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Bringing Your Own Cue Ball to a League Match

1/1/2019 11:46:57 AM

Bringing Your Own Cue Ball to a League Match

We have one pool table in our pool league that uses a slightly larger cue ball than the rest of the "bar tables" and there is one team in the league that has issue with this.

They brought their own cue ball to their match vs. the team with the larger cue ball and swapped it out.

They are a stacked team and nobody in our league will beat them no matter what ball is used, but it has been brought to the grievance committee for review.

I am on the committee and was wondering if anybody out there has ever run across any rules that permit for or against a team bringing their own cue ball?

We, as a league are not going to permit it, but I was hoping to find some BCA rules that pertain to this particular situation to back us up when we approach the team.

This question relates to the following billiard rules:

Bringing Your Own Cue Ball to a League Match

Replies & Comments
  1. sheshootsyatesbilliardsforum on 1/2/2019 4:00:09 AM

    I had an answer ready, but first, we need to know what pool league you are in?

    For example, is it an APA league, or some other pool league?

    For anything other than APA, please confirm which rules you generally follow. For example, many pool leagues in North America follow the World Pool-Billiard Association rules.

  2. sheshootsyatessheshootsyates on 1/2/2019 5:17:32 AM

    It is just a small-town local pool league and we follow BCA rules with a few modifications to prevent whining. :)

  3. sheshootsyatesbilliardsforum on 1/2/2019 5:46:04 AM

    Ok, got it. That is helpful.

    First, I agree with your board's decision to ban the one-off use of external, team-provided equipment.

    Second, let's discard the bits from your question that are irrelevant to the issue:

    They are a stacked team and nobody in our league will beat them no matter what ball is used

    This is not germane to the issue at hand, so that fact should be removed from/not considered by the grievance committee when making and handing down the ruling.

    Now to the crux of the issue; The one "oddball" pool table which uses a non-standard cue ball. Few thoughts and questions on that:

    1. Can that single different pool table (or the venue which owns it) be swapped out for another? Many leagues make the rules on the equipment (and thus, don't have the need to write rules on bringing one's own cue ball). If a venue wants to host the pool league, they must have equipment that complies. I would strongly encourage looking into this. It just makes sense longer term, and makes everything consistent.

    2. If the other team thought to bring a standard-sized cue ball, it must mean that it would work fine in that particular one-off pool table. This begs the question: Why doesn't the venue just swap out the cue ball for one that is of the proper size, permanently? Again, this would bring consistency to your venue roster.

    Either of the above solutions would mean you don't have to take either team's side on the issue. I would expect the teams to fully understand the need for consistency.

    Again, the reason you aren't really finding any written regulations on bringing one's own equipment to a match is because that type of thing is typically regulated via tournament equipment standards rules, and venues must comply.

    Here is the WPA spec which deals with balls. BCA's would be similar, if not identical:

    1. BALLS AND BALL RACK

    All balls must be composed of cast phenolic resin plastic and measure 2 ¼ (+.005) inches [5.715 cm (+ .127 mm)] in diameter and weigh 5 ½ to 6 oz [156 to 170 gms]. Balls should be unpolished, and should also not be waxed. Balls should be cleaned with a towel or cloth free of dirt and dust, and may also be washed with soap and water. Balls contaminated with any slippery substance – treated with a polishing or rubbing compound and/or waxed – must be cleansed and dewaxed with a clean cloth moistened with diluted alcohol before play.

    If the pool table and accompanying balls don't comply, that table/balls or the venue should be taken out of the league rotation.

    Hope this helps in some way.

    Let us know how it all turns out.

  4. sheshootsyatessheshootsyates on 1/2/2019 6:10:50 AM

    Thank you very much for your input. Sorry for adding my personal opinion and mucking up the question.

    In regards to your questions in response to mine.

    1. This table is the only table with an over-sized cue ball but not the only odd table in the league. In fact, the team that brought the smaller ball has a slightly larger table (7' I believe) than all of the bar sized tables in the league. This would require the offending team's venue to have a bar table brought into their location in order to be a part of this league. Which, I am not opposed to and I will bring this up with the committee.
    2. The smaller ball did not work fine in the table. The team that bought in the smaller cue ball also brought an extra roll of quarters to retrieve the cue ball from the ball return each time there was a scratch.

    I agree that making the playing fields consistent would solve the problem, but we are a small town league and depend on sponsorship's to maintain the league. We don't want to cause our sponsors and venues too much trouble or cost them more money by asking them to provide different tables. Unfortunately, the offending team is a group of troublemakers and no matter what we do as a league will not "fully understand" any objection from the league to their actions (hence the reason for my personal opinion). We have a small payout at the end of our season that consists of money from our sponsors and players fees and they are in the league to win as much of that money as possible. The rest of us are in it for the fun. That being said, we also don't want to be taken advantage of by a group of bullies.

    I sincerely appreciate your input and will take it into consideration. I will follow up with the outcome.

  5. sheshootsyatesbilliardsforum on 1/2/2019 6:29:32 AM

    Thanks for the additional information.

    If you have a way to make the schedule as such that every team is exposed equally to each one of the oddball pool tables, that can help reduce friction as well.

    Good luck and can't wait to hear the outcome.

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Bringing Your Own Cue Ball to a League Match

  • Title: Bringing Your Own Cue Ball to a League Match
  • Author: (Judith Phillips)
  • Published: 1/1/2019 11:46:57 AM
  • Last Updated: 1/2/2019 2:04:45 PM
  • Last Updated By: billiardsforum (Billiards Forum)