14 October 2008
By Gordon Forrester, NZ Army Sports Co-ordinator
I am often asked about the current policy for those personnel of the NZ Army to attend sports tournaments and sports related activities.
There are three categories; Regular Force, Territorial Force and Civilian employees of the NZDF. The rules for each category are mostly the same, except for some slight differences.
All RF personnel who are named as a player in a unit, regional, NZ Army or NZDF sports team must have passed the Required Fitness Level (RFL) to a minimum of G3(1) level within six months of the commencement of any tournament they attend. Those personnel who act in a management or official role must have a current RFL qualification to a minimum of G3(2) level and obtain medical clearance to participate in the activity. Personnel who are permanently medically downgraded and/or permanently excused the RFL, may attend sports activities as an official with unit clearance.
All Territorial Force personnel who are named as a player in a unit, regional, NZ Army or NZDF sports team must have passed an RFL qualification, to a minimum of G3(1) level, within 12 months of the commencement of any tournament they attend . TF personnel who act in a management or official role must have a current RFL qualification to a minimum of G3(2) level and must demonstrate that they are medically cleared to conduct the activity, this at their own expense. Personnel who are permanently downgraded medically and/or permanently excused the RFL, may attend sports activities as an official with unit clearance.
All civilian personnel who are employed by the NZDF but align themselves to Army, and who are selected as a player in a unit, regional, NZ Army or NZDF sports team must have passed the RFL to a minimum of G3(1) level within six months of the commencement of any tournament they attend. Civilian staff who act in a management or official role must have a current RFL qualification to a minimum of G3(2) level and must demonstrate that they are medically cleared to conduct the activity, which will be at their own expense.
Army sport is a very competitive environment and in order to ensure that the highest possible standard of competition is achieved, the minimum level of Army fitness is used to provide a consistent benchmark across all sporting codes. Quite apart from this, we would place our participants at greater risk of injury if there was no measure of fitness to clear personnel before participation.
Qualifying on an RFL is not an employment condition for civilian staff of the NZDF, so why does Army insist on civilian employees qualifying on an RFL prior taking part in Army Sport?
The RFL is a proven test of physical fitness which provides us with a standard measurement to ensure that all participants, irrespective of employment type, meet the expected standard. We must also ensure that a team’s competitiveness and ability to provide a fair challenge to the opposition is not degraded by the lack of fitness, and a pass on the RFL does this for us.
The policing of fitness qualifications prior to competition
Policing is mainly left to code and team management. All are aware of the policy and each must take responsibility for ensuring the expected standard is upheld. The initial process is the sports team managers to provide me with a team list, against which I conduct an audit of team fitness levels through KEA and Atlas. If there are anomalies, I then advise the team managers, who manage the opportunity for the individual in question to gain a RFL pass. All participants are given up to the day before competition to qualify, at which time I will conduct a further team fitness assessment.
What actions are taken if there are still members of a team that do not qualify on a RFL but are selected to play anyway?
This happens occasionally and it does create an issue for both the Army and other team members. We don’t like to be heavy handed in these matters. Better left to code management but if time prevails, we will advise the team management that the participant in question should be removed from the team list and not join the team in the concentration location; or if the competition is already underway and management has condoned uncleared participation, we will ask for an explanation as to why CA’s fitness policy has been ignored.
Can Code management approach units direct to have non RFL qualified players and management staff released for sport?
Army Sport cannot prevent code management from doing this and we understand the pressures that some codes are under to rally numbers but we believe that this practice undermines the integrity of our current Sports policy, so we encourage complete adherence to the RFL requirements.
What action will the Army Sports Committee take if the codes do not comply?
We hope that sports code management pursue the Chief of Army’s desire to promote Army sports and the conditions surrounding but if it is found that there are non RFL qualified personnel participating in Army sanctioned sports activities, those players will be immediately withdrawn from the tournament or activity and returned to their unit. Army Sport will contact the unit and explain why it has withdrawn and returned the player or official. Belligerence may see the management of the respective team dismissed immediately and replaced or in extreme cases the team may be withdrawn from the tournament or activity. We have found that RFL non-compliance has been on the rise in recent times. We are always working with code management to meet and support their needs but our working relationship must be mutually inclusive.
Gordon Forrester is RFL qualified.