snooker question rules one red remaining

[the montrealer]

Hi would like to know about this snooker rule. I have 34 points with one red remaining. with the colours Now i intentionally knock the red off the table losing four points now my oppenent cannot win and still needs a snooker. Maybe someone know the answer Leonard

[TheStranger]

I would think this would be considered some form of unsportsmanlike conduct (and a miss), based on a different situation that came up a few years previous that would have played out in a similar fashion:

http://lookupsport.com/blog/115

Parrot had only the black to aim at and no clear safety shot on with a red hanging over a corner pocket. A debate immediately sprang up between Terry Griffiths and Willie Thorne with Thorn suggesting that Parrot deliberately play the black onto the red conceding the 7 points but leaving the white safe. Griffiths seem to think this could be called a deliberate foul and a miss for unsportsmanlike conduct. Parrot tried it nervetheless and whether by accident or design the red failed to drop. The referee would have faced a difficult decision had it gone in. Davis carefully side-stepped the issue by saying it could have been deemed unsporting, but was a mute point as it hadn’t gone it.

[dantuck_7]

Hi would like to know about this snooker rule. I have 34 points with one red remaining. with the colours Now i intentionally knock the red off the table losing four points now my oppenent cannot win and still needs a snooker. Maybe someone know the answer Leonard

I remember reading on here about a league match where this happened. Will try and find it. IIRC the frame just carried on - the 2nd player then requires a snooker. It could be classed as unsporting.

[The Statman]

It may be considered unsportsmanlike conduct, in which case the referee has only the power to award the frame to the opponent, and he would likely only do that after a warning.

He certainly cannot call a Miss, unless the red was not hit first¹. (If the red was not hit first and a Miss was called, then of course the opponent can have the balls replaced and the red is then returned; and he wouldn't then need snookers anyway.)

In any case the referee would have to be certain it was deliberate.

If you knock the last red in AND then go in-off or make some other foul in the process, that is an entirely different situation as you have not actually gained an advantage from the foul. In this scenario, if the foul had not occurred you would have been 35 in front, plus your shot at a colour, with only 27 points available. Thus, any perceived advantage is questionable.

It is the red not going into a pocket in your scenario that separates it from my scenario above.

¹ In any case, a Miss cannot be called anyway if a player requires snookers as a result of the shot (as long as the referee doesn't consider the miss deliberate).

However, this is one situation where I think I might call a Miss anyway. Another scenario is this: you are 34 in front and in a snooker. You miss the red by some margin – enough to call a Miss if the difference in scores was not an issue – but you hit a colour which then knocks the red in. Similar to your situation, you are now 30 in front with 27 on.

The Miss Rule was, clearly, not designed to cover the case where the recipient of the points needs snookers when he did not beforehand; and I would apply Section 5 Rule 1, i.e. situation not covered adequately by Rule, and call a Miss. I would argue, if pressed, that the snookers were not required as a consequence of the foul itself, merely as a result of a secondary aspect of the shot.