# Penalties self-imposed in any sports besides golf? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 19, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penalties-self-imposed-in-any-sports-besides-golf/656136 "2013-04-19T14:45:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penalties-self-imposed-in-any-sports-besides-golf/656136/21 "2013-04-23T02:00:59Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > In heavy combat in the Society for Creative Anachronism, if you strike your opponent with what is considered the flat of the blade, or what is considered the haft of a polearm or mace, you are required to call it “not good”, because your opponent probably has no idea. I take it that means the quarterstaff is right out? (Well, either that or it’s limited to guys who keep shouting NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD!) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penalties-self-imposed-in-any-sports-besides-golf/656136/22 "2013-04-23T02:20:44Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I take it that means the quarterstaff is right out? (Well, either that or it’s limited to guys who keep shouting NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD!) They’re disallowed for a bunch of reasons, actually… you can’t trip people, for one, and a quarterstaff is basically a giant crowbar. For a while, you couldn’t swing a two-handed weapon through a greater than 45 degree arc. And people felt for a long time that they were recreating honorable knightly combat, and the quarterstaff seemed a bit pedestrian. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penalties-self-imposed-in-any-sports-besides-golf/656136/23 "2013-04-23T12:28:50Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Also, if you feel the blow you struck really wasn’t sufficient to be considered effective, you can and should say so to your opponent, but he is under no obligation to not count the blow if he deems it sufficient. I read this the wrong way round the first time (I thought you were saying that the person who is struck can declare it “not sufficient”) and was imagining the Black Knight: “Oof! Not sufficient!” “Ow! Still not sufficient!” “URGH! NOT…[gasp]… SUFFICIENT!” “ARRRRGH! What do you mean, “sufficient”? I still have my other arm!” etc. As to the OP, snooker has already been mentioned where players certainly do call fouls on themselves if the referee doesn’t spot it - in fact, there was a bit of controversy recently when a player apparently failed to do so and “got away with it”. Another example, though it (also) stretches the definition of “sport”, is croquet, where both players are designated by the laws as joint referees of the game, and even if an independent referee is called to watch a particular shot (it’s rare for the referee to be present for the whole game), this does not absolve the striker from declaring what they believe to be a fault they have committed. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penalties-self-imposed-in-any-sports-besides-golf/656136/24 "2013-04-23T13:05:54Z")
> [@Molesworth\_2](#): > > … a batter should “walk” if he’s edged the ball to the slips or keeper. Translation: Ball was caught before it hit the ground, so batter is out if it came off his bat, but not if off his body. Though it’s hard for others to tell, batter knows he just barely “tipped” the ball with his bat - he should thus declare himself out. Occasionally, a cricket fielder who appears to have made a catch will declare that he didn’t quite - e.g. the ball touched the ground before it was fully controlled. But this seems far from universal. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penalties-self-imposed-in-any-sports-besides-golf/656136/25 "2013-04-23T13:14:48Z")
IIRC, in the earliest days of professional beach volleyball, players called fouls (like touching the net) on themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penalties-self-imposed-in-any-sports-besides-golf/656136/26 "2013-04-23T14:03:33Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I take it that means the quarterstaff is right out? (Well, either that or it’s limited to guys who keep shouting NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD!) That, or THANK YOU SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER! ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penalties-self-imposed-in-any-sports-besides-golf/656136/27 "2013-04-23T21:07:07Z")
In pickup games of basketball, you’re traditionally supposed to call your own fouls. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penalties-self-imposed-in-any-sports-besides-golf/656136/28 "2013-04-23T21:28:27Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > I read this the wrong way round the first time (I thought you were saying that the person who is struck can declare it “not sufficient”) and was imagining the Black Knight… Actually, yeah, that is how it works: blows are counted by the person struck, and if he thinks it’s light, he says so. His opponent will then hit him harder. For most people, there’s a point of diminishing returns here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penalties-self-imposed-in-any-sports-besides-golf/656136.md?page=1)