Rules policy
How Netball Explained sources, checks and updates its explanations of the rules of netball.
Netball Explained explains the rules of netball; it does not define them. The rules themselves are set by World Netball, the sport's international governing body, and by national and junior associations for their own formats.
Our source
Rules-sensitive pages on this site are checked against the World Netball Rules of Netball, 2024 Edition, published by World Netball. We record two pieces of metadata on every rules-sensitive page:
rules_edition— which official edition the page was checked against.rules_checked— the date we last verified the page against that edition.
You'll see both reflected in an "Official source" note at the bottom of each rules page.
Junior and jurisdiction-specific formats
Junior, walking and other modified formats of netball often use different rules to the full adult game, and these vary by country and governing body. We treat these as jurisdiction-specific rather than assuming one set of junior rules applies everywhere. Where a page discusses a junior format, it names the governing body or programme it refers to.
When the rules change
When World Netball publishes a new edition of the rules, we work through
every affected page: comparing the new wording against the old, updating
explanations, examples and diagrams, and refreshing rules_checked. This is
manual work, so there may occasionally be a short lag between an official
rule change and our pages catching up — if you spot one, please tell us via
Corrections.
Always check the primary source
For anything where the precise, current wording matters — a match official's decision, a competition entry, a formal dispute — always refer to the official World Netball rulebook rather than this site.