I have now refereed for the first time using the new Judo rules. This was at a junior event for orange belt and under but still handy to get a general feel of how they are working out.
First of all, the new ‘on the edge’ ruling is excellent for promoting positive Judo. A very quick summary here is that as long as one player has something touching the contest area, the action may continue (No “Matte”) and a throw which starts from there may be considered for scoring purposes. It kept contests moving and reduced interruption. Perfect. It does need decent sized safety areas to be truly effective and happily these were in place.
No koka! Most contests were ended by Ippon. A minority were decided on other scores. Only one contest I was involved in went to Hantei and was a clear unanimous decision. No koka meant that the sort of scrappy stumbling throws where one player just about was pushed onto the ground is not going to score now. Great!
First penalty is now a warning. I also liked this in action. A few times I had to give this penalty for negative posture, typically stiff-arming to excess. Once given the player opened up and the Judo started to happen. The contest was subsequently ended by players obtaining the scores through technique, as opposed to a score from a penalty. I did not have to give a second penalty to any player throughout the day.
Giving penalties more quickly for negative Judo (drops with no kuzushi, forcing a player down etc). This sort of thing is not so evident at junior level. Warnings were given for ineffective Tomoe Nage attempts, but then the same player did some cracking Ippons later on with the technique! I am reserving judgement on this one until I have refereed some senior contests with it.
A good start!