Replacing balls after a miss

[zombieman]

So I was reading the rules and was surprised by this paragraph (Section 3, 14f):

After a miss and a request by the next player to replace the cue-ball,
any object balls disturbed will remain where they are unless the referee
considers the offending player would or could gain an advantage.
In the latter case, any or all disturbed balls may be replaced to the
referee’s satisfaction and in either case, colours incorrectly off the
table will be spotted or replaced as appropriate.

In practice, they always replace every ball to the original position. Why is the rule worded this way? It gives a lot of interpretation to the referee - something which snooker rules normally don't.

[The Statman]

I think it is worded this way because the vast majority of frames do not have the marker and tv availability (and in any case, the wording was written long before that technology became available).

Essentially it gives the referee the authority to replace only the cue-ball, particularly useful if a lot of balls have moved and he would have no way of getting everything back. In that scenario, he should obviously have observed the position of the cue-ball so he should be able to replace that accurately. When this happens I ensure that the player has the same degree of difficulty of actually making the hit, and try to gauge potential advantage to either player: say if the pink had run safe, try to replace that, if for example without doing so a miss would give the opponent a red but no easy colour to play on - that sort of thing.

Trying to make sure that neither player benefits or otherwise from your actions is the paramount point.

As you say, on telly they try to replace every ball, and that's because they can.

[SnkrRef]

There was a thread on here some weeks back where a poster 'had a go' at the referee for not replacing the blue ball I think it was. As I pointed out at the time, the blue was entirely incidental to the shot, and having not been moved more than a centimetre or two (from memory) neither player was likely to be advantaged or disadvantaged buy it moving. In that case it really didn;t matter whether it was replaced or not.

The Statman is right: the vast majority of frames do not have the luxury of a marker or tv screens, but nevertheless in 'foul and a mess' situations the referee should always try to replace the balls approximately to their original position.

[zombieman]

Thanks for the answers. Much appreciated! This was asked on a local forum, and normally I'm the guy who answers these questions