Penalty Card: In addition to the score being annulled, the falling fencer receives a penalty card (yellow, if it is the first penalty) if a touch is made by the falling fencer. Rule t.120 (the “Penalty Chart”) explicitly provides that “touches made during or after a fall” is an abnormal fencing action and a 1st Group Penalty (1st offense being a Yellow Card). Please note the oddity: if the falling fencer did not score a touch, he/she does not receive a penalty.

Just a Fall: A simple fall, without a touch from either fencer, results in a “halt” with no penalties. Of course, an intentional fall (e.g., to avoid a hit), which would be in the judgment of the referee (it probably would need to be egregious/obvious), could result in a card or warning under the Penalty Chart for “disorderly fencing” or “anti-sporting behavior.”

What Constitutes Falling: Interestingly, Rule t.21.1 states that “Displacing the target and ducking are allowed even if during the action the unarmed hand and/or knee of the back leg comes into contact with the strip.” In other words, a mere hand or knee touching the floor, by itself, is not “falling” under Rules t.87.2 and t.120 – so, such a fencer can score a touch this way. It appears that under the rules the referee must be careful in distinguishing whether a fencer actually “falls” (off balance) versus merely using the strip to assist the fencer in maintaining his/her balance (often, just one hand or one knee touching the floor). Although difficult to distinguish through words, the referee must make a judgment using Justice Potter’s “I know it when I see it” formula.

Fall After the Touch: A fencer who makes a touch and then, subsequently, loses balance and falls, is not a “falling fencer.” No penalty, score counts. In this case, a referee must be able to see the separation of the two actions—a touch, and then afterwards the fencer losing balance and falling (Rule t.87.2: touch was not made during (or after) a falling). This may be a fairly tough call for the referee—a fencer may have lost balance before the touch, but only afterwards falls (after struggling to stay up). If the process of falling started before the touch and the falling continued (uninterrupted/unrecovered and within a reasonable passage of time) until the actual fall to the floor itself occurs, the annulment of score and the penalty should be applied. Justice Potter’s “I know it when I see it” test may again need to be used.

Touch by the Opponent to a Falling Fencer: An opponent is permitted to hit a falling fencer. Thus, when the referee calls “halt” when a fencer falls, a touch resulting from an action by the non-falling opponent that began before the “halt” counts (i.e., the opponent can complete the action he/started before “halt”). Thus, in the circumstances described, if both fencers make a touch, only the opponent of the falling fencer scores (the falling fencer’s touch is annulled and also receives a penalty); if only the opponent makes a touch, the opponent scores (but the falling fencer does not receive a penalty, since he/she did not make a touch).

The consequences for Non-Combativity (some fencers call it “passivity” or “inactivity”) after a “halt” is called are the following: if Non-Combativity is called by the Referee (1) during either of the first 2 periods of DE, that period ends and the bout proceeds immediately to the next period without the one-minute rest period; (2) during the third period, that period ends and the the bout proceeds to a “last minute run-off.” A last-minute run-off is a full 60-second bout (or until one fencers reaches 15 touches), with priority determined before it, and the fencers fence in its entirety (with priority determining the winner if the score is tied).

A FEW POINTS ON NON-COMBATIVITY

Pool Bouts: The Non-Combativity Rule does NOT apply in Pool bouts. The referee should not call “halt” for inactivity in pool bouts!

“Approximately” 60 Seconds: It appears that the rules allow the referee to have some flexibility to allow actions to be completed right around the 60-second mark. Thus, just because 60-seconds has run in a sequence after “fence” does not mean the “halt” is automatic (i.e., the referee has to have called “halt” for there to be Non-Combativity (not just the fact that the 60-seconds ran out) and it may be a few seconds more than 60 seconds) — the fencer should not stop fencing until “halt” is called!

“Excessive Distance” for 15 Seconds: If the fencers have materially greater distance of an advance-lunge (i.e., far apart) for at least 15 seconds, the referee will call “halt.” Note that this “halt” sometimes occurs mistakenly by fencers, near the end (but greater than 15 seconds remaining) of a period in a DE, who salute each other and try to “kill” the clock to go to the one minute rest period — the penalty for Non-Combativity applies(!). In other words, if a fencer wants to avoid the loss of the one-minute rest period, such fencer(s) needs to at least seem engaged in action until less than 15 seconds remain in a live sequence during a period.

Team Events: Like with some other rules, team competition has some variation for Non-Combativity. If both fencers make clear their unwillingness to fence in a match, the match ends and the referee will proceed with the next bout. If it is the last team bout, then there is a “last minute run-off” (fenced in its entirety (up to the maximum score), with priority established for the winner in a tie after the 60-seconds run).

Interesting Examples: A typical example of Non-Combativity Run-Off is the following: If the score is 12-9 in the 3rd period, and the referee calls a Non-Combativity “halt” with 1 minute and 30 seconds left on the clock (so, no touch since 2 minutes 30 seconds on the clock), the 3rd period automatically ends and the match proceeds to an additional period (with priority determined before hand) until (a) 60 seconds have passed or (b) one of the fencers has scored 15 points (so, the fencer with 9 points has a chance!); if there is a tie at the end of the run-off period, the fencer with priority wins.

A more interesting situation is if there is actually less than 1 minute left in the 3rd period before Non-Combativity is called (say, no touch since 1 minute 30 seconds on the clock, so 30 seconds left). The fencer who is losing may, in fact, gain an advantage from Non-Combativity “halt” as that fencer will gain additional (30 seconds in this example) time. A few factors should be considered, however: (1) can a fencer who is down really worry about running out 60 seconds in the 3rd period as opposed to catching up right now; and (2) query whether the referee will actually call “halt” with such little time left (the referee, under the Rule, has some discretion because of the word “approximately”).

A FEW POINTS ON PASSING

Touches: FIE Rule t.21.4 states that with respect to the fencer who is doing the passing — as a fencer passes his opponent, the touch made immediately is valid, but a touch made after passing is annulled; with respect to the opponent who is being passed, a touch immediately made (even when turning around) after the passing is valid. Clearly, for a referee, this call is a fairly difficult one to make and relies on the referee’s identification of when the passing occurred and possibly how immediate the opponent’s touch was (as well as, on some occasion, determining who was doing the passing).

Placement: If no touch is awarded, both fencers should be placed in the positions which they occupied before the passing took place. Note also that if the passing fencer is also out-of-bounds, the referee must determine which offensive action occurred first — the Passing or the Out-of-Bounds. If the Out-of-Bounds occurred first, then there is effectively no Passing, and the fencer who went off the lateral boundary will be placed back one meter from where such fencer’s action began (resulting in a point awarded to the opponent if the fencer was situated within one meter of the fencer’s own rear end-line).

Summary of Proposal

Non-Combativity: Priority is determined at the start of each epee bout (both Pool and Direct Elimination bouts). Non-combativity of 45 seconds results in a point being awarded to the fencer with priority. After each point (including double touches), priority is shifted to the other fencer, with the 45 seconds reset.

DE Breaks: DE bouts are fenced up to 10 minutes with two 60-second rest periods — one break after either fencer hits 5 points, and then a second after either fencer hits 10 points.

The full proposed rules can be found here.

Update on Proposed Rule Changes for Epee Bouts (9/25/2017)

Although we can find no official pronouncements by the FIE yet, it has been reported by several sources that the FIE has pulled the proposed non-combativity rules changes. However, note that those reports do not address what the status is with respect to the second part of the proposed rule changes — Direct Elimination breaks (10 minute bouts, with 2 one minute breaks, with a break after either fencer first reaches 5 points and then after either fencer first reaches 10 points). Presumably, the DE proposed changes have also been rejected, but again, because there are no official announcements yet, we will continue to follow any developments on this matter.