Feedback open during July on proposed changes to Shooting Rules and Competition Rules

The Rules Committee presents our next revisions to the Shooting Rules and Tournament Rules, now called the Competition Rules as it includes leagues and other non-tournament events. These documents are ready for your feedback before any rule changes take effect. Here’s how the feedback process works:

• We have recommended a set of proposed MINOR changes to the Shooting Rules and Competition Rules; the Board has approved our recommendation.
• The proposed new rules are now available on the Archery NZ website (see links below). Please review these rules. We invite your feedback on these for at least a month from now, until 31 July 2025.
• The Rules Committee will gather your feedback, review, and recommend any further changes to the Board for final approval.
• We are aiming to have the final versions of these rules approved and released by September 2025 to take effect by October 2025.

The changes we have proposed are summarised at the end of each document. Like our last round, most changes are minor. Please note a few specific areas of change:

• Welcome to the Inamata Shield, a Shield Challenge specifically for longbow archers. This will use the same round as the Hamilton Shield for now, but feedback from longbow archers on this is most welcome.
• Tournaments must have standardised pricing and this must be disclosed as part of the tournament registration process.
• Every tournament entrant must have a score value or zero recorded in ArcheryOSA so their participation or withdrawal is clear.
• Inclusion of Interclub Challenge rules in the Competition Rules, and its rounds in the Shooting Rules. Please note that it’s still easy for clubs or members to propose changes to these rules following our Amendment Procedure.
• The Interclub Challenge may be contested only by affiliated clubs using their own members.
• Inclusion of the Individual League rules.
• Removal of the Double 720 round from our Shooting Rules, as there is no mechanism for Archery NZ to register an event of this type with World Archery despite it being a recognised WA round. We have responded to numerous reports of confusion about the Double 720 round including its potential use in selection. The Rules Committee felt there is no advantage over a 2 x 72-arrow round event which provides more scores and more practice for the same amount of administrative energy.
• Distance changes:
  • Barebow/Longbow/Traditional U14 and Novice round distances changed: 72-arrow round now at 30 m; 1440 round at 35 m.
  • Longbow/Traditional adult men’s clout distances reduced to 120 m in response to feedback, and to align with Longbow adult women’s distances.
  • Interclub Challenge longbow 65+ class changed to use the IC Short round at 25 m, aligning with recurve and barebow 65+ classes.
• Statement that records cannot be maintained for the 3D discipline due to the unpredictable and uncontrolled nature of different events’ 3D archery courses.
• Clarification of the specific WA rounds for which records will be maintained, based on Archery NZ’s ability to register these rounds as WA events.

Please take some time to read the proposed rules and talk about these changes with your fellow members.
Review the proposed Shooting Rules v9.0.
Review the proposed Competition Rules v4.0 (was “Tournament Rules”).

Please submit any feedback on these rules using this Google Form. We encourage you to be as specific as possible with your feedback so we can review it.

This completes MOST of the Rules Committee’s backlog and the feedback received to date. If you wish to have other rules changes incorporated, please submit these anytime via the Administration team at administration@archery.org.nz.

One outstanding item is that we are still considering how we can incorporate the World Archery U15 class. There is much goodwill to align Archery NZ’s youth classes with WA’s U15 class but we have also seen substantial reluctance to make this change. Please reach out to help us understand your perspective.

Thank you for your support.

Rules Committee including Meike Voigt (chair), Gordon Harris, Kelly Atkinson, Tahir Singh