Judges Committee - South African National Archery Association

Judging of archery competition within the South African National Archery Association (SANAA) is structured very closely along the same lines as the International Archery Federation, World Archery. We have a Judges Committee with a chairman and three other members. In addition, there is a panel of serving judges. These judges must all be members of SANAA and are responsible for ensuring that the rules drawn up by World Archery and SANAA are enforced properly at all appropriate competitions throughout the country, throughout the year. In addition to this, there are a number of Club Judges. We currently have a number of levels of judges within SANAA. They are:

FITA Judge Emeritus
FITA International Judges
FITA International Judge Candidate
Continental and Continental Candidate Judges
National Judges
Provincial Judges
Club Judges

World Archery Accredited Continental Judges are the same as International Judges and are tested and appointed by World Archery. They have to have served for at least three years as a national judge.

National Judges are appointed by the SANAA Judge committee after they have served well as a provincial judge for a minimum of three years and have satisfied the re-accreditation criteria on a regular basis. Provincial Judges are nominated by their Provincial Executive for consideration by the Judge Committee.

If accepted, the nominee is sits a written examination set by the Chairman of the committee. This exam contains 100 questions, some of which are multi-part questions. A minimum pass mark of 80% is required. At that point, they become Provincial Judge Candidate until they perform a practical test adjudicated by a committee member.

If you are interested in training for a judge, please let us know.

The Club Judge appointments and tests are administered by the various provinces and are not controlled by the SANAA National Judges Committee. However, the Club Judge appointment process, the written exam and the practical test were designed by the National Judge Chairman.

Once a provincial judge has been accredited, their accreditation is automatically renewed provided they meet the following criteria:

All judges serve a one year candidate position on appointment Judges who are reinstated after resignation serve a one year probation period.
They must officiate at a tournament at least once each year.
They must ensure that reports of any competitions at which they officiate are submitted to the committee chairman.
They must respond to the case study questions that are set by the chairman in the regular judge newsletter.
These newsletters are produced roughly every six months.

World Archery and SANAA Tournaments are only recognized if the event is presided by a sanctioned and accredited judges. Certain events (such as world ranking events) require a certain level of judges in order to satisfy the World Archery requirements. In Olympic events and World ranking events (such as the Olympic Qualifier), a technical delegate, who holds the rank of International Judge, may not hold the nationality of the hosting country.

Interested members are invited to contact their provincial archery association with a view to becoming a judge.

The World Archery rule book is divided into laws and bylaws. Laws define the principles, the essentials, whereas bylaws describe the application and usage of the laws. Laws are decided every four years for archery rules by the Congress held in the year after the Summer Olympic Games, and at every Congress for procedural and constitutional matters. Following the procedure of Appendix 1 of Book 1, Article 6.6, bylaws are decided by Council and valid up to the following Congress. Bylaws approved by Council are included, as they are confirmed, in the Rule Book, highlighted in dotted underlining, until the next Congress approved them.

New Rulebook 1 April 2012
The new Rule Book which will be effective as of 1 April 2012 is now available on the links below. This version is for internal use at this moment and a version with an enhanced layout will be published as soon as possible. However, since there have been many changes we preferred to publish this working version which allows translators and judges to prepare for the next season.

Book 1: Constitution and Procedures
Book 2: Events
Book 3: Target Archery
Book 4: Field and 3D Archery Rules
Book 5: Miscellaneous Archery Rounds and Ski-Archery
Book 6: Anti-Doping Rules

The iPad Version of Book 3 of the World Archery Federation rules covers Target Archery. These rules have been reproduced in this format with permission from the World Archery Federation by the South African National Archery Association (SANAA) for the benefit of its members. The rules are updated as at June 2012.