Hi all, I am new to the forum and a casual badminton player, playing among my friends. Recently i had a weird encounter when my friend and i were having a game on court. This guy came over to our court and took a shuttle which was near to the net pole. I went to tell him that we still wanted the shuttle but he countered that since the shuttle was pointing upwards, it meant that we did not want it anymore. I told him he could have asked first, which he responded "no' this is badminton etiquette and if i did not know such rules, I should not be playing badminton at all. Was taken aback by such rudeness. Well just maybe i did not know that there is such an unspoken rule in badminton, but would not it be basic manners and courtesy to at least ask. Is this really a norm in badminton?
I find this statement utterly nonsense. If you look at the professional badminton, the players always ask the opponents before change the shuttlecock. I guess that guy created his own rules.
It's the exact opposite: Shuttles pointing upwards are the new ones. Of course they belong to the people who put them there, and nobody would take them. This guy is just trying to steal a shuttle, it's as simple as that. Don't buy any of his excuses or wild stories and ask for the shuttle back. Don't start any discussion about badminton etiquette. Even if the situation were as described by that guy (it's definitely not - why would anyone discard new shuttles?), he should still have given you the shuttle back once he realized his mistake. If the behavior persists, inform the hall organizers. Just saying he stole your shuttle, and when confronted confessed to it but still wouldn't give it back should be enough to get him kicked out.
It's utter nonsense...does he own the court or the hall? He's just bullying and stealing your shuttle...and getting away with it.
That's one way to keep costs down I guess. Just keep "appropriating" them from lower level players using etiquette as justification, hahaha.
I got often shuttles stolen past. I have a custom tube with my name on. I also mark every shuttle with a small dot of a unique colour pen. Sad that I have to do this.
@phihag said it best. Exactly, shuttles pointing up so we know which to grab during the game. Any shuttles pointing up are just the next to be used. @justanut. Don't know what that other guy's problem was. Either picking on you and your friend or just a deranged individual. What if a partial tube was there, what's next, "oh no, any tubes placed on the side of the court while you're playing are meant to be not wanted?"....free tube of shuttles? If he stole your shuttle, next time his group has a game, go and take a shuttle facing up. Then make a scene and repeat the "rule" that guy said.
So many ways to do this... Another option is to just customize a cap and change the cap when you start a new tube.
That's the one I normally use. It's wider than a normal tube, so no issues there. It's not a paper one though, it's one of those metal ones that fit around the paper Pringles tubes.
