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I've had an archer in my group who used a laser-tool to measure the distance between the stake and the target in my last 3D-archery tournament.

He used it at the first target but understood the group's "body reaction" that it was an absolutely outrageous and unruly behavior. Therefore he didn't do it again.

The tournament of course had covered the rule:

The tournament consist of 29 regular targets with unknown distances and 3 "special targets" also with unknown distances.

Not allowed equipment: (...), distance measurement tools, (...)

However, I wonder how to deal which such a person if he wouldn't have stopped? What should I do?

Note: One of the key facts that make 3D archery unique is that you don't know the distances which you shoot. This is an absolute core rule to establish an "hunt like" environment.

Read more at Wikipedia:

It is most common to see unmarked distances in 3D archery, as the goal is to accurately recreate a hunting environment for competition.

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    I've given an answer, however, I'm tempted to vote for an off topic close. This is not specific to archery, not even to outdoor activities but basically it boils down to "How do I approach someone who is playing unfair by violating the written rules of a certain competition?"
    – Benedikt Bauer
    Dec 8, 2015 at 9:16
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    @BenediktBauer I disagree... It boils down to "What to do if I mention someone cheating in a 3D archery tournament." Football: "If the referee sees it, everything is good, if not, there just isn't an "official" violation." Normally there isn't something as a "referee" in 3D archery... So?
    – OddDeer
    Dec 8, 2015 at 9:27
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    OK, but there is some entity (typically the organisers) that has set the rules, have means to enforce them (exclude the unfair player from the competition in the worst case) and can be approached to complain to, right? This is a situation that is common in many activities in many competitions that are not ranked high enough that they have to or can provide referees for every aspect of the competition that could be subject to unfair play. Instead the players are expected to behave according to the rules in these aspects to ensure a fair competition.
    – Benedikt Bauer
    Dec 8, 2015 at 10:13
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    Well, I don't think there's a way to narrow it further down to a stronger focus on archery. In my opinion, the way to go could be to give it a higher grade of abstraction (i.e. remove the archery specifics and describe the problem in general) and transfer the question to sports.SX...
    – Benedikt Bauer
    Dec 8, 2015 at 14:13
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because is about how to deal with someone not following the rules.
    – user5330
    Dec 9, 2015 at 7:33

1 Answer 1

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This answer is not exclusive to archery but concerns basically any activity where there are certain implicit rules that are widely agreed on in the community and are written down explicitly for competitions.

Since you say that it was during a tournament and covered by the rules, then it's easy. You can refer to the rules which should also state what is the penalty in such a case. If it seems to be someone who is new to the sport, it might be fair to tell them that measuring distances is not allowed by the rules and if they should repeat that behaviour – now that they know about it – you would have to raise this violation to the tournament organizers, referees or whatever entity is taking care of the rules.

In a context where there are no written rules, there can't be a rule violation, only things that "you don't do as a (insert performer of random activity here)". So, if the behaviour in question occurs in a random occasion it depends on how much this influences your own performance and how well-meaning you are towards that person.

If their behaviour doesn't directly influence you and you don't really care about that person and their reputation, you could just let it go. If there are no written rules, there is no real cheating, only bad style. If you don't care about the style and reputation of this other person, ignore it and make a note to yourself that you don't take their results too serious.

In the case that you either care about that person's reputation and/or it influences your own performance (you get distracted by their laser spot on a target, by seeing them point with a strangely looking device at something or whatever), then take them aside and inform them that the way they are doing this is not the way it is normally thought to be done and that it disturbs the people around them and/or might be bad for their reputation.

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