terry buckley wrote:During a recent match we were the victims of a terrible Deliberate Foul. However, the player who committed said foul stated that it couldn't possibly be a DELIBERATE FOUL because he played HIS ball first !

Does andy, or anyone else have an insight on the above ?
This has always been a contentious issue, and I'm sure it will continue to be so for many years to come, and I'm sorry to disappoint you Terry, but the person who committed the foul is correct.
For the sake of avoidance of doubt, I'm assuming that you're referring to a Monday night game, so our rule 6. (c) applies here, and states loss of frame will occur if "A player clearly fails to make any attempt to play a ball of his own group". The same exact wording can be found on the EPA's website.
Whether or not the player in question deliberately potted his opponents ball, or whatever the foul was, the rule isn't "deliberate fouls will result in loss of frame".
I hope this answers your question Terry, albeit not the answer you were hoping for.
[hr]