By JULIE ASH
It's meant to be a non-contact sport, but netball seems to get more and more physical every year.
Although the majority of the rules - such as stepping, replayed ball and obstruction - are easy enough to follow, the regulations on contact cause confusion.
Jan Teesdale, Netball New Zealand's umpiring
co-ordinator, said there were two sorts of contact.
Personal contact is when players touch in a way that interferes with play.
Contact on the ball is when a player knocks it out of a rival's hands.
"It is probably personal contact that most people have the difficulty with," Teesdale said.
"The word that needs to be highlighted is the word 'interferes'."
Players can touch, "but it is when the contact interferes with the opposing player that the umpire then has to make a decision about whether they are going to penalise or play advantage".
So goal keep Vilimaina Davu can stand as close as possible to her opponent and sometimes even appear to lean into her.
But if Davu knocks her opponent and causes her to move, then that is personal contact.
The umpire can either penalise the player which requires the offender to stand down and out of play, or play advantage.
Such tight marking has made the game more physical - something Australian captain Liz Ellis actually enjoys.
"I think it is what the spectators want to see and if the umpires will let you contest the ball, then it is good from a defensive point of view," she said.
"I am sure the shooters will have something different to say about that."
But she conceded it required more from the players.
"You have to keep moving and have fitness in terms of power and be able to jump and be explosive for a full hour of netball and that is something that I have had to work on over the years.
"If you do enough work there are no excuses why you should not be able to contest the ball."
