27 September, 2021

There has been a major update of Archery NZ's Shooting Rules and Tournament Rules. As well as a full refresh of the rule sets, it also includes an exercise of going back through a number of years of AGM minutes to incorporate rule changes that hadn't been inserted. These updated rules take effect immediately. While there have been a number of changes, a summary of some key items are included here.

The most obvious update for many will be the revised naming of age classes. This has been undertaken to align with WA's change in terminology. We would like to stress that there is no change in date of birth eligibility for each age class, this is a terminology change only. For instance, the old U20/Junior age class will now be called under-21, and Masters 50-64 will now be called 50-plus.

Shooting Rules Update

1. Administrative updates to match WA terminology, align with the current Archery NZ structure and remove outdated material
2. Revised naming conventions for age classes, to align with WA naming - U21, U18, U16, U14, U11, 50+ and 65+ (note, there is no change in year of birth for each age class eligibility)
3. Clarified that archers may shoot 'up' multiple age classes in NZ/National tournaments, refer to Selection Policy for International Representation
4. U16 Compound categories now shoot on 10-5 80cm faces for the 50 round
5. Barebow round updated to 50m to match WA
6. For indoor WA18 and WA25 rounds, archers will now have a choice of 10-1 or 3-spot 10-6 target faces for ranking rounds (match play has target face types specified by category)
7. A new table in 3.11 has been added to clarify distances, shooting peg information and target face types for all categories. This replaces a number of incomplete tables, and should give much more clarity to archers and tournament organisers
8. 65+ Women's Recurve/Compound 1440 round changed to 60m as longest distance
9. Longbow distances clarified for 1440 and 72-arrow round & match play distance reduced to match Barebow
10. A target face arrangement has been specified for U16 1440 rounds where recurve and compound can shoot on the same target butt (80cm 10-1 on left, and 2x 80cm 10-5 faces top right and bottom right)
11. Archers may claim records in all age classes that they are eligible to enter for any given event (must be at correct distances)

Tournament Rules Update

1. Administrative updates to match WA terminology, align with the current Archery NZ structure and remove outdated material
2. Revised naming conventions for age classes, to align with WA naming - U21, U18, U16, U14, U11, 50+ and 65+ (note, there is no change in year of birth for each age class eligibility)
3. Director of Shooting for a major event needs to be 18 years or older
4. A procedure has been added to clarify how categories should be combined for match play when there are <4 archers in a category for registered match play events
5. National Championships location to be decided by the Board
6. Burton/Murrumbeena round for 65+ recurve at National Outdoor Championships now deleted
7. Barebow/Longbow/Crossbow added to Outdoor Champion of Champions
8. Clout Robin Hood/Maid Marion trophy rules updated - now closest to flag at all distances.
9. 50+ Age Class added for Royle Hutton competition, and 'Youth B' distances modified

For full Tournament rules, please see Tournaments

For full shooting rules, please see Shooting Rules

Many thanks to Logan Andrew, Caro Geelen, Peter Russell and Clive Hudson for their significant contributions.

Andrew Russell
Archery NZ Governance Subcommittee Chair