This article appeared in the April 2014 issue of the United States Bocce Federation Western Sector Newsletter.

Many times players are so excited after their team scores a crucial point that, to use the words of Alan Greenspan, they become irrationally exuberant.  They do things such as

picking up the point ball or even the pallino thinking that the frame is over.  This is certainly acceptable when both teams have agreed on which team made the point and after all the balls have been played.  The problem occurs when there may be a ball left to play by either team, or the teams have not agreed on which team was holding the point.  It seems that there has been an epidemic of these mistakes in the last few months in the Western Sector in tournaments and leagues.

The USBF Open Rules have a provision to handle these infractions and the rule states:

Players should never touch or move any ball or the pallino until the frame has ended. If a player moves a ball prior to the end of a frame (thinking play is over) and the balls cannot be accurately relocated to their positions, all remaining non-thrown balls of the non-offending team are counted as points. If the offense is committed by the playing team, all non-thrown balls of that team are voided and the frame is over.

This rule does provide a solution to the problem described above but sometimes the enforcement of the rule is abused.  The key words are “accurately relocated.”  Since the balls are not marked in open as they are in the game of raffa, the two team captains have to agree on the re-positioning of the displaced objects.  Sometimes they cannot agree and this is where problems arise.

There have been situations where the ball that was picked up was not the point and in fact was far from being in contention.  The rule requires that the displaced ball should be accurately relocated to its former position.  Sometimes players argue that the new position was not correct and that the ball cannot be accurately re-positioned.  Then as the rule states they can claim a point for their un-played ball.  This is wrong and also is a display of poor sportsmanship because the ball in question was not in contention and would not have any effect on the final point determination for the frame.  The correct thing to do in this situation is to place the ball close to where it was as long is it does not become a point.

Another example of abuse of this rule is when the ball that was picked up is the point ball as agreed to by both teams prior to the infraction.  The correct sportsmanlike thing to do is allow the ball to be placed close to the original position so that it is still holding the point.  Opposing teams sometimes try to capitalize and claim that the ball cannot be re-positioned accurately so it should be taken out of play, even though they had agreed earlier that this was the point ball.  They then claim a point if they had an un-played ball.

The above examples may sound extreme but they are not fiction and actually have happened.  It is also a fact that these types of infractions will happen in the future in other games of open.  It is not possible to wave a magic wand and make all future games free of these kinds of mistakes but there are a few simple things that can be done to try and avoid these situations.

First, a little common sense will go a long way in preventing these mistakes.  Unfortunately, as my friend Rolando says, “Common sense is not so common.”  Players should be aware of the situation on the court.  There is no reason to move or touch balls that are in play.

Second, a player should make eye contact with the opponent and make sure that they both agree on which balls are points, either by acclimation or measurement.  This should always be done during the frame and at the end of the frame.

Third, a player can count to four.  Look at the balls on the court.  How many have been played?  There should be four balls of one color and four balls of the other color on the court or in the rack at the inactive end of the court.  If a team is using six balls, then count to six.  It sounds really simple but some players “in the heat of the battle” do not always count the number of played balls with a great deal of accuracy!  It does no good to look at the active end and try to see how many balls are left to play.  An un-played ball may be in the rack, on the floor and hidden behind a player, or out of sight in a player’s hand.  It is also acceptable to ask the other end how many balls are left to play!