Today’s Ask a Kubb Ref answers a couple of very similar questions about baseline kubbs that get hit, but don’t end up down. First question is from All-American Adam Holtz:
When a kubb on the baseline is hit and turned but not knocked down does the team have the option to leave it or do they have to return to original position. Second part would be if playing in sand or snow/ice or mud if a kubb is leaning but not deemed to be down does it need to be reset at the end of the turn?
Adam Holtz (Chippewa Falls, WI)
The next one is from Lars Arneson, who is a similar question about baseline kubbs:
One team is throwing at baseline kubbs from 8M, one of their throws slightly hits a baseline kubb and rotates it, but it is still on the baseline. Is the opposing team allowed to reset that kubb to square? Is it allowed before the next baton is thrown, after the turn is completed, or not at all?
Lars Arneson (Madison, WI)
Both Lars and Adam’s question surround the instances where an 8 meter shot strikes, but doesn’t topple a baseline kubb. It may turn the kubb, or move it slightly (or a lot), or tip it some (or a lot). We’ve seen where defending teams will leave these struck kubbs as they are and then other times when they will, at the end of the turn, put them back to their original spot on the baseline by moving, turning, or straightening the kubb. Can you ask the defending team to “reset” the kubb after it is struck or are you supposed to leave it the way it is? What does the rules say on this?
When looking at the rules, I see a couple different things. First in Setup: “Kubbs starting the game on the baseline are referred to as baseline kubbs. The baseline should run through the center of the kubbs.”
That’s pretty obvious as everyone knows the definition of baseline kubbs. But from here we can start to build on what we need to do in these scenarios.
In the baton throwing phase rules it also mentions:
12. Once all batons have been thrown: (a) If the king has been toppled, the game is over. (b) If the game is not over, the defender may reset any leaning kubbs to vertical (no moving unless Sec. II.B.7.). The game progresses to the kubb tossing phase.
Sec II.B.7. stating:
If a kubb is struck and, without ever becoming parallel to the ground, is pushed so that it is not legally in-bounds then the kubb is immediately returned to the location it last was legally in-bounds
These specific rules and the language in them start to give us guidance on what can be reset and what cannot. The rules clearly state that after the throwing phase a defender may reset any leaning kubbs to vertical. Note, it does not state any rotated kubb. When it comes to shifting or moving a kubb, it states there is no moving unless it’s Sec II.B.7, which deals with kubbs being struck and moving out-of-bounds. So, in this case, that would be a baton that strikes baseline kubb and moves it back off the line but doesn’t topple. In that case, the kubb would be moved back to its legal in-bounds position immediately after that baton toss.
But, if the baton strikes the kubb and it has rotated a little, then the new “angle” of the kubb is kept. You would not straighten it because the only moving is when it deals with Sec II.B.7. If the kubb is hit and is leaning and does not go down in that turn, then the defending team can reset it, but again, at the same “angle” as you are correcting the lean but cannot move the rotation. This would be similar to a field kubb that was hit but did not go down. One would not straighten that kubb when they put it back to completely vertical.
In a rare instance where a kubb is hit, moves off the baseline a little and is leaning, this is where it could get contentious between teams. I’m sure the team throwing batons doesn’t want you to touch that baseline kubb and the defending team is thinking, let’s put this back on the baseline and take away the lean. In this rare case, you should move the kubb back to it’s original baseline location, with the “angle” if it rotated, and with the same lean. You would not be able to correct the lean until after the throwing baton phase was completed.
In these types of situations, work with your opponents, think of a fair and equitable solution that both teams can agree on. If you can’t, bring in a referee or the tournament director.
