If a ball (a boule or the jack) hits something above the ground, like a ceiling, or a light fixture, or a tree branch, is it (the boule or the jack) dead?
The long-standing and traditional answer is NO, it isn’t dead. However, since July 2023, a French umpire will say that it IS dead. Here’s the story.
In my opinion, the best way to think about the out-of-bounds strings is this. The out-of-bounds strings function as visible indicators of the locations of invisible walls that extend from the strings upward into the sky. A ball (a boule or jack) that goes through one of those walls is dead. Other things being equal, a ball that stays within those wall, or that goes only partly through one of those walls, is not dead.
This means that if a ball hits something above the ground inside those walls, and falls back onto the terrain, the ball is NOT dead. Inside of those invisible walls, objects above the ground are features of the terrain just as much as a stone sitting on the ground. So a low-hanging tree branch, and a light fixture suspended over the terrain, and even the ceiling of a covered boulodrome, are all features of the terrain, just like a stone on the ground. And hitting one of them is no different than hitting a stone. If you hit it, you may or may not get a “bad bounce”, but that is all that happens. (See international umpire Mike Pegg’s ruling, HERE.)
For French umpires, however, that all changed on July 27, 2023. That’s when the French national umpires committee (the CNA) posted Annexe 41-1 on its umpires guide page (www.ffpjp.org/portail/infos-arbitrage/guide-de-l-arbitrage). Here is my American English translation of that short memo.
When an object (boule or jack) comes into contact with the structure of the building or elements attached to this structure (heating, lighting, stretched canvas) above the terrain and this object falls back onto live ground (terrain autorisé), this jack or boule is dead and must immediately be removed from the game.
This rule also applies outdoors, when contact is made with the extension of elements fixed on dead ground (terrain interdit). Examples: a lamp post or electric cable, or tree branches.
Here is the original French.
Quand un objet (boule ou but) entre en contact avec la structure du bâtiment ou d’éléments fixés à cette structure (chauffage, éclairage, toile tendue) au-dessus du terrain et que cet objet retombe en terrain autorisé. Ce but ou cette boule est nul(le) et doit être retiré(e) immédiatement du jeu.
Cette règle s’applique aussi en extérieur, lors d’un contact avec le prolongement d’éléments fixés en terrain interdit. Exemple : candélabre, câble électrique ou branches d’arbre.
It’s hard to know what to make of this rule. It has little or no basis in the written rules. It is a solution to a problem that does not exist. And it creates new problems of its own.
- If my boule passes through a few leaves overhead, without its flight being affected in any perceptible way, does that count as “coming into contact”?
- If a bush growing outside the dead-ball line has a few low branches extending over the dead-ball line, are those branches— perhaps 10cm above the ground— “above the terrain” and therefore deadly? (Even though a root from the same bush that extends into the terrain is not?)
Note that if we disagree about whether or not your boule touched an overhead leaf, it is pointless to call in an umpire. If the umpire didn’t personally witness the event, he will always make his decision based on what he can see on the ground. He will always rule that the boule is still alive.
Note also that if we’re playing on an outdoor terrain without any marked dead-ball lines, the rule is completely inapplicable.
It seems to me that Annexe 41-1 is a bad, unnecessary, virtually unenforceable rule that creates more problems than it solves. French umpires are required to follow it, but I don’t know if umpires in other countries, or FIPJP umpires, will do the same. Personally, I think that anyone who is not a French umpire should simply ignore it.
Thanks go out to Raymond Ager for pointing out the existence of Annexe 41-1 in a comment on “Ask the Umpire”.
The Rules of Petanque 