Sports have 'rules'-Games have 'laws'

[ForkaB]

I think I heard Michael Atherton (ex-England Cricket Captain, but a smart guy, regardless...) say this on the radio yesterday whilst I was coming home from Carnoustie.  His point was that cricket (as a game) was governed by extremely well defined, proscriptive "laws" (i.e. here's what you can NOT do).  On the other "sports" (such as, say, hare coursing) are hardly governed at all, but act under a set of "rules" that define what one should do, rather than what one can't do.

To me it is kinda like Tufts vs. the Decisions on the Rules of Golf, or like the US Constitution vs. the French Constitution.

To me, as long as we play under the Laws of Golf (which is what the "rules" have become), golf will always be a game.  Not that this isn't a good thing!

[Ally Mcintosh]

rich, i'm a bit confused as to the nature of your post... what was atherton getting at?... since when was cricket not a sport?

used to play a lot of cricket myself as well as coach it... i used to just think that cricket had laws because it was the best, most intelligent sport in the world  

[ForkaB]

Ally

It seemed to me (remember, I was driving my car...) that Ahterton was trying to distinguish between activities which had Rules and those which had Laws.  It was in the context of cheating at cricket (of which he knew something...).  There are some leisure activities (e.g.Cricket, Chess) which operate under "Laws" and others (e.g. Baseball, Golf) who operate under "Rules."  I also thought he was trying to say:  Laws=Game, Rules=Sport.

But, of course, I or he, could have been wrong....

[ForkaB]

Just to add, Allie....

I wrote this because there are many on this site who seem obsessed with whether or not Golf is a game or a sport, and hoped it might be useful to them.

Rich

PS--I've umpired a couple of games (sports?  naaah....) of Cricket.  That was a hoot!

R

[Bob_Huntley]

PS--I've umpired a couple of games (sports?  naaah....) of Cricket.  That was a hoot!

R

Now that has to be The Theatre of the Absurd.... an American umpiring a game of cricket. P.G. Wodehouse could write a good book about that.


Bob

[ForkaB]

I remember picking my nose and then watching the batsman walk forelornly to the pavilion.......

[Jim Nugent]

When I think of laws, I think of forces of nature.  The laws of physics.  The laws of chemistry.  For the theologically inclined, the laws of God.  

When I think of rules, I think of my fifth grade teacher, Miss Wanger (yes that was her name), imposing her 60-year-old spinster authoritarianism on our class.

What a revelation this thread has been for me!  I just realized why I rebel against authority!  

Thanks, Rich!

[Dan Herrmann]

As a (former) official in a number of other sports, it's my opinion that a well-written rule book has an equal number of do's as don'ts

Golf certainly has lots of do's and don'ts, as does basketball, American football, and ice hockey.

[Tony_Muldoon]

I remember picking my nose and then watching the batsman walk forelornly to the pavilion.......

  such a shame most of the audience wont have a clue - lovely

[ForkaB]

Thanks for catching that one, Tony. I was beginning to wonder......

[John Nixon]

All I know is I've heard of the Rules of Monopoly, Twister and Chess, but I've not heard of the Laws of those activities.

[ForkaB]

http://www.fide.com/official/handbook.asp?level=EE101

[Lou_Duran]

Rich,

A distinction without a difference.  Certainly a subject that is worthy of high brow discussion at places like Cambridge, Harvard, and perhaps at the UN (though in a much lower level of sophistication).

BTW, golf has way too many rules, and an unwieldy number of interpretations.

[John Nixon]

http://www.fide.com/official/handbook.asp?level=EE101

Well, color me corrected.

[Adam Clayman]

Rihc,
 I too checked out the recent canons on the usga website. The rules are repleat with don'ts. I was surprised. Then...
while at Prairie Dunes, they have one of those old style copies of the first rules of golf from Prestwick (I think) and there was still alot of don'ts.

I suppose somewhere in my thinking through it all,(or not) I was confused(again). It's more about a spirit in golf, where, If the rules don't say you can't, you can, type of thingy.

But still, I wouldnt characterise it as some people on this site. I'd call it Max Behr.