User blog comment:DarkLordZeta/Is it just me or has Fairy Tail/@comment-178.148.168.171-20140406121546/@comment-7418318-20140407083746

Taking a hostage outside the arena is not a tactic. Apart from breaking the rules of the tournament it also breaks the law of the country.

It's both cheating and a crime. And that the hostage was a six year old child makes it even worse.

There is no technicallity in the world (neither Earthland nor ours) that would see this action of Flare as a legitimate tactic.

Besides saying "Technically alls fair in a fight" is just bullshit. That might be true in a real battle, but we are talking about a tournament here. A sports event of sorts! The GMG rulebook is so thick that it most likely contains dozens or even hundreds of rules... it's just that the judge can barely see out of his pumpkin mask and thus only notices rule-breaches if someone else makes it impossible to overlook, like in the Laxus vs. Alexei fight.