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LCSD Hong Kong Netball League 2020-21

Sep 1, 2020 | Competitions, General, Local, News

In light of the pandemic-related challenges clubs and players continue to face in Hong Kong, we have decided to cancel Round 5 on Monday, 22 March 2021. This shall be treated like a wet weather cancellation meaning teams can opt for a draw (3 points each) or reschedule games (teams must organise umpires and venue). If any teams wish to play their match on Monday, 22 March, however, they may do so using the venue at which the game is already booked but arranging their own umpires. In this case, teams are requested to contact each other and notify HKNA of their intention to play by Friday, 19 March 2021

The League will then resume on Monday, 5 April 2021 with Round 6. While HKNA does not control how clubs manage trainings, we strongly encourage clubs to proactively prepare players for match-level netball to avoid injury. 

Please note the full schedule has been made available so teams can arrange umpires.

HKNA monitors the situation closely and will assess risk before each match date. HKNA places players’ well-being as its highest priority with the aim of also providing game time. We appreciate the feedback from the netball community and hope to see you back on court soon.

We hope that you are all well and safe and looking forward to the restart of the HKNA Ladies League. We refer to our message of 3 March and thank clubs for their timely notifications to us. All arrangements set out in our message of 3 March stand except as modified and updated by this message.

Currently we anticipate resuming next Monday 22 March. Updated Schedule could be viewed here.  We are closely monitoring the situation and if circumstances change, we will notify Captains and Convenors as quickly as possible via email and broadcast. Any matches cancelled due to the pandemic situation will be treated like wet weather cancellations (see 3 March message). We know that, understandably, many clubs have suspended training. We encourage all individual players to prepare themselves physically as much as possible to avoid injuries once games resume.

Any updated team lists must be submitted by 5pm Friday 19th March and all team members and guest players must be registered on Sportlomo before taking the court.

Given that several teams have withdrawn and the reduction of matches, there are several changes to the draw and to the conclusion of the 20/21 League.

The new parameters are laid out below:

Withdrawn Teams

Any previous matches played against teams who have withdrawn will be reset so no points are allocated.

For any matches previously played for teams remaining in the league, points will stand.

Friendlies

In order for all remaining teams to have maximum court time, I have scheduled friendly matches between teams who have previously played each other.

There will be no points allocated for friendly matches.

Teams may include non team members without penalty.

Teams may choose not to play friendlies but MUST communicate this to opposition, designated umpires and HKNA.  The $200 forfeiture fee will then be waived.

If teams fail to notify opposition, umpires and HKNA before the day of play, the $200 forfeiture fee will stand.

Teams must fulfil all umpiring and desk duties even if they choose not to play friendly matches.  Standard penalties will apply.

Umpires for friendly matches do not have to be grade qualified.

Playoffs and semis

Playoffs and semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday 1 May and Monday 3 May.

Top 4 teams in each division will play-off for the finals.

Team 1 v Team 4, Team 2 v Team 3.

All teams except Team 7 in Div 4 will play for a place.

Team 5 v 6 and Team 7 v 8

The Grand Finals are scheduled for Saturday 8 May at Fa Hui Park Recreation Ground.

Please contact us with any questions regarding the draw or the conclusion of the League.

The following message is IMPORTANT for ALL LADIES LEAGUE PARTICIPANTS. Please read in full.

General arrangements

1. Ladies League will resume on 22 March. The provisional schedule is:

Monday, 22 March (round 5)
Monday, 5 April (round 6)
Monday, 12 April (round 7)
Monday, 19 April (round 8)
Monday, 26 April (round 9)
Saturday, 1 May (final round for divs 3, 4; playoffs for divs 1, 2, 5, 6)
Monday, 3 May (playoffs for divs 3, 4)
Saturday, 8 May (finals)

2. All games will be played on outdoor courts.

3. We encourage teams to limit attendance at games to team members and two officials only, and not to invite any spectators. Teams are also urged to leave the venue immediately after their game.

4. Any spectators will be required to register their attendance through the LeaveHomeSafe app or by recording their contact details at the duty desk upon entry.

5. As per HKNA’s message of Friday, 26 February, all players shall complete registration on Sportslomo by 19 March, and in any case before
they can take the court on Monday, 22 March. All non-playing umpires and coaches shall also complete a Sportslomo registration by the same dates. The Sportslomo registration link is available here.

6. Clubs may only reschedule games in case of wet weather cancellations, in which case they are responsible for all arrangements (courts,
umpires etc). Any rescheduled games shall also be played on outdoor courts and in accordance with COVID-related restrictions applied by
HKNA for League games. Alternatively, teams may accept a draw in which case each team gets 3 points.

7. Any teams that require umpiring support should resubmit their request to Jenny Chadwick ([email protected]) by Tuesday, 16 March, even if they have already submitted a request, i.e., all requests need to be resubmitted.

8. HKNA’s COVID-19 Policy will apply to the Ladies League except where amended by the message. As per the policy, HKNA reserves the
right to cancel or postpone games to protect participant safety even if there are no Government or LCSD regulations requiring cancellation or postponement. Such a decision would be triggered, for example, by an exponential increase in cases and particularly in untraceable cases.

Close contact with a positive case

9. All participants should be aware that in case of “close contact” with a “positive case”, individuals may be subject to mandatory quarantine at a government facility (further information here). According to the Centre for Health and Protection, “close contact with a positive case” means being within one metre of a person with symptomatic laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 for a period of time (i.e., 15 minutes) without surgical masks. This is the basic principle but each case is assessed on a case-by-case basis and it may be applied stringently. For an outdoor netball game, it is possible that if one player on court is found to be a positive case, all players on that court (or more) could be subject to mandatory quarantine.

10. To lessen the risk of catching COVID-19 and/or being subject to mandatory quarantine, players may consider wearing masks even when playing outdoors. Teams may request other teams to wear masks during their games. If the other team does not agree and the requesting team wishes to forfeit the game, it must give HKNA at least 48 hours’ notice, failing which it will be subject to financial and points penalties for forfeit (as per section 10(g) of the Bylaws). If the forfeiting team gives more than 48 hours’ notice, it will only be subject to points penalties (i.e., 4 points for the non-forfeiting team; 0 points for the forfeiting team).

11. If any player, team or club wishes, however, to withdraw from the League for COVID-related reasons, their club shall notify HKNA by midnight, Wednesday, 10 March 2021, and where necessary submit a revised team list of players by that date. HKNA will finalise the League schedule after Wednesday, 10 March.

12.  Please note:
a)  No team shall be penalized for withdrawing by 10 March from the remainder of the League for COVID-related reasons;

b) Players may be moved to other teams in a club, but no player shall play down a division unless approved in advance by the League Convenor upon request;

c) If a player’s team withdraws from the League and they cannot play up, they may play in their division or higher for another club. It is up to the player and the original and other club to reach an agreement and to notify HKNA of arrangements as early as possible;

d) To be eligible to play in finals, a player must have played in the finals team at least 3 times (HKNA waives the requirement in section 12(f) of the Bylaws that the player must have played at least 6 games for the club).

e) Teams that withdraw at this stage shall not be entitled to a larger refund than those that do not. Any refund will be calculated at the end of the season and subject to the overall financial viability of HKNA.

Updates on the Uniforms Section:

a. New teams must submit their proposed uniform and colours on Form A to the HKNA Committee for approval at team registration. No team may have a uniform similar to the Hong Kong National Team, the colour combinations of which are dark navy/white and red/white.

b. All players in a team must be in same registered uniform which may be a dress or another form of sports uniform, e.g., singlet and shorts (all shorts must be pocketless).

c. Subject to the exceptions below, players may not wear extra items that are not part of the basic playing uniform, e.g., gloves, tracksuit pants. Umpires will ask players to remove any extra items before taking the court.

d. Players may wear (1) bikepants (above the knee) under their uniform; (2) extra clothing items upon presentation of a medical certificate as long as such items do not present an injury risk to other players; and (3) long tight-fitting athletic garments under their uniform when playing outside in cold conditions or if required for religious purposes. Bikepants and long tight-fitting athletic garments should either be entirely black or entirely the predominant colour of the uniform. 

e. Subject to the By-Laws, players not in the same registered team uniform will not be able to take the court. Where a team has an alternate uniform registered, all players must wear the same predominant-coloured registered uniform to take the court.

f. A team has until the fourth round of the competition to ensure all players have the correct uniform. The League Convenor may grant an extension of time to clubs/teams upon receipt of a request in advance of the fourth round stating clearly the reason for the extension and a date by which teams will be in correct uniform.

g. The penalty for the team not playing in the correct uniform after the third round is a 1-point loss per match.

Hong Kong Netball League By-Laws (Jan 2021 Update)

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Schedule


Result


Penalty

Downloads:

League Venues

Games will be played on Monday nights at 7:15pm and 8:30pm or at 7pm, 8pm and 9pm, depending on the venue. Games will be played at Aberdeen outdoor courts (Wong Chuk Hang Recreation Ground), Hong Kong Football Club, Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park Sports Centre, Fa Hui outdoor courts or Tai Wan Shan Park Recreation Ground (Whampoa MTR).

The following people may attend games: Players (including substitution players and non-playing, injured team members), two team officials (e.g., coach, one other), umpires (including umpire support), desk duty representatives, HKNA representatives. Spectators are not allowed at indoor or outdoor venues, with the exception that there may be one spectator per under-18 player at outdoor venues only.

The following conditions apply to games played at HKFC:

    1. No spectators allowed.
    2. Everyone must be temperature checked upon arrival at the club.
    3. Only the 14 players on the court and 2 umpires will be allowed to remove their masks.
    4. Substitutions, Team Officials (two allowed), Desk Duty and Umpire Support must wear a mask and sit in groups of maximum 4 with 1.5 metres between them.
    5. Players who had taken the court must sign the official scoresheet as per usual, but ALL substitutions and officials’ full names must also be included on the sheet clearly indicating that they did not take the court.
    6. All umpires, umpire support and desk duty representatives, and HKNA representatives must clearly indicate their full names on the list provided at the desk and ensure it is returned to HKNA for records.
    7. Teams won’t be allowed into the club until the previous teams have left. Immediately after the first game has finished all participants must leave the Sports Hall to allow the second game time to warm up. Stretching and post-game discussions must take place outside the club premises.
    8. Warming up is allowed on the courts only and not in the car park or hallways etc.

HKNA Approved Umpires List 2020-21 (Message from Jenny Chadwick)

2020 – 21 HKNA Approved Umpires List – Please share this with all your umpires

This list will be changed as further team lists come in. As you will see, due to COVID last season, we were unable to do any badging or re-validating. If you are down to be re-validated it is up to YOU to contact me. What is required is for you to re-do the Netball Australia’s Rules of Netball Theory Examination(a fee is required) and for someone to watch you umpire at the league. Contact me and I will try my best to arrange someone to watch you umpire to re-validate you. Try to give me the dates you will be umpiring in advance.

If you would like to see if you are ready for badging, also contact me so we can have a look at you and guide you towards the badge.

If we have a full season we need to get as much re-validating done as possible, so please start thinking about it. You can still umpire before re-validation.  You can contact me if you need any help or guidance.

The umpires on the list who have 3 x Needs Re-validating against their names MUST be re-validated this year or they will be removed from the register.

Netball Singapore also provides an online Theory Exam[Free of Charge] which all of you could take as an opportunity to revise the rules – link, before taking Netball Australia’s Rules of Netball Theory Examination to revalidate.

If you wish to be removed from the register please let me know. It is also possible I have left someone out, so again let me know!

Please contact Jenny Chadwick via email: [email protected] should you have any enquiries.

Relaxation of certain By-Laws in light of difficulties holding trials

For the first two rounds of the season, registered players may play for a higher team twice and that will not be counted such that on the third match they become part of the higher team, i.e., the By-Laws that provide that on the third match a player moves up to the higher team will only start to apply after the first two rounds. 

All other By-Laws shall apply at all times, including that guest and temporary players may only play for a team that is of their standard or higher and not lower unless with the prior approval of the HKNA League Convenor. 

Any scenario not covered here shall be determined in the sole discretion of the League Convenor and/or the HKNA Executive Council in accordance with the By-Laws or, where not express, in the spirit of the By-Laws and to afford fair and equal treatment to all teams.

Team uniforms

Given that not all clubs have ordered kit this year, the rules around team uniforms are relaxed. The guiding principles for uniforms include that: 

  1. a team may wear similar but not identical dresses as long as they are the same predominant colour;
  2. a team may wear sports clothes instead of dresses as long as they wear the same predominant colour and they wear the same colour singlet bibs (not stick-on bibs);
  3. any team without identical uniforms must contact the opposition to check what colour the latter will wear so as to avoid wearing a similar colour (including bibs); and
  4. where both teams plan to wear a similar colour, the second-named team must adjust to a different colour.

Player registration fees

Player registration fees are due by FRIDAY, 20 NOVEMBER 2020.

Player Registration Fee: (direct transfer to HSBC 178-768966-001)

ONE CLUB/TEAM ONE TRANSACTION – NO INDIVIDUAL PAYMENTS PLEASE

Ordinary Individual Member: (no increase from the 2019-20 season)

Full Season: HK$1,113
Half Season: HK$670

Ordinary Junior Member (aged 21 or below/born in or after the year 2000) 

Full Season: HK$337
Half Season: HK$219

If games are cancelled due to COVID-19 and we cannot complete two rounds in the 2020-2021 season, the HKNA proportional refund policy will apply.

Captains’ Meeting

The Captains’ Meeting will be held by zoom at 1900 on Tuesday 27th October 2020. 
Details is sent to the team convener and captain.

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