New ITTO replace RTTO

[phihag]

The Recommendations to Technical Officials have been renamed to Instructions to Technical Officials and greatly expanded. They now include a lot of information for referees. On the BWF homepage, they can now be found under statues (unfortunately, the old URL /regulations/ is broken).

Interesting points (emphasizes mine):

§3.5.4.1. The shuttles should be tested by an active player in the
tournament, preferably a male player.

Huh? I thought the times where discrimination was official ended with the unification of scoring systems across Men's and Women's singles. Or are male players just pickier on average?

§3.5.20 Particular care should be taken when determining the order of the semi-finals and finals. The Referee should take into account factors such as TV requests, spectator interest, considerations for players in multiple finals (i.e. rest time and playing singles before men’s and women’s doubles (usually), and participation of host Member players).
§3.8.5.1 [in team tournaments ...] players playing both singles and men’s or women’s doubles play singles first.

Interesting order of play, given that in Germany we basically always play level doubles before singles before mixed doubles.

§ 3.6.1.3.For matches between players/pairs of the same Member in Grade 2 – Levels 2-4 tournaments or in the World Championships, the Referee may initiate a retirement/withdrawal of a player against his wishes if the Doctor’s advice is that it is not in the player’s best interests to continue playing.

This is a fix for the problem that when playing an entry from the same country, resigning forfeits all BWF points for that tournament.

§3.6.1.5. The Referee shall resolve the injury situation as quickly as possible and well within a few minutes so that play can be resumed or abandoned. The Referee may need to point to potential disqualification if it is suspected that the player is exploiting the injury situation to regain wind or if the player repeatedly hesitates in deciding to continue or abandon play.

In my opinion, this is very good precautionary regulation to avoid feigned injuries.

§ 3.6.2 The Referee shall be called on court by the Umpire or intervene on his own initiative in case of flagrant or other misbehaviour resulting in a red card (Law 16.7) or when the Umpire needs his assistance to resolve other issues.

This is also stressed at multiple points before: In case of umpire error, referees should come onto court without the umpire requesting them. As a German, I'm also very surprised about the gendering (his instead of their, or switching between his and her every paragraph).

§ 3.7.3.1. The Referee may decide not to report a card given by an Umpire if the Referee or a Deputy has observed the situation where the card was given and decides that the card should not have been issued.

In theory, this could be a recipe for disaster. I hope referees are exceptionally conservative in overruling umpires this way.

§5.2.3.1. [the umpire should (...)] time the warm-up period. The two-minute warm-up starts when the Umpire sits in his chair and ends with the calling of “Play” to start the match.

Great to have that written down! By starting when the umpire sits, conveniently the umpire software's clock can be used .

§5.4.9 ”Fault” shall be called by the Umpire when a “fault” occurs, except
when:
- [service / receiver faults]
- (..) §§13.2.1, 13.2.2, 13.3.1, 13.3.2

I think it's very surprising that this has not been adapted to the actual practice of calling fault only when necessary, for instance omitting the call in many cases of §13.3.9.

§5.7.3. If no incidents happened on court, the Umpire may discard the scoresheet after the match, unless otherwise instructed by the Referee.

This is already standard practice with electronic scoresheets; great to have it written down. Of course, any good software will archive the scoresheets nevertheless, it's not like they need a lot of storage space.

§5.8.3.2 Where there is no Line Judge or if a Line Judge is unsighted, the Umpire shall immediately call (..) the score or “service over” and then the score when the shuttle lands in; or

Many umpires had already handled it this way, and this is a great fix for the lack of "In" in the vocabulary.

5.9.1.5. A player attempting to influence or intimidate the Service Judge or a Line Judge shall be reminded that such conduct is unacceptable, with Law 16.7 applied if necessary.

Again, this codifies current practice. I think it's very good to have that written down.

§5.9.1.7. After a rally, a player celebrating excessively or offensively (e.g. raising a clenched fist or screaming in the direction of the opponent) shall be reminded that unsportsmanlike and offensive conduct is unacceptable (Laws 16.6.3 and 16.6.4), with Law 16.7 applied if necessary.

I'm eager to see how this is handled in practice, for example with Carolina Marin.

§5.12.1. Coaching is not allowed from the moment the player(s) is ready to play and while the shuttle is in play.

In other words, coaching between points remains allowed, but should be limited.

§ 5.12.6. Coaches at courtside must not use any electronic device for any purpose.

Probably not a problem at high international levels with professional coaches, but this could generate some conflict at lower levels. At national (youth) tournaments, I often see coaches fiddling with cellphones. Also, any electronic device would include pacemakers and hearing aids. In my opinion, both of them should be allowed for coaches.

§5.13.3. The Referee shall be the sole judge for deciding the speed of the shuttles to be used. If both sides wish to change the shuttle speed, the Referee shall be called immediately.

At international levels: Sure, that sounds like a good idea. At national levels, this would be complete chaos; it's not uncommon for tipping to be decided differently for every shuttle or at least for every court. Again, I'm eager about how the national translations will look.

§5.14.2. For a blood flowing injury, the game should be delayed until the bleeding stops or the wound is suitably dressed.

Great, this finally avoids the possibility of having to disqualify players for a tiny cut or nosebleed.

Match Stopped by the Referee
§5.16.1. When the Referee comes onto court during a match in a qualifying competition and informs the Umpire that a player(s) in the match is to be promoted to the main draw then the Umpire shall announce: “Match ended by the Referee. Player W (or players W and X) promoted to the main draw”; and “Player Y (or players Y and Z), proceeds to the next round/main draw”.

While this regulation makes sense, I'd bet this wording will trip up some umpires. In particular, how will the electronic scoresheet look in these cases?

[on yellow cards]: §5.17.3.1. The Umpire shall use the standard vocabulary to explain the specific misconduct.

So the rumors were true: We're getting a lot of new vocabulary! Unfortunately, the vocabulary is not publicly available yet.

§5.17.8.1. In cases of misconduct during an interval where a player has been faulted under Law 16.7.1.2 or 16.7.1.3, after the interval the Umpire shall call: “11- [score]” “... [name of player], faulted **for misconduct**”
5.17.8.2. “..... game; love all ”...[name of player], faulted for misconduct” followed by “service over”, where appropriate, the “new score” and then “play” (after intervals between games).

A very sensible change. Previously, the call was just "[name of player], faulted", and not spelled out in detail.

Advice to Umpires
§6.3. Change your call if you have been quickly and convincingly advised by your Service Judge to that effect.

Finally! A good service judge was always working as a team with the umpire, but allowing the umpire to change the decision upon service judge makes it much easier to smooth over umpiring mistakes.

§6.5.Listen to your Service Judge when he delivers an important message. Together you form one team.

Does this really need to be written down? Apparently so.

§7.6. The Umpire may arrange for the Service Judge to perform additional duties such as (...) to call the sideline closest to the Service Judge where there is no Line Judge appointed, with the players so advised.

Excellent to have that extremely common practice written down!


All in all, I welcome these changes, and the increased level of detail. Especially the referee parts are now very particular to BWF tournaments and will need significant adaptions when translated to the national regulations.

What do you think? Did I miss any interesting changes?

 

[stradrider]

Thank you so much, @phihag for such a great summery! And also for such a quick message to all of us waiting for the changes. I must say that I was looking every day for the new RTTO and would not be able to find it without your link. Well done!

It would be very nice of BWF to send us to the new location from the original page, the new location is very un-intuitive and a lot of people who are looking for the updates to the rules will have trouble to find it (including me).

Personally, I don't see gender discrimination here. I think it's 90 % of times it's the male players complain of the shuttle been too fast, so it makes sense to ask male players to check the speed in my opinion. Regarding the other language culprits, they did say in the beginning:

1.4. In these Instructions, words signifying the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter genders and vice versa. References to “Instructions” are to individual clauses in this document, while references to “Laws” are to the Laws of Badminton (BWF Statutes, Section 4.1).

I like a lot all the corrections and additions. Really looking for the new vocabulary! However I was actually a bit surprised that, for the umpires, changes were not so significant as I thought they would be... For the most part they just clarified some language and also added to the text what was written in other manuals and instruction texts... It's nice that service judges are officially having a bit more solid voice during the game though!

 

[phihag]

It would be very nice of BWF to send us to the new location from the original page, the new location is very un-intuitive and a lot of people who are looking for the updates to the rules will have trouble to find it (including me).

I contacted the BWF office for that already. Patricia Wong answered once (linking me to another invalid URL), but I'm waiting for any further feedback.

 

[Z-Force III]

Huh? I thought the times where discrimination was official ended with the unification of scoring systems across Men's and Women's singles. Or are male players just pickier on average?

That a male player mostly has more muscles and physical strength and therefore is just an issue of human nature. I never remember a female who use 34lbs+ of string tension. If the venue is for any physical weaker player too slow they can drop a bit tension. When the venue is too fast, because a by nature not strong player tested the speed? What should Boe/Mogensen or Kenichi Tago do? Increase tension to 40lbs and rallies got won due frequent collapsing rackets? Too fast shuttles will result in a massive hitting long and short rallies and will mess up alot of games as well. I can understand this without seeing a gender issue and turning into a drama.

Spoiler

Atm a lot people are too sensitive in terms of gender and see any difference as a negative aspect. Beeing a male can also be a curse. I remember when I was on the way to training and a boy cried as hell because he felt on the knee. The knee was bleeding, nobody was around, the kid was alone. I stopped and tried to stop the bleeding and put a plaster on it. While I did it I talked to the child. Where is your mother etc. Then the mother came and brawl at me, what I have done to her child. I got called something like a child abuser. Beeing male is always awesome compared to beeing female without any discrimination.

As a male player who use high tension I wouldn't want that I end up with too fast shuttles in a fast venue, too. You take the stronger players chance to increase the tension due limits of equipment and this IMO a discrimination of the stronger players and take every chance to adjust away. Dropping tension is possible for everybody and up to them own. Increasing is for some players impossible. Just my view as a stringer. Everybody get this way the chance to choose the suitable tension for the venue. I see no disadvantage for a female player, but we can't be all equal.

Interesting order of play, given that in Germany we basically always play level doubles before singles before mixed doubles.

If you live from playing badminton, you win in singles the double amount of prize money. In SF and F it's absolut a good thing. So players who compete in different disciplines play at first the game, where they can win the double of prize money. For some nations who don't get much support in badminton an important thing to keep badminton international. Isn't it also discrimination that a doubles player can just win half the amount of money?

 

[CantSmashThis]

I briefly skimmed over this post. I can add some of the new things that are in the new vocabulary. They do want us to explain each service fault and misconducts now using standard vocabulary, such as, but not limited to:

Service fault called - too high, service fault called - shaft, service fault called - feet, fault receiver - feet, etc;
Warning for Misconduct - racket abuse, verbal abuse, unsportsmanlike conduct, delay, you refused to follow my instructions, you kicked the a-board, you refused to play on, you celebrated in an unsportsmanlike manner.

Some other additions include: now official language for "quick towel only" or "quick drink only", "get ready quicker", use your foot to wipe the court, and my favorite "You hit the shuttle over the net", which I think should definitely be reworded.

 

[stradrider]

Hooray!!! Despite the incorrect links on the "laws of badminton" BWF page, the original files are there and I managed to guess the correct address for the new vocabulary pdf

http://system.bwf.website/documents/folder_1_81/Statutes/CHAPTER-4---RULES-OF-THE-GAME/Section 4.1.5 - Vocabulary.pdf

 

[phihag]

Hooray!!! Despite the incorrect links on the "laws of badminton" BWF page, the original files are there and I managed to guess the correct address for the new vocabulary pdf

Wow, outstanding detective work! Have you also found the actual laws?

About the vocabulary: §2.5 and §2.8 seem quite strange - those are probably typos.

While I welcome a more precise vocabulary - especially on cases like service faults - I think it's dangerous to try to press everything an umpire could possibly say or write into the vocabulary. Recently, I heard an international umpire claim that there's no need to be fluent in English, one just has to memorize the entire vocabulary. I can only imagine the trainwreck that would ensue if an umpire manages to pass as international by memorizing the entire vocabulary.

 

[Master]

@phihag my trial found these links so far

Section 4.1. Laws of Badminton

Section 4.1.1. Instructions to Technical Officials (ITTO)
Section 4.1.2. Variations in Court Equipment
Section 4.1.3. Handicap Matches
Section 4.1.4. Other Scoring Systems
Section 4.1.5. Vocabulary
Section 4.1.6. Imperial Measurements
Section 4.1.7. Additional Equipment for Para-Badminton
Section 4.1.8. Instant Review System
​

** Updated

 

[stradrider]

About the vocabulary: §2.5 and §2.8 seem quite strange - those are probably typos.

Nice catch, I think they refer to this instruction from ITTO:

5.17.8.2. “….. game; love all ”…[name of player], faulted for misconduct” followed by “service over”, where appropriate, the “new score” and then “play” (after intervals between games).

No luck "cracking" the link for the "laws of badminton" main file so far..

 

[phihag]

@phihag my trial found these links so far

After the ITTO, 4.1 (or 4.1.0) is the most exciting one, isn't it?

Here's my excitement scale:

Section 2.2.5. Technical Officials Code of Conduct I expect minor changes at most.
Section 4.1. Laws of Badminton Expecting updates about service law, scoring(?) and coaching between points, but probably only after the AGM in May.
Section 4.1.1. Instructions to Technical Officials (ITTO). Known, complete overhaul.
Section 4.1.2. Variations in Court Equipment. Irrelevant, unchanged for a century.
Section 4.1.3. Handicap Matches Irrelevant, historical baggage. Unchanged for a century.
Section 4.1.4. Other Scoring Systems Irrelevant, historical baggage. Actual alternative scoring systems are in the laws or additional documents.
Section 4.1.5. Vocabulary Known, major changes.
Section 4.1.6. Imperial Measurements Irrelevant, historical baggage. Unchanged for a century.
Section 4.1.7. Additional Equipment for Para-Badminton Not expecting any (major) changes.
Section 4.1.8. Instant Review System Not expecting any (major) changes.
Section 5.1. General Competition Regulations (GCR) I'm not sure, probably no major changes.
Section 5.2.1. Major Events Tournament Regulations Summary Table Will provide an overview of future tournament levels. (Updated: nothing new)
Section 5.2.2. BWF World Tour Regulations New document, but probably fundamentally unchanged from previous versions.

 

[Master]

About the vocabulary: §2.5 and §2.8 seem quite strange - those are probably typos.

Yes, indeed those are typos.

It should be like these :

2.3. To start the second game, the Umpire shall call

“Second game, love all; play.”
(Unless there has been a fault for misconduct during the interval)​

2.4. To start the final game, the Umpire shall call

“Final game, love all; play.”
(Unless there has been a fault for misconduct during the interval)​

 

[Master]

Badminton Umpires Association of England (BUAofE) has just posted the Instructions to Technical Officials (ITTO) into their website (with some modified illustrations).

http://buaofe.org.uk/Laws/InstructionstoTechnicalOfficials(ITTO).aspx

Regarding Section 4.1. Laws of Badminton changes, you may refer to the current release from USA Badminton here :
BWF Letter : Regulation Amendment (Nov 29, 2017)

Section 4.1 Laws of Badminton Changes :

Section 9. Service
Section 16. Advice and Leaving the Court​

plus others regulation changes are i that documents too.

 

[stradrider]

The links are working now, however the "laws of badminton" file, while been dated 03.01.18 seems to be exactly the same as before...

 

[CantSmashThis]

There are no new rule changes to Laws of Badminton. The post above from USA Badminton are proposals that will be up for voting as permanent changes during the next AGM in May at the Thomas & Uber Cup.

 

[pcll99]

this thread should be sticky.

 

[Master]

There are no new rule changes to Laws of Badminton. The post above from USA Badminton are proposals that will be up for voting as permanent changes during the next AGM in May at the Thomas & Uber Cup.

We're talking about the one mentioned in Statues.

And you could notice those changes included at Section 4.1 - Laws of Badminton - 03012018. (as we've just got this link from @stradrider )

9.1.6.2 For Fixed Height Experiment: The whole of the shuttle shall be below 1.10 metres from the surface of the court at the instant of being hit by the server's racket. (present at that new .pdf)

 

[phihag]

9.1.6.2 For Fixed Height Experiment: The whole of the shuttle shall be below 1.10 metres from the surface of the court at the instant of being hit by the server's racket. (present at that new .pdf)

No, that is the previous fixed-height experiment, dating to 2013. The new one is at 115cm, not 110cm.

@stradrider is correct, this is the exact same document we had before. You can tell by the lack of standard formatting; all new documents have a red BWF logo in the top right of the first page, and page numbers on all others and use a modern font. Since changes to the law require confirmation by the AGM, I expect new laws to come out after the AGM, in early June or so.

 

[Master]

@phihag yes, I'm drunk maybe...

too many numbers in my mind... and it's all 1.x LOL

 

[Master]

@phihag

New edition come up : Section 4.1 Laws of Badminton - 05012018

Changes :

9.1.6.2 For Fixed Height Experiment: The whole of the shuttle shall be below 1.15 metres from the surface of the court at the instant of being hit by the server's racket.

9.1.7.1 For Fixed Height Experiment: 9.1.7 does not apply.

 

[psyclops]

In the instructions, 'a break' is not defined. (read section during match with 'Play'); it is also never mentioned in the laws.

The player now gets 60 minutes between matches; previously this was 30. (this is GCR, read the 'Draw' section; the numbering is different however the content is same)

The compression socks are considered under clothing. (not medical support)
Now each leg/foot could have two adverts. (read 'Other Clothing' section)
The requirement about shoe design in market for 3 months (or was it 90 days earlier) is removed (ibid)
Until last year, as long as jersey/shirt were significantly different in colour to opponent, it was permitted. No change of colours is now allowed.

All of these are more for referees to handle. As player/coach also it is important to know. For umpires, almost all of these are to just implement.