What stops the action?

[notalent]

Greetings Inquartata,
I will admit to doing this when I'm tired or if my voice is fading. You might have caught me doing that at the Linkmeyer At Reno CaptainA and I were sharing the 60WF pool, last 4 bouts we did an Impromtu channel Mauler game. We decided that Mauler has zen reffing down to an art.

What's worse, there are some refs who do not even call "halt" every time. If the light/buzzer goes on and both fencers stop fencing, they just go straight into their describe-the-phrase-and-award-the-touch routine...

[peet]

However the crux of this whole debate about falling seems to hinge on the danger factor to either yourself or your opponent. I guess it all comes down to the discretion of the Ref as to whether your actions fall under the "reckless" clause or not.

No, the "no-hitting-while-falling" thing is not really about safety. It's to keep the game fair, and preserve a certain "character" of fencing (we don't fence on the floor, or on our way there).

It's just a rule. You may not hit while falling. This rule is related to, but separate from the rule against reckless ("disorderly") fencing. They are separate clauses of t.87, and are in separate boxes of the penalty chart. Hitting while falling is not illegal because it is reckless. It is illegal all by itself, reckless or no.

All bouts must preserve the character of a courteous and frank encounter. All irregular actions (flèche attack which finishes with a collision jostling the opponent, disorderly fencing, irregular movements on the strip, touches achieved with violence, touches made while falling) are strictly forbidden (cf. t.114–t.120). Should such an offence occur, any touch scored by the fencer at fault is annulled.

-p

[Inquartata]

I think everyone is in substantial agreement about falling WHILE scoring being penalized. It's falling AFTER scoring that seems to be up in the air ( so to speak ).

[peet]

I think everyone is in substantial agreement about falling WHILE scoring being penalized. It's falling AFTER scoring that seems to be up in the air ( so to speak ).

Cool. Just clarifying re: the "reckless" vs. "hit while falling" thing..

cheers-

-p