NAAMA Rules for Fighters

[admin]

Taken from the website http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~annaandpatch/index_files/Page368.htm

[Patch]

The Rules.


Common sense, reason and the spirit of the game shall prevail, and the Marshal is responsible for reasonably interpreting and enforcing the rules.

Do not ever hit your opponent's head (except in designated head-blow combat), throat or groin. Hits to the hands ending at the wrist, or feet ending at the ankles do not count as kills. Do not deliberately target elbows, knees or the spine, but if they are hit, they are kills.

All blows must be controlled and a touch is all that is necessary for a hit to be counted.
A hit that leaves a bruise is excessively hard – you most likely won’t be yelled at but you are expected to show you are sorry.
The back end of a weapon can hit as solidly as the front. If you find yourself regularly hurting people with any part of your weapon, you shouldn’t be using it.

Before you use a weapon, your club captain has to give permission for you to use it

Everyone in combat must wear a rigid helmet, with chinstrap, and at least leather gloves.
The marshal will decide if your helmet will provide adequate protection.
If your helmet or gloves come off, or your weapon breaks, retire immediately from combat
Further armour on the hands is highly recommended.
The wearing of modern armour (e.g. mouthguards, boxes, breast protection) cannot be disallowed on grounds of authenticity.

Do not fight if you have consumed alcohol, smoked or eaten dope, taken party drugs, etc, in the last eight hours. If you even think you might be under the influence, even after eight hours, don't fight.

Report to a marshal attending the combat before you enter combat yourself
Checklist for combatants before they enter combat:
---- helmet and gloves
---- take off all sharps (e.g. boot knives) and points (e.g. spike cloak pins)
---- do you have your club captain's permission to use your weapon? Weapon combo? shield?
---- are your weapons clean, burr free and checked by the marshals?
---- are your shield and armour NAAMA legal?
---- will your fighting be affected by drugs, alcohol, lack of sleep, stress, or bad temper?
---- are all your open wounds dressed?
---- is there anything the marshal should be aware of regarding your specific circumstances?
---- do you know this specific games rules?
The marshal should check all this with you when you report in.
If you change weapons in the middle of combat - they too must be passed by the marshal

If you are bleeding you must leave the field immediately
Current tetanus and hepatitis B immunisations are highly recommended

You can always choose not to fight someone. You do not have to give a reason.

If you hear the call "stop", "break" or "hold" immediately stop fighting, take up the call yourself, and wait for the marshal to call continue
Everyone has the right to call a break if they feel it is necessary. Of course if you abuse this right, people are bound to get sick of you.

In head-blow combat the only head strike you are allowed to do is a descending vertical strike to the crown of the helmet

Do not grab blades.

Grappling and unarmed strikes are permitted.
Spears are easily knocked up in combat. When making an attack with a spear, don’t aim the tip above shoulder height.

If your opponent controls your fall to the ground, you're dead
i.e. tripping or grappling or controlled pushing – but it’s not ok to smash or slam a person a weapon or a shield.
Whatever you do, do not roll about people’s feat wrestling and stabbing at each other.

Optional Armour rules: only 3mm+ hardened leather and/or metal armour counts. If you have armour on your chest and back, then any hits to armour on your limbs are not kills.[/u]

[Anna Cruse]

Patchie - we should point out that these are not the NAAMA 2002 rules, even in their entirety. When we wrote them out, it was as a suggestion as to how it SHOULD be, not as it is, following these criteria:

1) They must support a reasonable balance between safety and the enjoyment and accessability of metal weapon combat.
Contact martial arts involve some risk. Getting the balance right between risk and patronising molleycoddling is very important.
2) They must be consistant and justifiable.
Non-selfevident rules encourage disrespect and rebellion, which entails a more autocratic marshalling, which heralds the demise of the fun of the game. Many of us can recall potentially great events which have died due to everyone leaving unsatisfied because of the rules alone.
3) They must support the right of marshals to use their discretion.
Rules are never complete. There will always be times when a rule should properly be over-ridden, and times when it should be unpopularly enforced, and a marshal should hold the right to make such judgements when they are responsible for combat.
4) They must be cut down to a reasonable length, and written in clear spoken English.
One page of comprehensive rules is enough for anyone to play the game properly, provided that the first understanding is that marshals hold authority on the field. One page is easily read and remembered. The language used in the present version of the rules is an impediment to understanding. Legalese and jargon isolates members of the association, to no-one’s benefit.
5) They must be easy to find, and made accessable to all intending to fight at a NAAMA event.
Obviously enough. One page would be easily reproduced. It may be a good idea to take half an hour before fighting begins to have a newbies gathering to run over the rules and clarify any confusions.

We highly recommended the removal of these rules as they are unnecessary or unworkable:

A weapon that is placed on or into the ground such that it may pick up dirt must be thoroughly cleaned before being used in combat.
We do not scrub our blades with disinfectant. Visible dirt only makes wounds muddier, and the chances of infection remain the same. Only if there is a chance of fecal matter being on a blade should we go to such trouble, and that's covered by common sense.
Two handed pole weapons cannot be used reversed
If your weapon is a danger to those behind you, you shouldn't be using it. Points being forced backwards are as bad as points being forced forwards. It's up to you to get your weapon under control, and be aware of where the hurty bits are in relation to others.
When you die, if it's safe and appropriate, fall down, otherwise lift your weapons above your head to indicate your death and leave the fighting area
I think the dying rule is a stupid, dangerous rule. Let this one be first against the wall. Remember that most attacks are made below head height, and that whenever you lower your head you put it into the danger zone. Putting it where people stand, step, ground their weapons (accidentally or deliberately – I teach all my juniors to get their points down if they lose their balance) or fall, or where animals have crapped is stupid. I was lucky enough to be wearing a full face helmet when someone stepped backwards onto my face in combat. Let’s not push our luck.

All: these are the rules we are trying to get accepted. This will only happen if your leaders get off their ass and agree, and then put it in writing. If they don't, and you get hurt for the want of decent rules, please accept my apology for not having whatever it is that is necessary to get this achieved.

Anna

[Anna Cruse]

As a corrollary to that, many would say we ignore those stupid rules anyway, so why do we have to formalise the changes?

Why have rules at all, if we can ignore them as it suits us?

This is why we need good rules. Excuse me while I get technical for a moment. If we want to associate with other people we have to believe that we can do so with certain “rights” that we are not going to be exposed to unacceptable levels of hurt or interferance. Rules are created, at least in part, to maximise the probability that these expectations can be met. The NAAMA rules give us the expectation of reasonably safe and enjoyable metal weapon combat.

If we did not have that expectation, we would be irrational in fighting one another.

It is therefore imperative that we all believe the rules do support our expectations of NAAMA, and that all see the rules are enforced, equally and competantly.

Marshalls must know the rules, and the spirit of the rules, and be able to adjudicate accordingly.
A good soccer referee is able to organise a game of soccer between nine people, on a slope of 15º, using a coke bottle as a ball, in which all people participating enjoy the “soccer experience”. A good marshal has to be able to use their discretion regarding the rules in a similar way. For example, the NAAMA rule about no thrown weapons can be fudged to include safe javelins with no compromise to the spirit of the game.

Our leaders must be willing to collectively consider any suggestions for the revision of the rules.
The psychology of NAAMA does not allow for any one person to decree rules like the voice of God. If I was to declare that all people must stick a rubber chicken onto their helmet, and that they will not be cleared for combat until they do, regardless of my reasoning, I would be wrong, and I would damage the ASSOCIATION that we all supposedly accept.

We all must be willing to accept and uphold rules the body accepts, regardless of our personal opinions.
If the marshalling body nixes my rubber chicken idea, then I have to accept that that is how NAAMA wants it. What I do in my own club is my own business.

If this convinces you, and you give a shit, ask your leaders when things are going to be sorted.

Anna

[Angel]

While I agree that the list of things that people need to remember *while they are on the field* should be kept short and simple, I don't think the body of rules should be - I think they should be as extensive and comprehensive as they need to be so that *anyone* (even those with no knowledge of the sport) picking up a copy of those rules should be able to work out what is required of their gear and themsleves to be able to take part without having to consult anything else - it should be fully self-contained - including things we think are self-evident because commonsense isn't actually very common.

[stephan]

agreed