Umpire in action

Umpiring

Umpire needed

Itchen College in Southampton are looking for a qualified C Award umpire to help with fixtures on Wednesday afternoons. The college are willing to pay the umpire £20.00 per game. If you are interested please contact Shirley Eastwood for more information.

HNA Umpire Courses 2010-11

The Beginner and C Award umpire courses offered by HNA are outlined in the courses leaflet. Please apply using the form on the leaflet if you are interested. Payment must accompany your application. Courses need to be full in order to pay for themselves. If you are interested in the B Award please contact Kim Simmons.

Recent updates from EN Rules Board (June 2010)

Acrylic Nails

Question: Please can you advise what action can be taken against players with acrylic nails. We are getting more and more incidents of players turning up to play who have acrylic nails.

Answer: Rule 1.4.5 clearly states that Fingernails, shall be short and smooth. If their fingernails conform to this rule then they can participate, whether their nails are square or round. Please beware that should a player be wearing Acrylic nails which do not conform to the above, then they should not participate according to the rule. If the players Acrylic nails do conform to the rule, and they subsequently suffer damage to their nail(s) then, they participate at their own risk and they would not covered by any England Netball Insurance.

Wearing of Sunglasses

Another directive which has been agreed by the EN Rules board in relation to the wearing of Sunglasses whilst participating in England Netball activities.

Sunglasses should not normally be worn when participating in Netball activities. However, sunglasses may be worn for genuine medical reasons when participating in recognised and authorised EN netball activities. If sunglasses are required for genuine medical reasons, then an appropriate medical certificate must be supplied to England Netball (or the appropriate league, county or region). If a player / coach / official has to wear glasses for medical reasons then she / he is fully insured from an EN point of view. But, if the glasses become damaged due to a netball accident then these are not insured. This guidance applies to Netball Activities within England Netball only.

Umpire Testing

All beginner and C Award tests have to go through Kim Simmons, County Umpire Secretary. If you wish to be tested please email Kim: kim.simmons@sky.com and an application form will be sent to you.

Umpire Development Pathway

There are six different levels/awards in umpiring and each level must be reached before you can move further up the ladder.

England netball Beginner Award
England netball Youth Umpire Award
FENA C Award
FENA B Award
FENA A Award
Country Accreditation (National)
IFNA International Award

To get started join a club and practice scoring, timekeeping and umpiring at training sessions.

Attend a Beginner Umpiring Course (These are administered through the County or through local leagues)
Take the FENA Beginner Award.
This is made up of a simple YES/No test consisting of 50 questions where 40 have to be answered correctly; this is followed by a practical test looking at minimal umpiring ability such as whistle, voice, procedures being able to penalise basic infringements.
Gain further experience by umpiring appropriate matches such as friendly matches, schools, and league matches if the Beginner award is accepted.
Attend a C Award course, these are often organised at local league level but also administered by the County Association.
Take the FENA C Award
This is made up of a test paper consisting of 20 questions requiring YES/NO answers, where a minimum of 17 questions need to be answered correctly. Then a practical test of a minimum of 30 minutes where umpires must show their ability in the application of the rules and controlling the game by:
- Correct use of voice, whistle and terminology
- Positioning and movement
- Penalising correctly, obvious infringements of the rules
- Appearance and manner
- Ability to score correctly, and call the score at each centre pass
Continue Umpiring appropriate matches, such as local league and club events and Regional events where the C Award is acceptable.
Attend a B award Course (This is administered through the Regional Association) After the course gain further umpiring experience. You will need an assessment to say you are ready to take your test.
Take the FENA B Award
Candidates are required to umpire a good standard game for the duration of one hour. They will be expected to control a high proportion of faults which occur in the obvious line of vision and to demonstrate some ability to see and control faults in off the ball situations. Accurate terminology, effective communication, fitness combined with wise movement are all expected to be evident. They must answer satisfactorily a minimum of 7 oral questions from 10 questions selected by the Testers from a prepared booklet.

As a B award umpire you are eligible to:

Umpire at Regional Leagues and some National Events (subject to passing a fitness test)
Take the Umpire Tutor Award
Become a Tester for the C and B Award
Progress to the A Award
Gain umpiring experience by making yourself available for Regional and National events.

To progress to the 'A' Award candidates must have had at least one year's experience in umpiring various types of matches such as club, regional etc since passing the B Award. The 'A' Award will involve candidates taking a written paper held twice a year in May and November and lasts 3 hours in which different types of questions relating to all sections of the current rules book need to be answered correctly.

You must complete a log of the matches you umpire (Blue Card). When this is complete and you have gained a Pass on your written paper you can ask to have an assessment. When this is gained you can apply to take your A test.

Candidates will be watched for a minimum period of one hour on a high level premier/national match and must satisfy the Testers in:

Practical umpiring ability
Answering oral questions, either by explanation or at the candidates discretion, by demonstration

As an A Award umpire you are eligible to:

Umpire at National events including leagues and tournaments (after completing a fitness test), England training sessions
Become a Tester for C, B and A Award
Assistance to progress to the A Award and ultimately to the National Accreditation and International Award may be sought via England Netball Association.

Rule Query Help

If you have any rules queries you would like to raise you can either email England Netball direct on info@englandnetball.co.uk or email HNA on the enquiry form and we will find you an answer.

If You Want a Course

First, check the course dates at the top of this page. If you want to attend a course on any of the umpire awards or become a table official contact HNA on the enquiry form and we will give you more information.