1. Bournemouth Netball Association accepts no responsibility for any loss or injury sustained by any Member, Umpire or Spectator howsoever caused. In particular but not without prejudice to the generality of this rule, all players play at their own risk.

2. Minimum playing age is 13 years.

3. If a player is over 12 weeks pregnant she may not participate in any game thereafter under the control of the BNA.

4. Nails shall be cut short, no taping allowed. Gloves may only be worn for medical reasons and then only on production of an appropriate medical certificate. These players are advised to have personal liability insurance. Umpires have to be satisfied that any gloves worn do not present an obvious hazard to other players.

5.TEAMS MUST PLAY IF 5 PLAYERS ARE AVAILABLE.  Any team conceding a fixture must inform the BNA Secretary, the Duty Umpire and their Opponents by 5.00pm on the day of the match.  Once a team have advised that they are conceding a fixture, if it is subsequently cancelled, they will not be able to play in the re-scheduled fixture.  If the team are unable to contact the BNA Secretary then they should contact the BNA Chair and if unable to contact their D/U, they must contact the Umpiring Secretary.  Any team conceding without giving the required notice may be fined £10.00. Any team conceding after 5.00p.m.on the day of the match may be fined £10.00 and may also have 2 points deducted from their total points score.   Any team who concede more than twice in any season will be fined £10.00 for each subsequent game conceded during that current season.

6a. Teams not on court and ready to play at the start of any match will be penalised by one goal for each minute late. If a team has failed to enter the game by half-time the game will be awarded to their opponents who will be credited with 5 points and goals allowed as in conceded games. The defaulting team will have 2 points deducted from their total points score and incur a fine of £10.00. In exceptional circumstances, this rule may be overridden at the committee’s discretion.

6b. Umpires will call teams to take to the court at start of play or at the end of an interval. The Duty Umpire will advise when 10 seconds are remaining, when all players should go to their positions. If a team fails to take to the court by the start or re-start of play the umpire shall award their opponents one goal for each minute they are late. If the team has failed to re-enter the game by the end of the quarter the game will be awarded to their opponents who will be credited with 5 points and goals allowed as in conceded games. The defaulting team will have 2 points deducted from their total points score and incur a fine of £10.00. In exceptional circumstances, this rule may be overridden at the committee’s discretion.

7. SUBSTITUTIONS – There shall be no limit to the number of substitutions that can be made by a team, provided that players used do not exceed twelve In any one game. Substitutions and team changes may be made; i) at an interval; ii) in the event of injury or illness; iii) by the opposing team in the event of failure to give notification of substitutions and/or team changes. For further clarification of this rule, please refer to EN rule 6.

8. All games will be played under EN rules unless other­wise specified.

9. Each team must be in possession of the current EN rule book.

10.Complaints regarding players, teams, umpires or supporters, from an umpire or a team must be made in writing to the B.N.A. Disciplinary Sec. and a copy to the B.N.A. Chair, within seven days of the said incident.  Any complaint from a team must be signed by the Team Secretary or Captain.  Any incident should be reported to the senior BNA official present on the night and the Duty Umpire and wherever possible a solution should be sought at the time.  

SUPPORTERS ‑ Teams are reminded that they are responsible for the behaviour of their Supporters and failure to comply with this rule may result in disciplinary action being taken against their team.

11.REGISTRATION RULES - A list of all players registered and their signatures must be submitted to the B.N.A. Secretary prior to the league commencing. Once submitted names cannot be deleted. Spot checks will be made weekly throughout the season and any team found using unregistered players will be subject to disciplinary action as per bye-law 14. Any team submitting an incomplete spot check form will also be subject to disciplinary action.

A player may only be registered through BNA for one team at any time and dual registration is not allowed except in the case of the Indoor League. Secretaries please note this is your responsibility.

A player may transfer from one team to another only once during the season. The transfer is not effective until the week following her appearance for the original team.  No transfer will be allowed after the 31^st DECEMBER 2010.  Any player who wishes to transfer during the year must advise the Secretaries of the two clubs involved (Secretaries may not refuse to allow a player to transfer).  The player may not play for the new club until the transfer has been registered with the Registration Secretary.  A new player may by registered by email, letter or telephone (please try not to call at unsociable hours).  You must ensure that the Registration Secretary receives a copy of her name by email, WITHIN 24 HOURS OF PLAYING and that this is followed immediately by posting a copy of her signature and the fee.  If this procedure is not followed, your team will be fined £10.00, any points from that game will be deducted and you will still be liable to pay the registration fee.

REGISTRATION RULE RE. CLUBS

Clubs with more than one team in the league must number their teams in order of merit (i.e. 1,2,3,4,5 etc.) when registering them. Players may play for any higher numbered team up to a maximum of 3 matches in any one season. (Tournaments count as one match). Players must not play for a lower numbered team. Failure to comply with the above will result in Bye Law 14 being applied. A minimum of 7 players must be registered in each team.

12. A full set of positional bibs, marked back and front, must be worn. EN ruling will apply except in the case of injury, when the umpire may use her/his discretion. BIBS   where there is a colour clash, the team listed on the left for the first half of the season shall be responsible for changing their bibs, teams on right for the second half. Please consult your team colours page before each game.

13. Matches commence promptly at the time specified. There will be Central timing. Games are of 60 minutes duration, (4 x 15 minute quarters) with a maximum of 3 minutes half-time and 2 minutes for the other quarters. Games must start and stop on the match umpires whistle. Grounds to be cleared by 9.30 p.m. whenever possible.

LATE ARRIVALS A player may enter the game after a goal has been scored with the permission of the umpires and must fill the vacant position.

STOPPAGES Play may be stopped for injury, illness or any other causes. The decision to stop shall be at the discretion of the umpire. Officials and umpires are requested to take great care if moving an injured player from the court. When a player is injured or ill a maximum of up to 2 minutes per injury to a cumulative total of 4 minutes per game, will be allowed, for each subsequent stoppage the injured or ill player must leave the court and has 30 seconds to do so - any extra time will be added to the last quarter of play. If any game has to be abandoned due to injury or unforeseen circumstances, provided that two quarters have been completed, the score of both teams will be adjusted accordingly to represent the full time score, i.e. 30 minutes of play would mean multiply by two. In the event of games being abandoned within the first 30 minutes, the games will normally be played at the end of the season, time permitting or Sundays if necessary. League games will take precedence over tournaments and will therefore be played first.

PLEASE NOTE EN RULE If a player injures herself and this results in free flowing bleeding, the player must request time to clean and adequately cover the wound. It is the responsibility of the team and team officials to provide the first aid dressing. Please note that Rule 7.2 (Blood Policy) would also allow the umpire to hold time for a player who is bleeding when no “on court” players have called time and the Umpire notices it. Normal injury time and procedures shall apply [Refer Rule 6.1.7 and Rule 7.1 (iii-vii).] In a tournament where no time is allowed for injuries; If there is bleeding, the player would be asked to leave the court to dress the wound and should be allowed to return according to Rule 7.1 (vii). No injury time can be allowed.

14. FIRST AID - All teams must have a first aid kit readily available at all games which should include surgical gloves.

15. METHOD OF SCORING  5 Points for a Win

      FOR LEAGUE GAMES    3 points for a Draw

                                               2 points if within 5 goals of winners score i.e.36-40  

                                              35-40 = 1 point                                  

                                              1 point for 50% or more of the winner’s score                                                            

CONCEDED OR DEFAULTED GAMES. The winning team is awarded five points and a goal score to total goals scored divided by the number of games played prior to the game in question, or 20 goals, whichever happens to be the greater.

16. All fixtures must be completed regardless of weather. If there is to be a cancellation, the Team Secretary will be telephoned as soon as the decision to cancel has been made. Teams are required to attend on court during inclement weather and the BNA Officials and the D/U’s will decide within half an hour if play will commence. If play commences and has to be abandoned, provided two quarters have been completed, the score of both teams will be adjusted accordingly to represent the full time score. i.e. 30 minutes of play would mean multiply by two. In the event of games being cancelled prior to play commencing or abandoned within the first 30 minutes, the games will normally be played at the end of the season, time permitting or Sundays if necessary.

17. TOURNAMENT RULES - With the exception of the Semi-finals and Final of the Knock-out/ Metropolitan/Keith Vardy Cup/End of Season Tournaments, no extra time will be allowed for injury/ illness etc. but in the case of a serious injury will be dealt with as per tournament rules.  Any team participating in any tournament other than the American or Versatility must provide an umpire to officiate the session in which they are playing, qualified as per rule 21, on the day.  The name of the umpire to be advised to the BNA Secretary within 24 hours of play.

AMERICAN/KNOCK-OUT/VERSATILITYTOURNAMENTS - See separate rules prior to fixture pages.

All teams must register with the BNA Tournament Organiser, who will be in attendance, prior to the

commencement of ANY tournament. This is to ensure that for any re-scheduled programmes all

teams are present at the commencement of the tournament, where they might have previously had a

bye in their first game.

Any team not on court and ready to play at the start of any tournament will be disqualified.

TEAMS FAILING TO ADVISE OF NON-ATTENDANCE AT LEAST 7 DAYS PRIOR

TO ANY TOURNAMENT MAY BE FINED £10.00.

Central timing by the Tournament Organiser, games must start and finish on the Match Umpires whistle.

18. END OF SEASON PLACINGS - The bottom two teams will be relegated (unless there are exceptional circumstances) and the top two teams will be promoted (where possible). Additionally, teams placed third, fourth etc., may be required to accept promotion if a vacancy arises. Any new team will be placed at the discretion of the Committee.

19. Each team must provide at least one member to attend the BNA handbook distribution meeting. Any team not attending will be fined a minimum of £10.00.

20. Change of Secretary's name, address or telephone number, must be notified immediately to the BNA Secretary.

21. Entry to the BNA league will be subject to the provision of an appropriately qualified umpire. The necessary qualifications are:-

Premier and Division 1 - Preliminary/C award or higher

Divisions 2 to 6 - EN Beginner Award or higher

Division 7 and below - Unqualified but MUST have attended BEDNUA pre-season training course

pre-season training course or alternative recognised

course.

Each team must nominate two umpires, one of whom preferably should be a member of their team. Umpires cannot be nominated by more than two teams.

21a. REPLACEMENT UMPIRES - The nominated umpire is responsible for providing a replacement if she/he is unable to fulfil her/his commitment due to holiday, sickness, etc.  As a matter of courtesy, it would be appreciated if you could inform the Duty Umpire by 5pm on the day of the match who your replacement umpire will be.  Should the D/U be unavailable then the Umpiring Rep. must be notified.  The replacement umpire, who must be a member of BNA, must hold the minimum qualifications as detailed in rule 21.                    

21b. UMPIRE FAILURE - If umpire failure occurs, (this includes an umpire who arrives after the start of the match).  The nominated umpire will be subject to disciplinary action.  If the game has to be cancelled due to umpire failure, the team who has nominated the umpire will be informed in writing of the failure and fined £10.00 to cover the cost of court hire to replay the fixture. 

 
The team will also be held jointly responsible with the nominated umpire for ensuring an umpire of the required standard attends to fulfil subsequent commitments.  Should further failure occur 5 points will be deducted from the team plus further fines at the discretion of the committee. The team will incur a fine of £10.00 and a 5 points deduction, to be doubled on each subsequent umpire failure.

22. All trophies must be returned to the BNA Secretary by the last playing night of the season. Any trophies not returned on time will be invoiced out to the teams.

23. All umpires must be members of BNA.  UMPIRES DECISIONS MAY NOT BE DISPUTED.  Captains have the right to approach the umpire/s during an interval or after the game for clarification of any rule, providing resumption of play is not delayed.  Any complaint regarding umpiring must be made in writing to the BNA Disciplinary Secretary within 7 days of the game.  Allocation of umpires to games is the responsibility of the Duty Umpire.

24. The D/U completes a results sheet at the end of the evening and it is sent immediately to the Results Officer. Team Captains must check their score as the results may not be altered once submitted.  Any discrepancies on results should be directed to the Results Officer.

25. If two umpires are not available, or in the event of an umpire sustaining an injury or becoming ill during the game and play cannot continue and where a replacement cannot be found, the game will be abandoned and replayed as in rule 16.  The two umpires officiating at the commencement of the game must continue throughout the duration of the game, except in the case of injury/illness/ exceptional circumstances, when the action mentioned above would take place.

26. The final decision on all matters other than specific umpiring decisions relevant to the rules of the game, shall rest with the Senior BNA Official/Representative present.

27. Where possible all team members should wear the registered team kit. Any player unable to comply with this ruling should advise the senior BNA Official present, who will then decide whether the player concerned can participate. Continuous disregard of this rule will result in disciplinary action.

28. Game balls may be changed each quarter, or during play if a ball is faulty/damaged.

29. In the interests of safety, the chewing of gum is banned from the netball courts by players or umpires. Please do not dispose of gum on the courts, to prevent them from becoming marked with “white spots”.

30. To protect the court surface, wheelies or any small wheeled items which might break up the surface are not allowed on the court area.

31. SMOKING IS NOT ALLOWED ON THE COURT AREAS (INSIDE THE CAGE). ANYONE SMOKING OUTSIDE OF THE COURT AREA MUST DISPOSE OF THEIR CIGARETTE ENDS RESPONSIBLY (i.e. In the bin).

32. The EN Duty of Care guidelines recommend that we should record the name and address of any spectator who wishes to use video, zoom or close range photography to record netball games. In line with this recommendation, the senior B.N.A. official present reserves the right to decline admission to the courts to any person unable to provide their name and address. If you are concerned about any photography taking place on our league, then please discuss the matter with the senior B.N.A. official present.