The new ITTO contain lots of info that was previously given in mails, letters, and referee instructions. One very notable exception though is the Social Media policy for Technical officials. It's still a separate letter and not included in the statues. The statues just have this text in the Technical Officials Code of Conduct (emphasis mine): I think this is a very reasonable policy. In contrast, the actual TOs Social Media Policy is much more restrictive: Ok, that one I understand, as it relates to betting. If someone knows a very strict service judge is judging a pair with extremely bad serves, it might allow insider betting. Here is it where it starts being questionable for me (read on to find far more grave regulations). A TO's social media account is not an official BWF medium. Why forbid pictures of umpires relaxing with fellow umpires and line judges? Does a picture with a bunch of cables labelled "this is where the IRS magic happens" really detract from the sport? I never knew officiating could be that dangerous! An injury of a TO would be news-worthy and I see absolutely no reason why it shouldn't be allowed to be posted. In other words: don't write on BadmintonCentral! Personally, I think this is by far the most questionable regulation. I am very surprised that I couldn't find a thread about it here. In my opinion, having BWF TOs contribute their knowledge to public discussions would be a great asset. Oftentimes, fans perceive umpires or laws to be unjust, only to be very thankful when educated about the actual laws®ulations. I think that it is paramount to clarify that TOs around the world do an excellent job. they're also humans who make an occasional mistake, but by actually discussing critical situations everyone can know that in virtually all cases, outright mistakes are far rarer than anybody could reasonably expect. What do you think?
Are you seriously advocating intentionally not complying with the code of conduct? I'd imagine this will result in a very swift termination of all umpiring (and any other) engagement on the international level, in the worst case alongside a press release of The Code of Conduct requires utmost professionalism from all umpires. Nine Tailed Fox is no longer working with he BWF. Would you really want to have your name associated with that, and any future options blocked? No, the correct way is to change the policy, then post. Or choose to remain umpiring at the national level, where the wording is much more open, and national ideas of freedom of speech would naturally restrict such regulation.
or the easy way is to not use your real name... like me. anyway, this is another case of bwf lacking common sense. their intentions may be directed towards the greater good of the sport, but it's pretty plain to see there's something lacking in their thought processes. instead of requesting technical officials to exercise common professional discretion they slam a totalitarian rule upon them. upon a volunteer group. as if they can't trust anyone. as if what umpires will say can bring the whole system down. there's no way this silencing rule can be effectively enforced anyway. so phil, does this mean you're not allowed to post here anymore?
Are you sure it would not be enforced if somebody found out your real name? In any case, the chilling effect is monumental; this regulation is the reason why even the younger international umpires (who tend to be more active on social media than the old guns) don't post anything badminton-related in public. I'm only a national umpire. While I'm bound to the BWF regulations and supplementary materials (e.g. umpire training manuals, COCTales) in spirit, I'm only indirectly affiliated with BWF via my national federation, and don't actually have to follow BWF regulations until they are translated. Thankfully, my national federation's policy is far more loose: I'm an advocate of free speech and would like this paragraph to be struck. Some people construe merely stating facts in a neutral way as disparaging of the sport or questioning of abilities. If I'd say that Lin Dan's serve would not be up to the level of the rest of his play, am I questioning his abilities? But of course, if fans found out the service judge called the serve bad before, fans could reasonably assume partisanship. Since the paragraph is referencing the tournament, I understand it to apply to tournaments where I umpire. This, however, differs from the common understanding in Germany. Nevertheless, I accept this paragraph and aim to be factual and precise whenever possible. I will point out technical mistakes only about players who I am not umpiring in the near future, and be ruthlessly precise in any law-related discussions. If the German regulations would copy the BWF ones, I'd give back my umpire license. Restricting free speech can not seriously be the policy of a nonprofit, for-the-public-good organization. Some exceptions have to be made to avoid insider betting, the appearance of partisanship, and personal attacks between technical officials, but those should be very carefully weighted against the negative effect of missing the best advocates for badminton and its laws in the online conversation.
I think regulations like that would have to be followed for professional referees. How much is the pay when referees sign a contract for officiating BWF tournaments... ? Is it worth it?
bwf has no say over tournament directors. it's up to the host, be it the nat'l federation or 3rd party organizer. personally i don't care if bwf or my home federation don't want me directing a tournament again. instead i'll go to it and watch it stress free. what have i lost? like umpires, nobody pays me. not even a $40-$50 per diem which umpires get. ...or rather, they don't post anything under their own name. who are we kidding? we all know they're out there. good to know you are of high character. i think we all knew that already. a few umpire facts for those who may not know: (a typical tournament uses 16 umpires) umpires pay their own airfare to a tournament, domestic & int'l. the host pays for their hotel the host pays for their airport transfers the host pays each umpire a per diem (different amount depending on the country, and whether they are local or flying in from another country) are any of you asking yourself 'what is bwf's share of these expenses?' zero. phil, does bwf reimburse any expenses for umpires to attend training? lunch, at least? or is it something you're not allowed to talk about?
the 2 referees get their air/hotel expenses and a per diem paid by bwf to officiate a tournament. as far as i know that's it. the host pays for their airport transfer. i guess that's too much for bwf to handle.
No, definitely not. As written, they do apply to all technical officials. In practice, BWF seems to hold the line judges to a somewhat lower standard, but all international umpires I talked to followed these regulations. While there is no pay yet (it's being introduced for the very top level of referees and umpires), many international umpires like their hobby very much and value their chance to have the best players in the world on court, as well as their friends on the circuit.
As a tournament director, you're a tournament official, not a technical official in BWF parlance. Therefore, these regulations don't apply to you. The BWF regulations (which the hosting association likely has to follow) only require you not to bet on the matches, and not publish or relay insider information such as umpire assignments. In other words, the sensible part of the regulations for technical officials. Indeed, an international umpire who'd know this is banned from discussing it online, because it falls under officiating. Unfortunately, I don't know about training costs. I suspect umpires in training get the same daily allowance that other umpires do. Many tournament organizers provide lunch to the umpires free of charge (or heavily subsidized), without being required by the BWF to do so. Thanks to all the tournament organizers out there!
i see... it's basically all on the job training? i was just wondering if there was any sort of initial classroom training put on by bwf. sounds like all you have to do is sign up w/ your home federation and say 'i want to be t.o.' and go from there. i'm used to feeding all the referees, t.o.'s & volunteer staff: line judges, photographers, etc. what is bwf's share of these expenses? zero, again. bwf requires many things to run a tournament, yet contributes very little.
No, as a rule of thumb each umpiring level consists of: a classroom (length varies between a couple of hours and days) tournament experience and feedback (typically 1-2 days) a theoretical written test (usually with a very slim margin of error, with a score of 80%-95% required) an oral test (I believe only on national levels, sometimes to make up mistakes in the written test) assessments for matches umpired on court These are organized by the national federation(MA) for the national levels, then the continental confederation(CC), and only then BWF. This is true in a literal sense, but it's not like you could have a look at the rule book and umpire at an international tournament the next day. You typically have to be active at each level for at least 2 years before you can apply for the next one. Any umpire you see on TV has at the very least 6 years of experience, 10 years for BWF level 3 tournaments or higher, usually much more. For instance, I have umpired about 700 matches by now, but since my state in Germany has a two-level system (others even have three) with 3 and 2 years waiting at each level, I won't be eligible to qualify for international duty until late 2019.
i know the u.k. is short on t.o.'s, which forces them to fast track people through the system, thereby, unfortunately, sacrificing quality.
My friend was a recent court sweeper for the Fuzhou BWF tournament. He is also a regular line judge for China League games. He got a degree in coaching from university and has lots of certificates (which isn't uncommon in China as everything needs a damn certificate) but I actually didn't ask him about the details of pay and what-not. Although he did tell me he wasn't allowed to talk to any of the players until the tournament was completely done (by which time almost everyone was gone) and he wasn't allowed to take pics with them. Although this conversation has made me curious so I will ask him!
Social media is one of the best thing that happened to badminton. Back a decade ago, we never hear about the players aside from their on court appearance. Now fans get exposed to a lot more. Once again bwf shows that they are still living in the previous millennium.
