A question of a match yesterday

[cesard]

In Luca Brecel vs Marco Fu , with 8-8, Collier called for a "pushed shot". I have no video of that, I ask just for people that watched it:

a) Do you think that was it a Pushed Shot? Brecel argues a lot about it

b) It seemed to me that Marco Fu agreed with Brecel, and then Collier standed in his decision, and Fu accepted then

[DeanH]

https://youtu.be/kqI27xMWVjE?t=2h7m1s

[lennon11]

I thought it was at first,but after slow motion, now I don't..tough one...

[tomwalker147]

I didn't think it was but the general view is mixed. It's hard to say but for me the ref got it wrong.

[GeordieDS]

Brecel's reaction tells you it wasn't a push shot

[Erwan_BZH]

Very tough to call honestly....Balls are fairly closed so there was a risk for a push shot for I couldn't hear it honestly.

[ace man]

There was enough of an angle, the shot wasn't straight in. And he was shooting jacked up.
Not sure how he could still produce a push shot.

[screw-back]

The third view (2nd replay) tells me that it's not a push stroke. Poor decision by the referee there especially as Brecel was digging down on the white and the angle the white took after striking the red indicates that it was a fair stroke.

[Byrom]

No push....bad call

[sixofclubs]

Surely the ref has to be certain and I'm not sure how he could be here.

[narl]

Whats the point of having a system to show replays if they're not going to use it? Marco also asked for one and the referee said no. The ref shouldn't be able to refuse a player asking for a replay to resolve a situation.

[screw-back]

The third view (2nd replay) tells me that it's not a push stroke. Poor decision by the referee there especially as Brecel was digging down on the white and the angle the white took after striking the red indicates that it was a fair stroke.

Furthermore, I just wonder whether the referee would have made the same call if it had been o'sullivan who had played it. Don't think he'd dare.

[acesinc]

I have to be the stick in the mud here; I am with Paul Collier. While I can see it being interpreted either way, I am inclined toward calling the push shot. You may have heard Collier say something along the lines of "....based on what I saw and what I heard." If you watch Collier retrieve the Black at 2:06:35, you see him look very closely at the relationship of White to Red because he knows that a push stroke will be a distinct possibility for the next shot. A push stroke tends to have a distinct sound, sort of a muffled vibration like the palm of your hand on a guitar string when you pluck it. I clearly heard this sound at the strike.

From my live experience playing the game, I know many players believe that jacking up the butt of the cue is a way to avoid a push stroke when the balls are very close. This is true to a limited degree but the definition of "push stroke" is clear and simple and defined in the Rules, Section 2, Rule 19. Essentially, to assure not to push, when the balls are very close such as this (which is what Collier was eyeballing as referenced above), then the player had best play to the finest edge of the ball, not the pot, in order to avoid the likely foul.

Mark a vote for the Referee.

[Byrom]

There is an etiquette in snooker and a player would always call a foul on himself - there was a gap and he cued down on the white and into the bed of the table at an angle to the red I think ref made a bad call here and he was not sure so he should not have called it. I think he is normally a good ref but does he play the game to any degree himself - I would never have called it.

Luckily it never cost him the frame. If Anything it actually disturbed Marco.

[vmax4steve]

A push stroke tends to have a distinct sound, sort of a muffled vibration like the palm of your hand on a guitar string when you pluck it. I clearly heard this sound at the strike. .

That sound was the tip of the cue striking the bed of the table, no push shot was played. Collier may have thought he heard a double hit, but when a push shot is played then both the cue ball and the object ball travel at the same speed and the cue ball doesn't delay before going forward as it's still in contact with the tip. When playing a push shot with screw the cue ball will jump, same as it will when forced into the bed of the table, hence the confusion from the ref, also the cue ball was played across the red not directly at it.
That's the trouble with referees in all sports, they know the rules but don't know the game.

Still no matter as Brecel won the frame anyway, but Collier should have taken Marco's opinion on board and backed down. Two world class players saying it wasn't a foul means it wasn't a foul.