British Judo has taken the decision to implement the new adapted rules introduced by the International Judo Federation (IJF), for national level and national ranking events with immediate effect.

Following the last board meeting, the Performance Management Group (PMG) were asked to prepare a paper highlighting the changes, their impact and a possible plan for integration and implementation across British Judo’s members, clubs and competitions.

This paper was presented and discussed on 26th February by the board who voted in favour of implementing the rules at all national events with immediate effect, beginning with the 2013 British Schools Championships on Saturday 9 and the English Open for Juniors and Seniors on Sunday 10 March.

In order to ensure that all judoka, coaches, referees and officials are familiar with the new rules, we request that you please refer to the IJF’s ‘New Rules Explained’ document available here.

Further video examples can be found on the IJF New Rules Presentation available here.

The exceptions to the IJF rules for the weekend of 9-10 March are that three referees will remain on the mat for all contests and that weigh-in times will remaining on the morning of the event.

In addition to this, a new rules seminar will be held for all coaches and referees involved with the British Schools Championships and English Open for Junior and Seniors on Friday 8th March from 18:30-20:00 at IceSheffield. Further details of this event will be circulated shortly. All other officials will receive an extended pre-event briefing.

We understand that the implementation of the rules will be a learning curve for all involved, therefore the following concessions will be applied for the British Schools Championships:

• Shido will be awarded for every offence below the belt, not hansoku-make
• Medical attendance will be allowed if the referee believes there is an injury which needs assessing
• Shime-waza and kansetsu-waza will be excluded for entrants in years six, seven, eight and nine

The rules will be enforced in full for the Junior and Senior English Open. 

Please note that the new rules will not be implemented for any events below national level at the present time. Further guidance on any changes at these levels will be distributed as appropriate.