Changes to Association Croquet Laws in 2008
The International Laws Committee has proposed some changes to the AC Laws. The ACA Laws Committee and the ACA have agreed these changes. The ACA Executive has determined that the amendments will take effect from 1st May 2008 and we are printing 500 new booklets. These are available for States to buy from the Australian Equipment Officer and should be available from State Headquarters by the time this is published.
A synopsis of the changes is provided below but you will need the revised Laws book to apply these changes. This article is only intended to alert you to the fact that there have been changes which you will need to follow up if you are to understand them.
A lot of laws have been reworded, but there are not so many changes to the way the game is played. Some of the changes are meant to make the law easier to understand. Some enforce official rulings given over the last seven years. Others correct mistakes or ambiguities in the laws of 2000.
The O.R.L.C. Commentary has been rewritten and discusses all the changes, often in more detail.
Changes to the Laws on Faults
Law 28(a)(1) has been changed, so that it is now illegal to guide the mallet by sliding it along the foot.
Laws 28(a)(7) and (8) have been rewritten to bring them into line with Paragraph 28.11 of the Commentary of the O.R.L.C.
Law 28(d)(1) provides exemption in some cases from Laws 28(a)(7) and (8).
Law 28(a)(15) has been rewritten and has merged with Law 28(c)(2).
Law 28(d)(2) contains material that was moved from Law 5(h).
Law 37(h) involves the remedy for a stroke in a handicap game.
Law 48(d)(4): What should a referee do if he suspects that a fault has been committed but is not quite sure?
Definitions of "stroke" and "ball in play"
Law 5 used to be hard to read and caused a surprising number of disputes. It has been rewritten.
Law 6(a) and (c): Now that a stroke can only be played with a ball in play, we need to know when a ball is in play.
Law 27. Playing when a ball is misplaced
Law 27(a): This has been rewritten.
Law 27(b): The reference to Law 28(a)(8) has been removed.
Laws 27(c)(3), (e), (f), (g), (h) and (j): These laws have been rewritten to make them easier to understand.
Cannons:
Under the old laws, a cannon could occur only if one of the balls involved was a yard line ball. This is no longer so. A cannon is now played whenever the striker's ball is one of a group of three or four touching balls, no matter where they are on the court.
Interference and Law 33: Law 33 has been rewritten.
Handicap games:
The old laws did not give details of when a turn ended in a handicap game. Changes have now been made in Laws 37(c4), (d) and (e) to deal with this.
Law 39(a)(3) changes the conditions under which a bisque may be restored in a handicap game if a hoop has been run out of order.
Deemed roquets: A mistake in Law 16(c)(1) has been corrected.
If a hoop is too narrow:
A new Law 53(b)(3) gives a wider remedy in some cases than was available under the previous Laws.
Miscellaneous changes:
Law 40(b): What do you do if three players arrive on time for a doubles match and the fourth player sends a message that he will be late?
Law 3(c): Some material has been transferred from Law 19(h).
Law 34(c): The list of types of special damage has been made more extensive.
Hoop and Roquet: Law 17(a) is often misunderstood. It has been reworded with no change of meaning in the hope of making it clearer.
Law 13(b) has been simplified.
Law 22(g) used to apply when an interference under Laws 30 or 31 was discovered within the limit of claims of an error. This rule has been extended to all interferences.
Playing when not entitled: The law has been rewritten. The limits of claim have been changed.
Appendix 1: Some of the tolerances for hoops have been changed.
Impasses: The I.L.C. considered adopting rules for dealing with impasses, but deferred a decision until there has been more experience with the proposed rules. In the meantime, it has proposed a set of rules that organisers of competitions are encouraged to use.
Provided by Max Murray
WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES
To bring about these changes takes many many hours of work so that the changes are agreed around the world and countries do not "go it alone" and adopt their own version of the Laws. To achieve this position one of the unsung heroes of Australian Croquet is Max Hooper, Australia's representative on the International Laws Committee.
Over the years Max has demonstrated his remarkable ability to understand the most complicated Laws questions, think logically about them (not an ability commonly found in croquet players), see how things can be simplified, and negotiate changes with people who often held rather stubborn views. His ability to draft new proposals proved to be invaluable, and is of great importance as the Australian representative on the International Laws Committee.
As with negotiation in any sphere of life, there have been some acute disappointments, many failures to fully achieve aims, and the need for great patience without which Max would have resigned long ago. Max's understanding of the Laws is second to none - by nature he is essentially a nice, friendly, understanding man who wants to please everyone.
This Laws revision will be a major step in the right direction, and Max has been the main mover behind it.
The hours Max has invested in this work on the Laws on behalf of the ACA and Australian Croquet are truly countless, and the number of e-mails he has written and replied to must run into many thousands. We sincerely hope that he will be able to continue serving Australian Croquet for some time yet.
Our thanks to Max.
Provided by John Riches
