XIX.G. In addition to the assumption that players will not intentionally violate the rules, players are similarly expected to make every effort to avoid violating them.Again, there is a wide spectrum of possible interpretations of this, from very strict: "Do not behave in any way that could potentially lead to a violation of the rules."
to fairly loose: "Do not violate the rules out of negligence."
Our intentions are somewhere in the middle of these. Yes, the word "every" in the rule is very strong, but it would be overly complicated to write down the exact line which behaviour should qualify as violation of XIX.G., so we felt that it was best to leave this interpretation to the parties involved. As in most cases, the desired affect of this "smearing of the line" is that players try to stay away from this line with their actions, and opponents only call this if the line is clearly crossed. But to give a good guideline, I will provide some examples below which clearly fall on the two sides of this line.
XIX.G intended meaning:
1. You are expected to read and learn the rules! And make your team mates read them.
2. If the only way to make a play is to violate a specific rule while doing it, don't do it.
3. If it is fairly certain that you will violate a specific rule while attempting a play, don't do it.
4. Practice your mechanics so that you will not frequently violate rules out of negligence (e.g., travel, off-sides, marking violations).
5. Make a reasonable effort to control yourself in not violating the rules (e.g., check yourself if you are marking too close and step back if it is the case, don't wait for the call; don't sprint down the field without ever checking if the space you are running into is unoccupied, etc.).
6. If you repeatedly violate a rule (no matter if you get called for it), question yourself if this is the right style of play (hint: probably not).
What it doesn't mean:
1. Don't go anywhere near an opponent to be sure not to foul him.
2. Don't catch a disc because this is the only way to be sure to avoid a travel.
3 comments:
Thanks for the clarification and the explanation of the SRC's motivations for the wording of this rule. Having this documentation to point to could be very useful for resolving future misunderstandings.
Our intentions are somewhere in the middle of these. Yes, the word "every" in the rule is very strong, but it would be overly complicated to write down the exact line which behaviour should qualify as violation of XIX.G., so we felt that it was best to leave this interpretation to the parties involved.
I can see the logic in not writing a rule that gives an exhaustive list of prohibitive behaviors. However, the phrase 'make very effort' doesn't really reflect the in-the-middle interpretation that you just explained. By changing the phrase to 'make a reasonable effort', 'make a legitimate effort', or 'make a serious effort', the rule could still be simple, and leave room for interpretation, but also be more reflective of the SRC's intent.
Yes, we could have used "serious effort". But then, quite a few players would still not think that all the items in the first part of the list were meant.
So, we decided for the stronger "every", and felt that the correct interpretation would be
"every effort while still playing the game described".
Good words.
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