Testing (for Associations)

The Netball Australia umpire accreditation has four levels – C Badge, B Badge, A Badge and AA Badge.

Each has certain conditions that must be met in terms of prerequisites, length and standard of game, and the formation of the assessment panel.

C Badges and B Badges will largely be awarded at Association level, assuming there are games of suitable standard to perform the assessment. The A Badge process is managed by the State body, while AA Badges are the domain of Netball Australia. We recommend that Associations identify who (person, subcommittee, panel, etc) will be responsible for managing the badging process at their competitions.

Note that this isn’t suggesting that they should be the sole judge of when umpires are ready for testing, or form all the panels, but they should be across the requirements and able to bring the various parts together at the appropriate time and place.

Umpires must have completed the prerequisite course and achieved the necessary theory mark on the Rules of Netball Exam before their practical test, and within the last four years. These are accessed through the Netball Learning system.

As Associations don’t have access to see whether an umpire has completed these, you should ask them to send you the certificates before testing.

The practical test involves the panel observing the umpire on a full game of the level and length listed above and assessing them against the relevant badge competencies. They should use the appropriate test sheet to mark the umpire as competent or not competent, make appropriate notes, and record the result.

For the badge to be awarded, all panel members must assess the umpire as competent on all competencies.

If the decision is made not to award the badge, the testers must outline an action plan, which should identify further training, development or assessment needs to assist the umpire to reach the competency standard.

Regardless of result, the umpire should be given a copy of their test sheet either at the time, or within a few days if the panel needs to consolidate notes and/or type up the sheet neatly.

Details of the badge competencies and test sheets can be found at https://netball.com.au/umpiring-accreditation

Testers must have held a badge at the appropriate level for at least two years. For example, if they have held a C Badge for five years but a B Badge for one year, they may only test as a C Badge until the two year period as a B Badge has elapsed.

If an umpire is no longer umpiring and has let their accreditation expire, they must have a current (within the last four years) relevant pass mark for their badge level in the Rules of Netball Exam.

Please follow this link [link to page with table] for a list of accredited testers at each level.

Associations need to ensure that testing panels are properly formed, or Netball Australia (via Netball Tasmania) may not recognise the accreditation. This is not about creating roadblocks, but simply about ensuring that we conform with the national framework.

A final point – as of the 2023 National Umpire Accreditation Framework, umpires wishing to test should first be appointed to two games as a cadet tester.

Once the test is completed, the test sheet should be emailed to Netball Tasmania as soon as possible.

There are then steps that the umpire needs to perform in the Netball Learning system before their accreditation is granted – we will email instructions.