Monday 18 February 2013

A WATCH LIST OF NUANCES

Besides the specific Definitions and Rules there are some underlying nuances of the Rules requiring sagacity and experience to fully appreciate or otherwise these nuances have the potential to cause great difficulties for a student of the Rules.  Thus, he may think he has an understanding of some concept in the Rules and then discover that he has overlooked an essential part of a Definition or Rule because its relationship to another part was obscure. The watch list of nuances:

 Interrelationships.  Many Rules and Definitions have internal or external interrelationships that are essential to the meaning of the item at hand.  These nuances must be recognized, respected and understood. Internally, a Note at the end of a Definition or Rule may completely change the meaning of the initial words [see Definition of Wrong Ball].  Within both Definitions and Rules, formally stated Exceptions may appear at the end but many times there are words in a sentence, such as “unless,” “provided,” or “otherwise,” that change the meaning of the preceding or succeeding words and serve the same purpose as a formal exception. Externally, another Rule may supplement, complement or override a given Rule.  For example, knowledge of Rule 20 as a supplement is essential to the execution of the relief Rules [24, 25, 26 and 28] as well as any other Rules that require placing or dropping of a ball.

Match play penalties require a claim.  If a referee is assigned to ccompany the players throughout a match, he must act on any breach of a Rule that he observes or is reported to him.  In match play without a referee, an official is limited in his duties [see Definition of Referee, xception in match play], thus there are no incurred penalties unless one of the players makes a claim to his opponent or the Committee [Rule 2-5].  Indeed, a player may disregard a breach of the Rules by his opponent provided there is no agreement by the sides to waive a Rule [see Note 1 to Rule 2-5].  Thus, there are cases where an infraction would not result in a penalty despite the plain language at the end of a given Rule associating a penalty for a breach of the Rule.