Right or wrong ?

[buddfridgeman]

Hi,
Towards the later stage of the season I played a league match and was at the table with the rest in hand potting a red to roll through for the black, I potted this red and as the white rolled through to position on the black a man behind called foul, I turned around and he said I feathered the white prior to hitting it, he was with the away team then a few more added to his call, I had no knowledge at all of feathering and to me played a good shot no foul, the ref was asked and said he saw no foul so back to the table prime position on the black 4/5 loose reds, I felt a moral duty to refuse the pot on the black so instead played up to a baulk colour [green] making sure not to leave on the cushion or snookered. I am usually very quick to jump out of a shot if I foul and would have done just that if I thought I had done so, but I have no reason to think that the man making the first call did so without complete honesty , having seen or thought he seen a foul. that was my feeling then and now...was I right or wrong ? or would you have done things differently ?, I did go on to win the frame but didnt get my usual satisfaction, and my opponent give me a very reluctant hand shake after.

[LittleMissAlexa]

you cant see a feather from that position your opponent was attempting to cheat

[Neil Taperell]

Got nothing to do with the Spectator . Ref's decision only .

[Souwester]

If the frames was being refereed, then those not involved in the frame (ie other team mates and spectators) should be asked not to interfere. Only the referee should call a foul, although should your opponent have questioned it then the referee *may* seek advice from others, but obviously needs to take heed of that with caution because of possible bias.

[DeanH]

Question; if you have a Referee, the opponent should not have called out "foul" but he could have queried the Referee if a foul had occured? Is that not what should happen in league matches with a designated Referee?
If so, he was cheating, deliberate unsportsmanlike behaviour.

oops, posted at same time

[buddfridgeman]

Hi, what happens is its a three man team , home player plays one refs one, that said my team mate and long time friend is dead straight , if its a foul its a foul, but I think that this did have a part in making up my mind not to take an advantage, and I dont mean advantage of the situation, what I mean is A friend reffing may have been seen as an advantage, but that goes both ways as the games are played home and away.

[LittleMissAlexa]

your unlikely to see a little feather from well behin d the cue either the spectator is eagle eyed or cheating i feel the latter

[Souwester]

your unlikely to see a little feather from well behin d the cue either the spectator is eagle eyed or cheating i feel the latter

When you're reffing you can't always be in the right place to see all likely fouls, and sometimes, you do need to keep your eye on the refelction of lights on the cue ballor adjacent object ball, to spot any feathering or contact. Unless there was obvious movement, even that wouldn't be visible from any great distance.

[pottr]

Doesn't matter if they were cheating or not. If the ref didn't call foul you should carry on.

You should have played on as if you had done nothing wrong, which of course.... you hadn't!

If you knew you had fouled you would have owned up, so I don't get their point.

[buddfridgeman]

I would not go as far as saying they were cheating, It was one of the follows an older chap, neither me my opponent or the ref saw any feathering, thats not to say it didnt or did happen or was right or wrong, and in that given situation I thought playing away was good gamesmanship, think my point being I wanted to win fair n square and felt I needed to shoot away , but I often wonder about my choice of shot,I would like to think what goes around comes around but I have only ever played this shot once in 27 years so may never get to see or play it agian, but would do the same again if there was any doubt because I play for enjoyment and fun its only a game after all.

[LittleMissAlexa]

if the opposing team made you believe you fouled when you didnt (behind the cur is an awful position to see this kind of foul) and made you doubt your honesty and for you not to take advantage in my eyes they cheated

[Defy]

I would say referees decision is final so if he ref never saw it it was of a foul

[Terry Davidson]

First of all, when I do this accidentally I am always able to feel it in my cue, even when using the rest so being an honest player I call the foul on myself, as I assume you would to.

Secondly, everyone here is right. Even though the ref was your team mate that should be taken into consideration as the assumption if everyone is an honest sportsman. The spectator behind the cue would have to have pretty good eyes to spot a slight feather on the cueball.

You should have played on and the referee should have informed the spectator not to interfere

Terry

[The Statman]

First of all, when I do this accidentally I am always able to feel it in my cue, even when using the rest

The thing is, you can't actually know that you always feel it, because if you didn't feel it ... well you wouldn't know it had happened without your feeling it!

Perhaps it is possible to not feel a feather - I have been called for a feather a couple of times without having noticed and have no reason to think the call was cheating. Having said that, it is possible to think you've seen something which actually didn't happen!

The rest of your comments are spot on. Unless the other player queries the referee's decision (which he is quite entitled to do), the course of the game is the business of the referee and the two players, and nobody else. If the referee then felt it worthwhile, he could have asked the opinion of bystanders but it is the referee who has the final say.