Torn cloth

[philip in china]

What happens if someone rips the cloth during a match?

[Neil Taperell]

It makes a hole

[billabong]

It makes a hole

LOL, "my name's Neil Taperell, and I'm here all week"

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[philip in china]

What is the effect on play? Is it a foul?

[bricktip]

It's not a foul just to tear the cloth. The ref would probably, depending on the state of the tear, call the fitter out to fix it and send the players off for the time it takes to fix it.

[DeanH]

It's not a foul just to tear the cloth. The ref would probably, depending on the state of the tear, call the fitter out to fix it and send the players off for the time it takes to fix it.

Correct, tearing the cloth is not a foul unless done in a malicious/ungentlemanly manner.
The game would be stopped and the tear fixed (did this happened on a TV game, IIRC Ebdon was one of the players?).
At our club a massive tear (12") occurred and the game was transferred to the next table as best as possible and match continued, no foul same player.

[philip in china]

Thank you for that.

BT, as neighbours, well almost, we should stick together!

[DeanH]

one comment was that a ball had been moved by the cloth moving; my view is that rule sec 3.15 "Ball moved by other than striker" and that the affected balls replaced as best as possible.

[bricktip]

Yes, i seem to remember an incident with Peter Ebdon within the last ten years.

Correct, tearing the cloth is not a foul unless done in a malicious/ungentlemanly manner.
The game would be stopped and the tear fixed (did this happened on a TV game, IIRC Ebdon was one of the players?).
At our club a massive tear (12") occurred and the game was transferred to the next table as best as possible and match continued, no foul same player.

[philip in china]

That rule used to come into play when I was in a seismically active area.