Meaning of Rule 12(d)(iii)

[jacobite1]

Hi,

I'm trying to work out what Rule 12 Penalties, part (d)(iii) means:

"(d) A penalty of seven points is incurred if the striker
...
(iii) plays at Reds, or a free ball followed by a Red, in successive strokes,"

I understand the first part, that if you go for a red after potting a red, it's a foul 7; but why is "a free ball followed by a Red" a foul if the free ball was in place of a colour? Or does the second bit mean playing at a a free-ball-as-red, followed by another red (though it doesn't say that)?

Cheers from a newbie interested in refereeing and rules,

Jacobite

[DeanH]

Or does the second bit mean playing at a a free-ball-as-red, followed by another red (though it doesn't say that)?

Correct, if a red ball is played after a free ball is played, Foul, 7 points.
And it does say that:

(iii) plays at Reds, or a free ball followed by a Red, in successive strokes

[cantpotforshíte]

I think I know what you're thinking Jacobite ... But it doesn't have to say 'free-ball-as-red' because the only time that you can take a free ball as a colour is when you're on the colours (yellow, green, brown etc). Obviously if you've nominated the pink ball as a yellow for instance, it can't be followed by a red because there aren't any reds left on the table.

[jacobite1]

Thanks for that. I was being thick - I was thinking about what happens when the free ball is a colour, but that can only happen when all the reds are off the table, of course. Sanity comes to visit again :-)

[jacobite1]

And a spotter's badge to cantpotfor****e for identifying my leap-of-logic brain-burp :-)

It seems a nightmare trying to imagine all the possible configurations where the rules might apply.