the professional association for the 1973 World Championship and has now been adopted by the B&SCC for all games played under their rules."

In fact, although nearly 37 years have passed since this amendment, I have been called over to settle disputes between players younger than this length of time, where one thinks that verbal nomination of the free ball is necessary.

It isn't.