New Policies of the AFA

 

This page lists new policies or changes to existing policies that have been agreed to by the AFA committee.  These policies are seen as 'on trial' until the AFA committee is happy that they have ironed out any problems.  AFA members will then be given the opportunity to vote on whether to make them permanent changes / additions to the AFA Rules and Policies. New policies will be communicated to members via this website, the Flying Times newsletter, pre-competition talks and/or letters to clubs and judges.  The committee welcomes feedback from members and judges about these policies, and it will be the members that will ultimately decide whether they will be adopted permanently.

 

Notification # 19 - 4 rules on trial effective 30th July, 2010

4 - Process for challenging height card

Published 30th June, 2010

  

 

AFA Rule clarification Statement Number 19 – issued June 2010.

The AFA Committee at its Meeting on Monday the 28th June 2010 approved 4 amendments to the Rules for adoption as On Trial Rules effective from 30th July 2010  i.e. they will be applied at competition held after the 30th July 2010. The first 3 Rule amendments outlined below are seen by the Committee as being fairly minor in effect and accordingly the Committee will be placing them before members as part of the 2010 AGM.

The Rule amendments dealing with Height Cards and challenges thereto are more fundamental in nature and the Committee intends to leave these changes as “On Trial Rules” until the following years AGM.

The On Trial Rules effective from 30th July are outlined below:

Amendment 4  The intent of these rule changes is to clarify the rules around a team’s running height, including the conditions and process for challenging a dog’s running height, and the conditions and process for challenging a Height Card.

Changes to Chapter 6:

Section 6.1:

DELETE:

(d) Once the dog is measured, the judge is under no obligation to re-measure the same dog in the same competition.

DELETE:

(f) Any protest with respect to a dogs jump height must be verbalised to the Competition Organiser and/or the AFA Representative within 30 minutes of the heat in question by the Captain of a competing team in that division or combined division. ( Renumber (g) to (n) as (f) to (m).

INSERT:

(d) Once the dog is measured, the judge is under no obligation to re-measure the same dog in the same competition (except in some cases when the dog’s height is challenged – refer Section 6.4 below).

Section 6.2:

INSERT after existing section 6.2:

6.3     Running heights at competitions:

  • A Height Card must be present at a Competition in order to be taken into account at that Competition. Otherwise the dog shall be deemed not to have a height card for that Competition.
  • Where a Height Card is present for the designated Height Dog for a heat, the team shall run at the height specified on the Height Card.
  • A Height Card that is present at a Competition may not be challenged at that competition.
  • Timesheets
    • Teams entering a competition shall fill out the running height for any dog less than 14” in the entry form.
    • The Competition Organiser shall enter the height in the time sheets.
    • Dogs that have not yet been measured may have “NM” (Not Measured) in the entry form and should be measured prior to the Competition.
    • Any dog that does not have a height marked on the time sheet shall be deemed to be a 14” dog.
    • Heights may be written onto time sheets at any time during a Competition.
    • Changes to timesheets shall be countersigned by an officiating Judge or AFA Representative.
  • Timekeepers who observe that a team is running a height different to the height indicated by the team’s time sheet shall bring it to the Judge’s attention as soon as possible.

6.4     Challenge to a team’s Running Height.

  • An officiating Judge or the Captain of an opposing team may challenge the running height of a team in a heat. The challenge must be made within 30 minutes of the heat in question. The outcome of the challenge depends on the circumstances. Refer to the Team Height Challenge Flowchart below:


6.5     Process for challenging a Height Card:

  • A Height Card may only be challenged in writing, in a letter signed by an accredited Judge or the Co-ordinator of an AFA affiliated Club acting on behalf of the Club, addressed to the Secretary of the AFA.
  • An accredited Judge may challenge no more than three Height Cards in any calendar year.
  • A Club may challenge no more than two Height Cards in any calendar year.
  • Any Height Card may not be challenged more than once in three years (36 months).
  • It is in everyone’s interest for a challenge to a Height Card to be resolved in the shortest possible time. The original Height Card shall be considered valid until the AFA Committee has made a decision on the challenge, up to a maximum of three months (90 days) following receipt of the challenge letter. If the matter is still open after three months, the Height Card shall be suspended until the challenge is resolved.
  • The process to resolve the challenge is as follows:
    • The AFA Secretary shall place the matter on the Agenda of the first AFA Committee meeting following receipt of the challenge letter.
    • The AFA Committee shall, at the earliest opportunity, appoint a Case Officer to manage the challenge. The Case Officer must reside within a reasonable distance of the handler and the dog so they can meet as required. It is preferred but not mandatory for the Case Officer to be drawn from the AFA Committee. Conflict of Interest shall be considered in the selection.
    • The Case Officer and the dog’s Handler shall arrange for a measure of the dog to be taken at the earliest opportunity when all conditions necessary for a reliable and accurate measure can be met. This may, but is not required to, be at a Competition. The measure shall be made using an AFA approved wicket and procedure, by a Senior Judge or two Level 1 Accredited Judges, in the presence of the Handler and the Case Officer. Any other person(s) present shall be sufficiently far away to not affect the measure.
    • Photographs shall be taken of the wicket set up on the suitable surface, the dog’s stance at the time of the measure, and a close-up of the scale with the arm in the position from which the final reading was taken. Numerals on the scale shall be legible.
    • The result shall be written into a C-8 form and signed by the Judge(s), the Case Officer and the Handler if they agree.
    • The Case Officer shall report in writing (including the photographs) to the AFA Committee and make a recommendation based on the reading as follows:
      • If the new reading is the same as the existing Height Card, the recommendation shall be to dismiss the challenge. If accepted by the AFA Committee, the Height Card shall be confirmed and may not be challenged again within three years (36 months) from the date of the current challenge.
      • If the new reading is different to the previous Height Card, the recommendation shall be to revoke and destroy the old Card and issue a new one for the new height. If accepted by the AFA Committee, the new Height Card may not be challenged for a period of three years (36 months) after issue.
    • The AFA Committee shall, at its earliest opportunity, consider the Case Officer’s report (both written and verbal) and the records, and vote to accept, reject or amend any recommendation.
  • Disputes. If the Senior Judge, (or the two Level 1 Judges) , the Case Officer and the Handler cannot agree on a reading on the day, they shall agree to meet at another opportunity to repeat the measure. If they cannot agree at the second opportunity, the Case Officer shall report the matter to the AFA Committee for consideration and any further action.



Notification # 17 On Trial Rule – Rules for the conduct of Veterans Class – effective 1st April, 2010

 Introduction.
The existing AFA Rules refer to two classes of competition as being recognised viz. Regular and Non Regular. Regular Classes involve teams made up of any breed of dog and a Regular Class must be offered at every sanctioned Competition. A non regular class is any class other than a regular class. Section 1.1 of AFA Rules specifies refers to two such classes i.e. Veterans and Pee – wee.

Both of these classes are also listed in NAFA Rules. Veterans classes involve dogs 7 years and over and Pee –wee is a class for teams of all height dogs. Whilst Veterans classes are regularly conducted in the US enquiries suggest that Pee- wees classes have never been offered by NAFA Clubs.

Neither of these classes has ever been conducted in Australia and the AFA has never developed Rules for the formats. Without a clear statement of the Rules and conditions of the class it seems unlikely that any event organiser would even consider holding a non regular class as part of any competition.

Of the two classes it would seem that the class most likely to have a possibility of acceptance in Australia would be veterans – as there are a growing number of dogs of 7 years of age or over and there is the possibility that in some cases these dogs are not being entered in competitions if the Club does not have a suitable height dog to allow the older dogs to jump at a reasonably low jump height. Some Members may therefore prefer to enter their older dogs in veterans classes given they are only then required to jump 7 inches.

The AFA Committee agreed that until we establish and publish a set of Rules for the Veterans class we will not get any indication of likely interest in this Class – hence the decision to establish the following set of On Trial Rules for conduct of Veterans class racing. These On Trial Rules will come into effect on 1st April 2010.

On Trial Rules for Veterans Class

  1. To qualify for Veterans class dogs must be a minimum of 7 years of age as at date of competition.
  2. All members of a team entered for a Veterans class must be 7 years of age or over.
  3. Veterans teams can consist of a minimum of 4 dogs and a maximum of 6 dogs and dogs need not be from the same Club. (The 90 day Rule does not apply to Veterans racing).
  4. All Veterans teams jump the minimum Jump height of 7 inches irrespective of the height of the dogs racing.
  5. There will be no false starts in Veterans racing. The dog that commits the false start will be required to run again in order for team to complete the heat.
  6. The Race schedule for a Veterans class shall not consist of more than 6 races a day in 3 heat or 4 best 3 of 5 heat formats.
  7. Dogs entered in a Veterans class cannot also be entered in any other class at that competition.
  8. Dogs that have raced as veterans can be entered in Regular Classes at subsequent Competitions
  9. AFA Title points will be awarded to dogs in veterans competition under the normal rules – that is two points for a clean run with win and one point for a clean run.
  10. Veteran Teams are not eligible to claim Australian Record times.
  11. Veterans classes must involve a minimum of two nominated teams in order to be conducted at any competition.

Hopefully the availability of the above Rules will encourage Competition organiser to seriously consider offering Veterans classes at some of the larger competitions in order to allow these Rules to be trialed.