Should I have called a foul on myself?

[Tom Read]

I'm an honest player and will always call a foul on myself if I know my cue has hit a ball or whatever the situation, that's me.

Well yesterday in my league match we were away, so one of their team were reffing. I was stretching for a long blue with my shirt very close to the black. I realised, got up, tucked my shirt in a bit more and kept checking. My dad said on the way home though that my shirt definitely touched the black. I wasn't to know this at the time as I felt I had done enough to not touch it. The ref gave a glance to my opponent as if to say "I'll let him off that one", and I kinda figured by his glance that I may have fouled.

So do you think I should have said "Did I touch it? If so, I accept that's a foul shot", or something along those lines?

Like I said, if I knew myself I touched it I would have said, but not knowing, should I have done?

Hope that makes sense!

[hotpot]

Well Tom obviously your an honest peson otherwise it would,nt bother you as much to write on here about it , and full credit to you for doing so .

I dont think you can call a foul on yourself unless you definitely know you did touch the ball , and like you said you was,nt sure you did , so you did the correct thing and i,m sure if the referee had seen it he would have called a foul .

Snooker is a game of etiquette and 99.9 percent of players I have met would be the first to own up to a foull and long may that tradition continue . That saying , it,s impossible to have eyes on yous stomach and see balls underneath you . Thats why we have referees .

[DawRef]

The great thing about this sport is the player's honesty. However, you did not know whether your shirt touched the black or not, and therefore, in your case, then 'No'. If you definately thought you had touched the black, despite the glance from the 'referee', then, like 99.99% of players you should have owned up.
Often the referee does not see the foul. It has happened to me a few times when I have missed a foul and the player has owned up.
If you won the frame by six points, then that 'foul' obviously had a bearing on the score. I wouldn't let it worry you. Perhaps next time, rather than stretch, use the rest.

[Burwat Champ]

I dont think you should call a foul on yourself unless you are 100% certain you fouled in which case a player should always own up.

The same way A referee should not call a foul unless he 100% sure it was a foul.

[Tom Read]

That's what I was thinking, to use the rest, but my rest play is so unbelieveably poor that I'm better when I stretch, and I was on a 22 break at the time, so didn't want to miss!

Improve my rest play and I won't need to worry about my clothing touching the balls I suppose!

[RocketRoy1983]

If the ref didnt call it and to the best of your knowledge you didnt think you touched it then no you didnt need to say anything.

[Tom Read]

Well that's good then (if it is the right answer!), I don't wanna cheat, I wanna win fairly... or lose :P

[Souwester]

I don't see how you can call a foul on yourself unless you are positive that you fouled. When you are stretching over balls, as you were, then it is down to the referee to call as he sees it. Unless, of course, you could actually feel yourself touching the ball.

[poolqjunkie]

But if the ref saw that you did touch ball with the shirt he would have called it I think, and so would your opponent. May be that look was saying, "I would keep an close eye on his shirt, dont worry." Is that possible?

[Tom Read]

Maybe so, yeah, it was just the quick glance he gave the made me think.

[appletango2]

I had a similar situation in a pool final frame decider.
The white was close to another ball, chinesed and apparantly I touched the object ball in my follow through.
I play pool and snooker and pride myself (and others) on the sportsmanship of calling fouls etc.
My opponent didnt see the foul, I didn't feel or see myself foul.
One of my opponents supporters apparantly saw a foul and called it.
I then conceded the foul even after my opponent said to carry on.

What are peoples views on this?

[Tom Read]

It's not for them to call it though, is it? I would have carried on it that instance I think. If the ref didn't call it, and you didn't call it yourself, then that's that. That's like somebody shouting out at the Crucible that there was a foul, despite the ref not calling it, or the player.

[miscuehamburg]

In dubio pro reo as the latin word-say. If neither you nor the ref saw anything significant, then there wasn't anything. Besides learning the use of the rest, how about some proper clothing the next time?

[Tom Read]

It was just a polo shirt! I tried tucking it in too!

Maybe if I wear lycra...

[Souwester]

Maybe if I wear lycra...

Try and confuse the ref with all those balls on the table!