False start
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In sports, a false start is a disallowed start, usually due to a movement by a participant before (or in some cases after) being signaled or otherwise permitted by the rules to start. Depending on the sport and the event, a false start can result in a penalty against the athlete's or team's field position, a warning that a subsequent false start will result in disqualification, or immediate disqualification of the athlete from further competition. False starts are common in racing sports (such as
swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
, track, sprinting, and
motor sports Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific terms ''automobile ...
), where differences are made by fractions of a second and where anxiety to get the best start plays a role in the athletes' behavior. A race that is started without a false start is referred to as a ''fair start'' or ''clean start''.


In sports


Association football (soccer)

Football games cannot be restarted unless certain conditions are met. For example, both teams need to be in their own half of the field for the start of the game or restarts from goals or half-time and free kicks require players to be a certain distance from the dead ball position. A referee may call the players back if one or more encroach into the wrong part of the field. There is generally no penalty for this type of encroachment, although if the referee considers it to be delaying the restart of the game they can award a yellow card. One famous example was during the
1974 World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...
when Brazil had a free kick near the Zaire penalty area, but the ball was booted far away by Mwepu Ilunga before the restart. At a penalty kick, the restart is blown by the referee before the actual kick takes place. In this situation, "encroachment" may take place, where one or more players from either side go into the penalty area or penalty arc before the kick is done. The goalkeeper can also be called for this offence if one foot leaves the goal line before the kick. A variety of punishments exist depending on which sides were involved and the result of the kick, or the result may stand if one team defends the kick or scores it but their opposition infringed.


American and Canadian football

In
American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
and
Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...
, a false start is movement by an offensive player (other than the center) after he has taken a set position. For offensive linemen, this movement might be as minimal as a couple of centimeters, although the rule's intent is to prevent offensive players from unfairly drawing the defense offside. A false start brings a 5-yard penalty. Unlike an offside penalty, where the play is run as usual, the play after a false start penalty immediately becomes dead. This is done to prevent a defensive player reacting to a false start from hitting the
quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...
while he is going through the snap count, which would make the quarterback more susceptible to injury. At the end of the 2005 NFL season, owners complained regarding false start penalties on players whose flinches have little effect upon the start of the play, such as
wide receivers A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense, WR gets its name from the player being spli ...
. In response, the NFL competition committee has said that they plan to inflict fewer false start penalties on players who line up behind the line of scrimmage. In the 2023 season the false start penalty was the most issued penalty in the NFL with 618 penalties being issued for 3,026 penalty yards.


Athletics (track and field)

In track and field sprints, the sport's governing body, the
IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...
, has a rule that if the athlete moves within 0.1 seconds ''after'' the gun has fired the athlete has false-started. This figure is based on tests that show the human brain cannot hear and process the information from the start sound in under 0.10 seconds, even though a IAAF-commissioned study indicated in 2009 that top sprinters are able to sometimes react in 0.08 seconds. This rule is only applied at high-level meets where fully automated force or motion sensor devices are built into the starting blocks that are tied via computer with the starter's gun. In the vast majority of lower-level meets, false starts are determined visually by the officials. If there is a false start, it is signaled by firing the starting gun twice, and the race is stopped. Since 2009, the offending athletes risk immediate disqualification. Before 2003, an athlete making a false start would be allowed another start and would only risk disqualification after a second false start. Between 2003 and 2009 (inclusive), if there was a single false start, then the whole field would be warned, and the original offender would be allowed a second start. If anyone made a false start on the second start, that or those athlete(s) risk disqualification (even if they didn't false start the first time). An analysis of start times by sprinters at the 2008 Beijing Olympics demonstrated that male and female sprinters can achieve reaction times of 0.109 seconds and 0.121 seconds in one out of 1,000 starts. The same analysis showed fewer false starts among the women and it suggests that the apparent sex difference is caused by the use of the same starting block force threshold for males and females. The authors calculated that were the force threshold to be reduced by 22% for females, to take into account their lower rate of developing muscle strength, then males and females would exhibit similar reaction times and numbers of false starts.


Horse racing

In thoroughbred horse racing, a false start occurs when a horse breaks through the starting gates before they open. There is usually no penalty, and the horse is simply reloaded into the gate. In some events, a horse who breaks through the starting gates is disqualified. A notable example was the 2006
Preakness Stakes The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held annually on Armed Forces Day, the third Saturday in May at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland (except in 2026 when it will move to Laurel Park (race track), Laurel Park dur ...
when Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro broke through the gate early; he was reloaded and the race was started properly. The 1993 Grand National was declared void because the recall flag to signal a false start was not unfurled, so that most jockeys continued to race.


Ice hockey

In
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
, a false start occurs when a team commits a
faceoff A face-off is the method used to begin and restart play after goals in some sports using sticks, primarily ice hockey, bandy, floorball, broomball, rinkball, and lacrosse. During a face-off, two teams line up in opposition to each other, and the ...
violation. When this occurs, the player taking the face-off from the offending team is disqualified from the face-off and replaced by a teammate. A second faceoff violation by the same team results in a minor penalty.


Motorsports

In motor sports that have a
standing start A standing start is a type of start in automobile, auto auto racing, racing events, in which cars are stationary when the race begins (different to the rolling start, where cars are paced). Some categories of land speed record also require a stan ...
(e.g.
Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
), if there is a false start then the offender is subject to a time penalty and the race is normally not restarted. One notable exception was the 1999 European Grand Prix, where six drivers, including the top five qualifiers, jumped the start due to the starting lights malfunctioning. No driver was penalized and the race was restarted. In
drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, mos ...
, if there is a false start, the driver who jumped worse is provisionally disqualified, pending the result of the run (if a worse violation occurs during the race, that offender instead is disqualified, and the false start is nullified, with that offender declared the winner). In motorsport with a rolling start (lane violations, passing the leader before the start), the penalty may be positions lost or a pass-through penalty.)


Sailing

In
sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...
, the race committee decides at the preparatory signal (usually 4 minutes before the start) what the rules on false starting will be by display the P, I, Z or Black Flags. A P Flag means any boat on the course side (OCS) of the start line at the starting signal must return, clear the start line and then restart. The I Flag means a boat which is OCS must round either end of the start line by coming back to the pre-start side and then restarting (the 'round the ends' rule). The Z Flag means a boat which is OCS in the minute leading up to the start or at the start itself is given a 20% scoring penalty. The Black Flag means a boat which is OCS in the minute leading up to the start or at the start itself is disqualified. Failing to return to start correctly under the P or I Flag rules means the boat is scored O.C.S and receives points equivalent to disqualification.


Skiing/Biathlon

The sport's governing body, the FIS, prohibits any athlete from moving before the gun sounds or within 0.1 second after, since 2009. As in track and field, in biathlon or cross country skiing, any false start from any athlete(s) risks immediate disqualification.


Speed skating

According to the rules set by the ISU a false start occurs when one of more competitors are intentionally slow at taking their starting positions, or leave their starting positions before the shot is fired. The first false start by an athlete will be cautioned, and the next, immediate disqualification.


Swimming

In
swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
, any swimmer who starts before the starting signal risks immediate disqualification. If a step-down command is given before the race starts, the swimmer is not disqualified. A notable example during the
2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...
occurred when
Pang Jiaying Pang Jiaying (; born January 6, 1985, in Shanghai) is a female Chinese freestyle swimmer who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of ...
was disqualified due to a false start. This allowed Libby Trickett to advance to the final round, in which she won a silver medal. At the
2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, Chinese swimmer Sun Yang jumped into the water too early in the 1500m final, but was not judged to have false started because he misunderstood 'stand please' as the start beep by the article 101.1 0.3 D. A similar incident occurred in the women's 100metre breaststroke final.


Triathlon

In the men's triathlon at the
2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...
, there was an improper start (commonly reported as a "false start") in the opening 1500metre swim because a camera boat blocked some of the participants from entering the water, which
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
termed "bizarre".


In entertainment

In a live musical performance, a false start is an intro to a song that is quickly cut short to begin another song. One famous example occurred during a musical performance by
Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...
during a 1977 television broadcast of ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
''. He and his band started to play " Less than Zero," but stopped after a few bars and shifted to " Radio Radio" instead. The incident resulted in Costello being banned from the show until 1989. Another example of a song that starts with one song before quickly cutting to a different song is "Hello" by
Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentNoel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel ...
starts playing " Wonderwall" before the band starts playing "Hello" after a few seconds of "Wonderwall". False starts, mistakes, or imitations of such, are occasionally included by musicians on finalised albums.
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
' songs " Dig a Pony" and the North American version of " I'm Looking Through You" include them.
Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...
's " Rockaria!",
Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...
's "
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" (or "Time of Your Life (Good Riddance)") is a ballad by American rock band Green Day, released in December 1997 as the second single from their fifth studio album, ''Nimrod'' (1997). It is one of their most po ...
", "
Old Time Rock and Roll "Old Time Rock and Roll" is a song written by George Jackson and Thomas E. Jones III, with uncredited lyrics by Bob Seger. It was recorded by Seger for his tenth studio album '' Stranger in Town.'' It was also released as a single in 1979. It ...
" by
Bob Seger Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is a retired American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded with the groups Bob Seger and the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System throu ...
, " Better Man" by
Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...
, "
Tangerine The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in colour, that is considered either a variety of the mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), or a closely related species, under the name ''Citrus tangerina'', or yet as a hybrid (''Citr ...
" by
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
, " Wrong 'Em Boyo" by
The Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...
,
Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees'' television series, they were one o ...
song "Magnolia Simms",
James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount, 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is known for his songs "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover". As a British Army captain in the aftermath of the Kosovo War, Blunt ...
's song " You're Beautiful," and " Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" by
The Smiths The Smiths were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (musician), Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwrit ...
are other examples, as well as "
I Need A Lover "I Need a Lover" is the debut single by John Mellencamp, first released in 1978 under the stage name "Johnny Cougar". Background The song appeared on his 1978 album ''A Biography'', which was not released in the United States. After becoming a ...
" by John Cougar Mellencamp. In a
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
episode of "Minutes with Murray",
Murray Cook Murray James Cook, AM (born 30 June 1960) is an Australian musician, actor, and DJ. Cook was one of the founding members of the children's band the Wiggles from 1991 to 2012. Cook provided guitar, vocals, and songwriting in the group, and rem ...
from
The Wiggles The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. As of 2022, the group members are Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce, Tsehay Hawkins, Evie Ferris, John Pearce (entertainer), John Pearce, Caterina Mete ...
played two false starts on the Maton electric guitar while playing " Eagle Rock".


References

{{Gridiron football penalties Sports penalties Terminology used in multiple sports American football terminology Sport of athletics terminology Metaphors referring to sport Ice hockey terminology Gridiron football penalties