Should homemade blades be banned ?

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I read here details about various private people making homemade blades. This seems to be a legal loophole in ITTF rules. Because I was surprised to hear there is some sort approval process for rubbers but not for blades. In fact I did not even know what a blade was and they were sold separately.
It is confusing then as to why rubbers must be approved but not blades. Does this not hurt manufacturers who pump money into the sport ? Maybe I am playing devil's advocate but I would like to hear both sides of this issue, if I am not way out of line
 
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Are you a lawyer with any expertise in swiss legislation (section 8.17.1.2 of the ITTF Handbook) ? because before attacking the ITTF or homemade builders, I'd suggest you should read the ITTF handbook carefully, starting @ section 2.4, because... well... there are actually rules for blades approval, it's just that it's easier to judge if a blade is legit but not a rubber: just measure if the synthetic or fibrous material used does not exceed 7.5% of the total thickness or 0.35mm.

I guess it's quite easier to judge than for the rubber requirements. Therefore there's no need to harass homemade builders, and I think big companies such as Butterfly DHS or Tibhar, Donic, etc. don't find it pretty annoying to see homemade builders doing their stuff at a very low level: I don't think hipnotic would be able to build thousands of blades a year for example. Even 1/day is difficult for him I guess...
 
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Beyond what Music and Ping said (which is exactly right) remember that manufacturers have to pay money to ITTF to get balls and rubbers approved. The ITTF extorts quite a lot of money for that. If ITTF required approval for blades also, the manufacturers would lose far more than they do now from the small handful of people who use blades not made by the big companies. Finally, home made blades have a very long tradition in TT.
 
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Beyond what Music and Ping said (which is exactly right) remember that manufacturers have to pay money to ITTF to get balls and rubbers approved. The ITTF extorts quite a lot of money for that. If ITTF required approval for blades also, the manufacturers would lose far more than they do now from the small handful of people who use blades not made by the big companies. Finally, home made blades have a very long tradition in TT.


I guess they have to pay money for balls and rubbers approval because the verification procedures are a bit more difficult to achieve, it requires far more labs processes.

EDIT: what I mean here is a simple umpire or assistant referee can see if a blade is legit or not by simply using the right maesuring tool, done in seconds just before the match starts. He would not be able to do that for rubbers (in extenso the boosters controversy).

 
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ITTF said they will have all blades due for an approval in time.


If enacted, it will be the most ignored rule in the ITTF manual...unless they stipulate that this applies to ITTF run approved tournaments only

 
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If enacted, it will be the most ignored rule in the ITTF manual...unless they stipulate that this applies to ITTF run approved tournaments only

This would be WORSE than idiotic...it would be so heavy handed extortionist that a 6 yr old could see it miles away.

Since so many national associations rubber stamp copy/past ITTF laws as their own, this will be very disturbing to an extent that it would be considered an attack on basic rights that jut about every player holds to be fundamental rights - ability to use own blade within fair play standards established by ITTF and their nation.
 
Of course I do not agree with such plans. The independent blade makers will be affected unless they pay the fee for ittf approval of blades which is quite expensive if you base it on the rubber approval fee. I asked Claudia why and she answered that equipment such as balls, tables, nets and rubbers have ittf approval so why not blades?? I was stunned of course!
 
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Of course I do not agree with such plans. The independent blade makers will be affected unless they pay the fee for ittf approval of blades which is quite expensive if you base it on the rubber approval fee. I asked Claudia why and she answered that equipment such as balls, tables, nets and rubbers have ittf approval so why not blades?? I was stunned of course!


I assure you that most (TT significant) national associations would simply ignore this rule for their own competitions.

 
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I assure you that most (TT significant) national associations would simply ignore this rule for their own competitions.


of course they would after all at any level the serve-rules are ignored as well 🤣
But really, it is a typical confirmation of the old saying :

Power corrupts and ultimate power corrupts ultimately.

Nature provides us with a special digit that qualifies perfectly as a response

 
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Well, that makes absolutely no sense, and if she answered that then she is definitely not the kind of person that should be in charge of such things.

It makes sense that tables need to be approved. Color, rebound, etc must obey to certain limits otherwise it would be a jungle. Same goes for balls, nets, etc... Rubbers? It's a little more of a grey area, but yes I can comprehend that certain limits must be established, but blades?!? What kind of performance advantage can a handmade blade bring to a player? None! I often hear the opposite argument in fact, that handmade blades are inferior to big brand blades, go figure... Can you boost a blade? I don't think so. I can even brake the current rules and build a blade with 10 carbon layers, does she think this will bring any advantage to someone? It will probably do more harm than good. Do we see anyone cheating by using a modified blade? I would be very surprised if there was even just one case in the world.

What you happen to all the thousands of blades currently in the market? Will they become illegal? How will this play out? Will big brands pay for the legalization fees for all their blades or just focus on the best selling ones? Either way we will see prices skyrocketing. Yeah, this will be very good for the sport, another great decision by the ITTF or WTT or whatever...
 
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Of course I do not agree with such plans. The independent blade makers will be affected unless they pay the fee for ittf approval of blades which is quite expensive if you base it on the rubber approval fee. I asked Claudia why and she answered that equipment such as balls, tables, nets and rubbers have ittf approval so why not blades?? I was stunned of course!


Idiocracy at its very best (for those who have seen the movie, they'll know what I'm talking about): the dumbest people are taking decisions based on the worst arguments possible, indeed.

It was already in Sharara's bag of oddities since nearly a decade now.

Is it the Trump administration there or what ?!

 
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Of course I do not agree with such plans. The independent blade makers will be affected unless they pay the fee for ittf approval of blades which is quite expensive if you base it on the rubber approval fee. I asked Claudia why and she answered that equipment such as balls, tables, nets and rubbers have ittf approval so why not blades?? I was stunned of course!


The stupidity of her remarks burns my eyes when I read it.

 
Well, that makes absolutely no sense, and if she answered that then she is definitely not the kind of person that should be in charge of such things.It makes sense that tables need to be approved. Color, rebound, etc must obey to certain limits otherwise it would be a jungle. Same goes for balls, nets, etc... Rubbers? It's a little more of a grey area, but yes I can comprehend that certain limits must be established, but blades?!? What kind of performance advantage can a handmade blade bring to a player? None! I often hear the opposite argument in fact, that handmade blades are inferior to big brand blades, go figure... Can you boost a blade? I don't think so. I can even brake the current rules and build a blade with 10 carbon layers, does she think this will bring any advantage to someone? It will probably do more harm than good. Do we see anyone cheating by using a modified blade? I would be very surprised if there was even just one case in the world.What you happen to all the thousands of blades currently in the market? Will they become illegal? How will this play out? Will big brands pay for the legalization fees for all their blades or just focus on the best selling ones? Either way we will see prices skyrocketing. Yeah, this will be very good for the sport, another great decision by the ITTF or WTT or whatever...
Completely agree. I don't think it can actually be implemented though, the scale of that project would be too big considering the millions of blades currently in circulation and would cost too much for companies. If it somehow does get implemented, this would be one of the worst examples of the ITTF extorting money from companies so far. It serves no purpose whatsoever other than forcing companies to pay some hefty fees, since all rackets must still be examined thoroughly prior to ITTF matches. If a blade gets damaged badly, but was pre-approved by ITTF during the manufacturing process, is it still legal? Definitely not. (at least I hope)
 
Also, think about the consequences of such rule. The major brands will likely (speculation) increase the price of blades being ITTF approved due to the fees that will be implemented (assuming this rule will be implemented). I mean, the cost can be passed on to consumers like any other product and I do not see on this situation why this is not possible. Also, brands with a huge number of blades may also be forced to lessen the number blades in their inventory (again hypothetical and speculation only).
 
Completely agree. I don't think it can actually be implemented though, the scale of that project would be too big considering the millions of blades currently in circulation and would cost too much for companies. If it somehow does get implemented, this would be one of the worst examples of the ITTF extorting money from companies so far. It serves no purpose whatsoever other than forcing companies to pay some hefty fees, since all rackets must still be examined thoroughly prior to ITTF matches. If a blade gets damaged badly, but was pre-approved by ITTF during the manufacturing process, is it still legal? Definitely not. (at least I hope)

To be fair with Claudia, I do not think this is her decision alone but the ITTF Committee itself.

 
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