History ObviousRulePatch / Sports

*** '''Deacon Jones Rule''': The head slap (former Rams defensive lineman Deacon Jones's favorite maneuver) was made illegal.

*** '''Carson Palmer Rule''': Defenders can't hit the passer's knees or lower legs unless it's coming off a block. Named after Carson Palmer, who like Owens that season was seriously injured from what would become an illegal hit. Palmer tore his ACL after Pittsburgh linebacker Kimo von Oelhoffen slammed into his knees after being taken out himself (later review of the play showed von Oelhoffen did not intentionally try to hit Palmer in this fashion, his trajectory altered by the hit von Oelhoffen received).

** As a result of the 2003-04 AFC Championship Game, in which the Patriots shut down the Indianapolis Colts' offense, then-Colts general manager and Competition Committee member Bill Polian lobbied the NFL to strictly enforce the various holding, illegal contact, and pass interference rules the following season. As a result, the NFL became the passing league that it is currently. The rule was re-emphasized again in 2014, due the Seahawks' vaunted "Legion of Boom" secondary getting away with a couple of holding calls, and after they also defeated Peyton Manning's Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII.

** In the '70s, the NFL had to make new pass interference rules, dubbed the Mel Blount Rule, to stop defensive backs, most notably Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Mel Blount, from mugging opposing receivers five yards past the line of scrimmage.

** On June 4, 1974, the then-Cleveland Indians hosted Ten Cent Beer Night. Fans who attended could buy as much as six cups per purchase, but they could keep coming back to buy more throughout the game. As it happened, the drunken crowd became unruly and stormed the field. Players from both teams called on each other to defend themselves from the rioting fans, and the umpires declared a forfeit to the visiting Texas Rangers. In the aftermath, the next time Cleveland did this promotion, they imposed a strict limit of two cups per person for the game.

* On August 10, 1995, the Dodgers played against the Cardinals in a game where fans were given gift baseballs as they entered the stadium. However, after several plays the fans didn’t like, they began to throw the balls at the players. As a result, the game was called off and declared a forfeit, the last time this has ever happened in MLB history. The league quickly decided that any throwable gifts like baseballs or frisbees would be given as people left the stadium.

** In 2012, Chelsea won the UEFA Champions League but finished outside the top four of the Premier League, meaning the fourth-placed team - Tottenham Hotspur - were relegated to the Europa League, due to UEFA's rules meaning no country can have more than four teams in the competition. In May 2013, UEFA announced that, as of the 2015/16 season (the rules for the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons were fixed and could not be changed), the limit of teams was raised to five - meaning that such an event could only occur again if both the Champions League and Europa League (whose winners qualify for the Champions League if they don't do so via their domestic league) are won by teams from the same top three ranked leagues (currently England, Germany and Spain) and both teams finish outside the top four. Ironically, this rule change followed a previous rule change as a result of Liverpool winning the Champions League in 2005 but failing to qualify for the next tournament through the Premier League. They were granted dispensation to defend their title; in future years, the winner of the Champions League would take the spot of the lowest qualifier via their domestic league, with the team affected demoted to the UEFA Cup/Europa League (the secondary tournament had a retooling and renaming during the period that rule covered).

** "Icing" refers to the practice of a defending team flinging the puck all the way down the ice and forcing the opponent to go fetch it. They patched this by blowing the whistle immediately after the opponent touches it after it crosses the far goal line, bringing the face-off back to the defending team's zone. This slowed the game down a lot when a team was killing a penalty, so they re-patched it to allow shorthanded teams to ice the puck.[[note]]Except in U.S. youth hockey, where icing is prohibited at all times, even when shorthanded.[[/note]] More recent rule changes tweak it to prevent players from crashing into the boards chasing after the puck, so now you don't have to physically collect the puck for icing to be called (resulting in a rule that fans, players, and even officials aren't entirely sure of). And another recent change prevents teams from substituting players after they ice the puck -- and they had to patch ''that'' immediately to delay television timeouts from occurring and giving the tired players a reprieve. (You can call a timeout, but you only have one for the whole game.)

** Defensive players may enter the goal crease at any time. Some college teams began abusing this rule to have one, or even two, defensemen step in next to the goalie to make an almost impenetrable barrier. The rule was changed to assess a 30-second conduct foul against any defenseman who enters the crease to block shots or act as a goalie. When this was added to the high school rulebook in 2017, it was applied to defensemen who did this even if the goalie had left the crease (a previously common practice in that situation), the justification being that several players have ''died'' of ''[[OneHitKill commotio cordis]]'' from hits to their unprotected chests[[note]]Goalies in lacrosse are required to wear chest protection. Field players are not.[[/note]]

* The IOC's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_the_Eagle#The_Eddie_.22The_Eagle.22_Rule Eddie "The Eagle" rule]]. After Michael "Eddie the Eagle" Edwards qualified for the ski jump events in the 1988 Winter Olympics despite never having competed in any kind of international competition whatsoever due to quirks in the rules, the Olympic committee made certain requirements as to what athletes had to have accomplished before competing, to prevent similarly embarrassingly unskilled competitors from appearing. %% His nickname is "Eddie the Eagle", not "The Eagle".

** The law that a temporary substitute cannot kick for goal was added after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodgate the Bloodgate scandal,]] in which a fake injury was used to get a kicker on the field.

*** '''Tom Brady Rule''': The Palmer Rule was later revised in 2009, which stated that defenders on the ground can't lunge or dive at the passer's knees/lower legs. This variant is known as The Tom Brady Rule, after Brady, the biggest star in the sport, was lost for the season in 2008's week 1 after when safety Bernard Pollard tackled Brady despite already being on the ground. The hit ruptured Brady's ACL and MCL, the only season Brady missed due to injury in his 23-year career.

*** '''Roy Williams Rule''': The horse-collar tackle, in which a defender pulls down a ball carrier with a hand inside the carrier's pads. It was banned when in 2004, Cowboys defensive back Roy Williams injured Eagles star receiver Terrell Owens, who broke his leg from his momentum violently halted, one of four players who had broken their leg that season from such a tackle (Williams had injured four players on his own that year from horse-collars, and would be the first player to break the rule multiple times after).

** During the 2022 Xfinity 500 race at Martinsville, Creator/RossChastain managed to drive his car into (and partially on) the wall during the final lap to set a NASCAR record for the fastest lap ever at Martinsville at 130 mph en route to being credited with a fifth-place finish (later fourth after original fourth-place finisher Brad Keselowski's car was determined to be underweight and he was disqualified) while clinching a spot in the Championship 4. Despite NASCAR initially ruling the video game-esque move[[note]]Chastain would later say that he was inspired by the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube version of "NASCAR 2005"[[/note]] (nicknamed the "Hail Melon" as a play on both the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail_Mary_pass Hall Mary pass]] in American football and a reference to Chastain's "Watermelon Kid" nickname due to his habit of SmashingWatermelons after victories) legal and the move gaining over 100 million views on social media; NASCAR received enough complaints about the possible risk to safety that the "Hail Melon" was outlawed beginning in 2023.

*** '''Roy Williams Rule''': The horse-collar tackle was banned.
*** '''Carson Palmer Rule''': Defenders can't hit the passer's knees or lower legs unless it's coming off a block. The Palmer Rule was later revised in 2009, which stated that defenders on the ground can't lunge or dive at the passer's knees/lower legs (The Tom Brady Rule).

** The Basketball Tournament, a summer men's tournament with a $1 million winner-take-all prize, implemented one of these starting in 2020. For background, TBT uses a unique game-ending procedure called the Elam Ending (from its inventor, one Nick Elam). At the first dead ball with 4 minutes or less remaining in the fourth quarter, the game clock is turned off, and a "target score" is set by adding 8 points to the current score of the winning team (or tied teams). The game then continues with no game clock but with the shot clock still active, and the first team that reaches or exceeds the target score wins. Thanks to a fan with whom Nick Elam had interacted on a message board, the organizers realized that a team had an incentive to foul during the Elam Ending if it could reach the target score with a free throw or 2-point basket and the trailing team needed a three-pointer. The patch: During the Elam Ending, and non-shooting foul by the defense that would result in bonus free throws at any other time in the game instead gives the non-fouling team one free throw and possession.

* The IOC's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_the_eagle#The_Eddie_.22The_Eagle.22_Rule Eddie "The Eagle" rule]]. After Michael "Eddie the Eagle" Edwards qualified for the ski jump events in the 1988 Winter Olympics despite never having competed in any kind of international competition whatsoever due to quirks in the rules, the Olympic committee made certain requirements as to what athletes had to have accomplished before competing, to prevent similarly embarrassingly unskilled competitors from appearing. %% His nickname is "Eddie the Eagle", not "The Eagle".

** In the 1982 World Cup, West Germany and Austria went into their last match of the first round [[ForegoneConclusion knowing that a win by West Germany by one or two goals would put both teams into the next round,]] the other two teams in the pool having played their last match the previous day. West Germany scored after ten minutes, and the teams kicked the ball around aimlessly for the rest of the match, which drew a lot of booing and ire from the spectators. This match is known today as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgrace_of_Gij%C3%B3n "The Disgrace of Gijón".]] FIFA changed the rules so that in future, the last matches in pool play would be played simultaneously.
*** However, the 2026 World Cup, to be played in North America, will feature a record 48 teams, with an original plan for 16 groups of three teams each... making it ''impossible'' for all the teams in a group to play simultaneously. FIFA has suggested that draws may be prevented during the group stage by the use of penalty shootouts...which would introduce the possibility of a team losing a penalty shootout ''on purpose'' to eliminate a rival. That possibility occurred to FIFA in 2022, as they announced that there may instead be twelve groups of four teams, eliminating the possibility of that happening.

** The rules committee instituted the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infield_Fly_Rule Infield Fly Rule]] in 1895 to block a specific GameBreaker in which an infielder would let a fly ball drop and go for the easy double play (or, should the runner choose to run, catch the fly ball and throw the runner out before he could tag up for an equally easy double play) instead of just getting the one out that would normally result.

** In baseball, once the batting order is determined at the start of the game, it is fixed by defensive position and can only be changed by substitution. However, defensive players can swap positions at will. As a result, a common later-inning tactic is the "double switch," in which the pitcher is replaced by a pinch hitter immediately before his turn in the batting order, and a new pitcher replaces another position player later in the lineup. Then, when the team takes the field, the pitcher and pinch hitter (or another substitution) swap positions.[[note]]Starting with the 2022 season, MLB now uses a universal DH. As the National League was basically the only professional baseball league that still let pitchers bat, the above rule essentially no longer exists, at least on the professional level[[/note]] However, in leagues with a designated hitter, this would allow the team's strongest hitter[[note]]Actually the DH usually isn't the strongest hitter, the strongest hitter is likely already playing one of the field positions. Designated hitter jobs mainly go to whomever is the best hitter among the bench players, an older player who needs the lighter workload to lessen the wear and tear on his body, or players who have skill at the plate but very poor fielding abilities (either due to past; or even current, injuries or just not being any good at it).[[/note]] to bat more than once every nine plate appearances. As such, if a team swaps the designated hitter with another fielding position, the team forfeits the designated hitter and the pitcher must bat.
** In the 1993 season, the San Francisco Giants were eliminated from the NL East on the last day, despite having more than 100 wins. They needed a win to tie the Atlanta Braves, who were in first place in the NL West. In an attempt for Major League Baseball to prevent something like this from happening again, the divisions were realigned to three divisions per league instead of two. The playoffs were also expanded from four teams to eight, a new round was added with the wild card added in both leagues[[note]]The real reason for the expanded playoffs was (of course) money, in the form of at least 12 (and maybe as many as 20) more national TV games[[/note]]. This playoff format did not debut until 1995, due to the advent of the Major League Baseball Strike of mid-1994 that erased the remainder of the season.

*** This has become relevant again in 2021, as a study by Cambridge University suggested bamboo would be a better material for cricket bats than the traditional willow. However, since bamboo is not wood, the rules would have to be changed in order for bamboo bats to be legal.

* Common patch rules have been to force both teams to attempt to score rather than just stall. Football's downs system dates from the 1880s or so (look up the "block game"), pro basketball got the shot clock in 1954 after an infamously stalled game (when the Fort Wayne Pistons outlasted the Minneapolis Lakers 19-18 in a 1950 NBA game. The teams scored just four points ''total'' in the final quarter). Few such measures have been really successful in association football. In league play, making a win worth 3 points rather than 2 (a draw being worth 1), the change being made in 1981 in the (English) Football League. In knock-out tournaments, using the "Golden Goal" in extra time, where the first goal scored ends the match, had the opposite effect; it ended up encouraging defensive play to avoid conceding a match-losing goal.

*** However, the 2026 World Cup, to be played in North America, will feature a record 48 teams, with 16 groups of three teams each...making it ''impossible'' for all the teams in a group to play simultaneously. FIFA has suggested that draws may be prevented during the group stage by the use of penalty shootouts...which would introduce the possibility of a team losing a penalty shootout ''on purpose'' to eliminate a rival. That possibility occurred to FIFA in 2022, as they announced that there may instead be twelve groups of four teams, eliminating the possibility of that happening.

** "Icing" refers to the practice of a defending team flinging the puck all the way down the ice and forcing the opponent to go fetch it. They patched this by blowing the whistle immediately after the opponent touches it after it crosses the far goal line, bringing the face-off back to the defending team's zone. This slowed the game down a lot when a team was killing a penalty, so they re-patched it to allow shorthanded teams to ice the puck.[[note]]Except in U.S. youth hockey, where icing is prohibited even when shorthanded to this day.[[/note]] More recent rule changes tweak it to prevent players from crashing into the boards chasing after the puck, so now you don't have to physically collect the puck for icing to be called (resulting in a rule that fans, players, and even officials aren't entirely sure of). And another recent change prevents teams from substituting players after they ice the puck -- and they had to patch ''that'' immediately to delay television timeouts from occurring and giving the tired players a reprieve. (You can call a timeout, but you only have one for the whole game.)

** How ties and overtime have been handled in the NHL has become a series of increasingly patchwork rules. Traditionally, if the game was tied at the end of regulation, it either ended in a draw or went to sudden death, where the next goal wins. The NHL followed the former format until 1983, when it instituted a 5-minute sudden death overtime period; if the game was still tied afterwards, it was recorded as a tie and each team got a point in the standings (whereas a win was worth two points and a loss was worth none). However, in the late 90s teams began to play very defensively in overtime, reasoning that it was better to play it safe and walk away with one point than gamble and risk going home with none. This led to an increase in the number of ties and, concordantly, in fan dissatisfaction. The NHL attempted a rules patch by making overtime 4-on-4 and guaranteeing the extra point to both teams that made overtime (effectively meaning that a team that won in overtime would get an extra point). The intended patch was only marginally successful; while overtime scoring increased, teams now just played defensively in the minutes leading up to overtime instead, so that they'd guarantee themselves at least one point. The NHL changed the rules again in 2004, eliminating ties and introducing a shootout at the end of overtime; the rule that gives teams an automatic point for reaching overtime remains. Beginning in the 2015-16 season, overtime is now 3-on-3.

*** The "Marty [=McSorley=] rule" states that if two teams take simultaneous penalties for the same offense (usually fighting), they must play with the full complement of five skaters aside. It's named after Marty [=McSorley=], the enforcer of Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers, who would start fights to protect star players (or, depending on whom you ask, just because). This led to five minutes of four-on-four hockey, and a talented team like the Oilers was very dangerous with the open ice. (They also added the "instigator" rule to prevent teams from starting fights on purpose, although it's inconsistently enforced).

** In the 1990s, as lacrosse in the U.S. began spreading further south and being played on artificial turf, rules that made sense for a game likely to be played on muddy fields in colder spring weather started to look like handicaps. In particular, at the time, lacrosse had no time limits on moving the ball other than the goalie having three seconds to get the ball out of the crease. So, teams with narrow leads could stall their way to wins by taking ''forever'' to get the ball out of their own half, and then just pass it around the outside of the box down near their opponent's goal. So nowadays, teams have 20 seconds to get the ball out of their own half, 10 seconds to get into their opponent's box once they do, and are required to attack the goal and look for scoring opportunities. In the last four minutes of games where four goals or less separate the teams (or any time the officials think they're stalling), they are required, once they have gotten into the opposing goal box, to keep it in there (unless a deflected shot goes out of it), otherwise the officials stop play and give the other team the ball[[note]]Canada, where quarters last 20 minutes instead of 12, has never adopted these rules. Of course, they also have the advantage of always being played in north weather.[[/note]].

** A couple NASCAR rules are patches in case a driver commits what under the letter of the law is a penalty but not the spirit of it. For example, pit road speed limits are strictly enforced. However, if a driver is going too fast on pit road because they're avoiding an accident and they make an "honest effort" to slow down, the penalty does not apply. Similarly, passing another car below the yellow caution line is not permitted in most circumstances. However, if the driver was either forced below the yellow line by a car in front of him or taking action to avoid an accident, and the driver also gets back above the yellow line in a reasonable amount of time, the pass is permitted.
** The practice of "Buschwacking"[[note]]competing simultaneously in both the NASCAR Cup Series and its second-tier feeder series, named after Busch Beer who sponsored the second-tier series from 1984 to 2007[[/note]] was outlawed in 2011 by implementing a rule that only allowed racers to score points in one series of their choice. Buschwacking was largely limited in years-past by the logistical difficulties of getting drivers and their teams to 50+ races in a single year, including ones that took place near-simultaneously at different circuits. This changed in 2001, when Busch Series driver Kevin Harvick was forced mainly by circumstance[[note]]he was elected to replace the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. in the Cup Series, but still had contractual obligations in the Busch Series[[/note]] to run near-complete programs in both championships; and proceeded to make history by winning the Busch Series and earning Rookie of the Year in the Cup Series, firmly establishing him as one of NASCAR's top drivers. It took a while, but other drivers took note that it was now viable to compete in both championships at once, and from 2006 to 2010 every Busch/Nationwide Series champion was also a full-time Cup Series racer. This had consequences for NASCAR's traditional feeder system, as Cup Series drivers dominated the second-tier and stifled upcoming talent in uncompetitive races. After the 2011 rule change, another rule patch aimed at the same issue arrived in 2017 when Cup Series drivers were forbidden from making more than seven starts per lower series per season (later reduced further to five). The reason for this is best illustrated by Austin Dillon winning the 2013 Nationwide Series despite not winning a single race, the only driver in the modern-era to do so, because full-time Cup Series drivers who elected to disqualify themselves from earning points were still entering and winning races.

** Formula 1 once also made an ObviousRulePatch to restrict cars that were too ''slow'' - the "107% Rule", introduced in 1996, means that anyone who can't come within 107% of the pole-sitter's time automatically fails to qualify. While there was a massive influx of terrible teams and drivers in the decade prior to the rule's introduction, the arrival of Forti in 1995 (who only made the 107% time once that season) is considered to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

** The 24 Hours of Le Mans has several of these, most notably the banning of the traditional Le Mans start, (used until 1969) where everyone runs to their cars and starts them instead of starting in their cars, because drivers would simply set off without putting on their safety harnesses, with inevitable results. Others include a ban on single-piece bodies (after a driver was killed when his came apart) and the addition of two chicanes to the Mulsanne straight to try to bring speeds down.

** UsefulNotes/IndyCar got an obvious rules patch saying that anyone who placed pit equipment or personnel in such a way as to impede other racers entering or exiting the pits would be punished after the 2013 race at Sonoma Raceway. What happened was Scott Dixon hit the tire that Will Power's right rear tire changer was holding, sending him flying into the left rear tire changer and Dixon's team accused the crewmember of purposefully walking into Dixon's car, and he (Dixon) was the only one punished, with a drive through penalty that may have cost him the race.

** The downs system was one of these. In the original football rules, the ball only changed teams when someone scored, on interceptions, or at the end of a half. This discouraged attempting to score (since a fumble meant the other team could theoretically have the ball for the rest of the game), and finally lead to a game where one team simply ran around their side of the field for the entire half, followed by the other team doing the same in the next half. Amidst the public outcry, a fan identified simply as "an Englishman" wrote to the commissioner, suggesting that teams only possess the ball for four scrimmages. The commissioner, not wanting a situation where a team had the ball yanked away right at the opposing goal line, adjusted it to give a team three "downs" and reset a team's downs if they could get at least five yards before they ran out (later adjusted to four downs and ten yards).
** During the 2012 Thanksgiving game between the Houston Texans and Detroit Lions, Texans running back Justin Forsett got up after being tackled and continued to run for a touchdown. Lions head coach Jim Schwartz threw a challenge flag during the play, as replays showed that Forsett's knee had touched the ground. Unfortunately for the Lions, it is a penalty to challenge plays that are automatically reviewed, including all scoring plays. Throwing the flag resulted in a penalty that cancelled the review and gifted the Texans a touchdown. The Lions, who were leading 24-14 before the play, ended up losing the game in overtime. After the season the rules committee changed the rule (the "Jim Schwartz rule") so that the penalty would no longer cancel the automatic review.

** With the 2002 establishment of the Houston Texans, the NFL had 32 teams, so they realigned to 4 divisions per conference each containing 4 teams and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_regular_season#Current_formula developed a scheduling formula so that each team played every other team at every stadium within a 8-year span]], and road/home games set on an alphabetical pairing, e.g. teams scheduled to play the NFC North (Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings) would travel to Chicago and Detroit and host Green Bay and Minnesota or vice-versa. This became problematic in the 2008-09 season, when the AFC East (Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Jets) was scheduled to play both the AFC West (Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders[[note]]Now-Las Vegas Raiders[[/note]], San Diego Chargers[[note]]Now-Los Angeles Chargers[[/note]]) and NFC West (Arizona Cardinals, St. Louis Rams[[note]]Now-Los Angeles Rams[[/note]], San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks), with the Patriots and Jets scheduled to travel to Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle all in the same season. Starting in the 2010-11 season, the scheduling formula was amended so that teams scheduled to play the AFC West and/or NFC West would only play 1 West Coast team and 1 team closer to the Midwest for their road games, e.g. teams traveling to Oakland[[note]]Now Las Vegas[[/note]] would also travel to Denver, and teams traveling to Seattle would also travel to St. Louis[[note]]Now Los Angeles[[/note]].

* The IOC's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_the_eagle#The_Eddie_.22The_Eagle.22_Rule Eddie "The Eagle" rule]]. After Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards qualified for the ski jump events in the 1988 Winter Olympics despite never having competed in any kind of international competition whatsoever due to quirks in the rules, the Olympic committee made certain requirements as to what athletes had to have accomplished before competing, to prevent similarly embarassingly unskilled competitors from appearing.
* Roller derby's WFTDA rules, being less than ten years old, are constantly coming out with new rule sets featuring these. One example: roller derby is played in a racing-style ring, and it's a penalty to cut the track then re-enter play in front of other players. A common strategy used to be hitting opponents at the curve, forcing them to cut the corner before they could stop. A patched rule made it so you could avoid the penalty by simply falling over before skidding back into the track.

** A jump ball was once called after every shot as opposed to the beginning of each quarter, which killed the pacing considerably and bored the fans.

** The shot clock was introduced to counter the four-corners offense, where the team with the lead would position four players at the corners of the offensive half-court and one at the center, then just pass the ball around ad infinitum to maintain possession and eat up the game clock. This made for a slow, low-scoring game that bored the spectators.

** Beginning in the 2021-22 season, the NBA introduced new rules preventing unnatural shooting results being rewarded with free-throws for players. The rule was implemented due to the increasing results of players like James Harden and Trae Young being rewarded by forcing fouls that rewarded them with automatic free-throws.

* Olympic Fencing descends from duels fought with [[UsefulNotes/{{Swords}} smallswords, rapiers, and sabers.]] While sabers have a cutting edge (they were used from horseback as late as the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar), smallswords and rapiers are both pure thrusting weapons which are almost never used to slash and only really have sharpened edges to make BarehandedBladeBlock attempts impractical. Traditionally, touches are delivered by a clean thrust which depresses a button on the weapon's tip, causing a circuit to complete and a scoring light to flare. Due to the exceptional flexibility of fencing swords, sportsmen learned to "flick," or snap the weapon in a manner which caused the blade to bend around an opponent's guard and touch with the tip. The flick looks nothing like a traditional sword technique. Flicks became so dominant, especially in foil, that many fencers started calling it a "flick-fest". The sport's governing body, the FIE, patched timing rules on how long the button has to be depressed before it counts to make flicks much less viable. ''Most'' fencers consider this a good thing. Saber fencers still have a whip-over, where an electrified saber's long blade can bend and touch an opponent. Since sabers are electrified over the whole length, this means an attack which would not cut with an actual saber can still establish contact with the opponent and score a point in competition. Sabreurs are divided over whether whip-overs improve the game or not and referees have a hard time making calls on them. Was it a whip-over, an unsuccessful parry, or a remise? Good luck calling that action when it takes place in a fraction of a second. In 2000, new regulations made sabre blades much stiffer to reduce this, but it can still happen. Nowadays the FIE seems to be moving towards "if the circuit was completed, it counts".

** The law that a temporary substitute cannot kick for goal was added after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodgate the Bloodgate scandal,]] in which a fake injury was used to get a kicker on the field.

* In women's international gymnastics, the "Produnova" vault (handspring to double front tuck) was a frequent source of LoopholeAbuse. For over a decade, it was the single highest-valued vault in women's gymnastics, beating out other top vaults for half a point or more [[note]]the nature of the vault -- for all its difficulty, it's simpler in terms of technique and is more about power -- also made it attractive to gymnasts who may [[https://www.sbnation.com/2016/8/14/12474066/rio-2016-olympics-womens-gymnastics-death-vault lack the level of coaching]] they'd need to learn the more technically complex twisting vaults that many top vaulters perform[[/note]]. This led some gymnasts to compete the vault even though they couldn't quite land it fully on their feet (instead landing it in a sitting position), and a few even managed to make it to event finals doing this, because the difficulty was enough to keep them in the running even with a fall deduction. The 2017 Code Of Points finally introduced a new rule that if "the gymnast lands on the feet [and] any other body part simultaneously", the vault will be considered a much lower-valued single front tuck, thereby preventing gymnasts from benefiting from the high difficulty value unless they can actually land the skill correctly[[note]]landing and ''then'' sitting the vault down will only get you the fall deduction, but you do need enough rotation that the feet clearly touch down first to get the difficulty credit[[/note]].

* In Figure Skating, jumps are your big scoring elements, so to account for how physically demanding they can be the skater's instinct is to put them at the start of their program before they start to get worn down. To encourage more evenly spaced jumps, the ISU introduced a system where jumps performed in the second half of a program would be worth 10% more in the scoring. This itself received a patch known as the "Zagitova Rule", named after Alina Zagitova and her 2017-18 season strategy of performing ''all'' of her jumps into the second half, scoring big but resulting in a pair of programs with a boring first half. The Zagitova rule limits how many jumps can provide the bonus points (1 in the Short Program, 3 in the Free Skate) to encourage more balanced program choreography.

* In women's international gymnastics, the "Produnova" vault (handspring to double front tuck) was a frequent source of LoopholeAbuse. For over a decade, it was the single highest-valued vault in women's gymnastics, beating out other top vaults for half a point or more [[note]]the nature of the vault -- for all its difficulty, it's simpler in terms of technique and is more about power -- also made it attractive to gymnasts who may [[https://www.sbnation.com/2016/8/14/12474066/rio-2016-olympics-womens-gymnastics-death-vault lack the level of coaching]] they'd need to learn the more technically complex twisting vaults that many top vaulters perform[[/note]]. This led some gymnasts to compete the vault even though they couldn't quite land it fully on their feet (instead landing it in a sitting position), and a few even managed to make it to event finals doing this, because the difficulty was enough to keep them in the running even with a fall deduction. The 2017 Code Of Points finally introduced a new rule that if "the gymnast lands on the feet [and] any other body part simultaneously", the vault will be considered a much lower-valued single front tuck, thereby preventing gymnasts from benefiting from the high difficulty value unless they can actually land the skill correctly[[note]]landing and ''then'' sitting the vault down will only get you the fall deduction, but you do need enough rotation to actually land feet-first to get the difficulty credit[[/note]].

** For the 2017-18 season, the NFL passed a rule which prohibits defenders from leaping or hurdling over offensive linemen during a field goal or extra point (PAT) attempt, in response to several teams (notably the Seahawks, Patriots, and Broncos) successfully using this tactic during regular season games. NCAA football also adopted this rule as well.

*** However, the 2026 World Cup, to be played in North America, will feature a record 48 teams, with 16 groups of three teams each...making it ''impossible'' for all the teams in a group to play simultaneously. FIFA has suggested that draws may be prevented during the group stage by the use of penalty shootouts...which would introduce the possibility of a team losing a penalty shootout ''on purpose'' to eliminate a rival. That possibility occurred to FIFA in 2022, as they announced that there may instead be either twelve groups of four teams, eliminating the possibility of that happening.

*** However, the 2026 World Cup, to be played in North America, will feature a record 48 teams, with 16 groups of three teams each...making it ''impossible'' for all the teams in a group to play simultaneously. FIFA has suggested that draws may be prevented during the group stage by the use of penalty shootouts...which would introduce the possibility of a team losing a penalty shootout ''on purpose'' to eliminate a rival.

** There are obvious rule patches that are not so much about preventing game-breakers as about preventing injuries or deaths that resulted when they were used. For example, American Football banning the use of the ''flying wedge'' formation in 1894.

** "Icing" refers to the practice of a defending team flinging the puck all the way down the ice and forcing the opponent to go fetch it. They patched this by blowing the whistle immediately after the opponent touches it after it crosses the far goal line, bringing the face off back to the defending team's zone. This slowed the game down a lot when a team was killing a penalty, so they re-patched it to allow shorthanded teams to ice the puck. More recent rule changes tweak it to prevent players from crashing into the boards chasing after the puck, so now you don't have to physically collect the puck for icing to be called (resulting in a rule that fans, players, and even officials aren't entirely sure of). And another recent change prevents teams from substituting players after they ice the puck -- and they had to patch ''that'' immediately to delay television timeouts from occurring and giving the tired players a reprieve. (You can call a timeout, but you only have one for the whole game.)

** Many of NASCAR's rules patches are used for safety purposes. Their two biggest examples are restrictor plates to slow the cars down at Daytona and Talladega, and mandated head and neck restraints for all drivers after the lack of such a device was a contributing factor to the death of Dale Earnhardt. It should be noted that Earnhardt refused to wear the HANS device.

** The practice of "Buschwacking"[[note]]competing simultaneously in both the NASCAR Cup Series and its second-tier feeder series, named after Busch who sponsored the second-tier series from 1984 to 2007[[/note]] was outlawed in 2011 by implementing a rule that only allowed racers to score points in one series of their choice. Buschwacking was largely limited in years-past by the logistical difficulties of getting drivers and their teams to 50+ races in a single year, including ones that took place near-simultaneously at different circuits. This changed in 2002, when Busch Series driver Kevin Harvick was forced mainly by circumstance[[note]]he was elected to replace the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. in the Cup Series, but still had contractual obligations in the Busch Series[[/note]] to run near-complete programs in both championships; and proceeded to make history by winning the Busch Series and earning Rookie of the Year in the Cup Series, firmly establishing him as one of NASCAR's top drivers. It took a while, but other drivers took note that it was now viable to compete in both championships at once, and from 2006 to 2012 every Busch/Nationwide Series champion was also a full-time Cup Series racer. This had consequences for NASCAR's traditional feeder system, as Cup Series drivers dominated the second-tier and stifled upcoming talent in uncompetitive races. After the 2011 rule change, another rule patch aimed at the same issue arrived in 2017 when Cup Series drivers were forbidden from making more than seven starts per championship (later reduced further to five). The reason for this is best illustrated by Austin Dillon winning the 2013 Nationwide Series despite not winning a single race, the only driver in the modern-era to do so, because full-time Cup Series drivers who elected to disqualify themselves from earning points were still entering and winning races.

** Any rule introduced by the [[ButtMonkey International Cricket Council]] invariably ends up requiring a patch. The most hilarious example is the so-called "powerplays". Since the games were becoming boring during the early years of the 1990's, ICC introduced a rule restricting the number of fielders in the outfield in the 1st 15 overs ("powerplay"), encouraging more attacking batting. That eventually led to the game becoming monotonous in terms of strategy, not to mention making it boring during the rest of the innings. This was patched to allow 20 overs of powerplay, but the timing of the last 10 of those could be chosen by the fielding side, which led to nearly everyone invariably getting them done with at the earliest. This was patched ''again'' and now, the batting side was allowed to choose 5 of those overs. This was abused ''again'', and led to another rule patch, which now restricts when these powerplays could be taken. Don't expect that you have heard the last on it.

*** Unusual for American major sports, the team with the best record did not automatically receive home-field advantage in the World Series until 2017.[[note]]The NBA and NHL give the team with the best record home-field advantage, while the NFL does up until the Super Bowl, in which a pre-selected "neutral site" hosts from a warm-weather or climate-controlled stadium to ensure fairest play from the elements, although the 2021 Buccaneers and 2022 Rams both played in and won Super Bowls hosted by their stadiums.[[/note]] Prior to 2003, the AL and NL would regularly rotate home-field advantage year-to-year regardless of season results. After a controversial tie to end the 2002 All-Star Game when the teams ran out of pitchers, the league instituted the winner of the All-Star Game would receive World Series home-field advantage for their league's representative, as a marketing hook and an attempt to make the ASG more "competitive". This was deeply unpopular in many baseball circles, and in 2017, the rule was rescinded with the best records now receiving home-field advantage in every playoff round including the World Series.

*** Unusual for American major sports,[[note]]the NBA and NHL give the team with the best record home-field advantage, while the NFL does up until the Super Bowl, in which a pre-selected "neutral site" hosts from a warm-weather or climate-controlled stadium to ensure fairest play from the elements, although the 2021 Buccaneers and 2022 Rams both played in and won Super Bowls hosted by their stadiums.[[/note]] the team with the best record did not automatically receive home-field advantage in the World Series until 2017. Prior to 2003, the AL and NL would regularly rotate home-field advantage year-to-year regardless of season results. After a controversial tie to end the 2002 All-Star Game when the teams ran out of pitchers, the league instituted the winner of the All-Star Game would receive World Series home-field advantage for their league's representative, as a marketing hook and an attempt to make the ASG more "competitive". This was deeply unpopular in many baseball circles, and in 2017, the rule was rescinded with the best records now receiving home-field advantage in every playoff round including the World Series.