The body has confirmed that paper-based scoresheets used by any league or association should have a process described in its by-laws, and also communication to teams, that explains these are official documents and are handled by the nominated scorers.
These scoresheets can only be captured in a photo by a nominated team official for privacy and child safety reasons, and cannot be shared with anyone else.
“It’s a child safety matter, so it might open a whole band of issues with other sports too,” Netball Victoria’s North East Region manager Stacey Carkeek said.
“The only people that should be photographing the team sheets are the team managers or league people for admin purposes.”
Carkeek said the reason behind the policy was that if player names are added manually to a scoresheet, it is unclear of that player’s age or whether they have a privacy or child safety block on sharing their details.
She explained this issue is clarified using the Netball Connect website/app, which offers greater protection due to it requiring all users to register to be able to view team lists and statistics.
Only players who have nominated to be publicly visible are displayed in a team list within the system, and Netball Victoria can track who has viewed a team list.
“It is a child safety policy, and when it comes to Netball Connect ... when you sign up, you opt in or out,” Carkeek said.
“All the ones you see on Netball Connect want to be visible. The people that have opted not to be seen won’t be seen on Netball Connect.”
AFL Goulburn Murray head of operations Jo Spencer confirmed the association will be strictly enforcing the policy around the photography of scoresheets across all its leagues.
Enforcement of this policy may create complications for McPherson Media Group photographers, which could result in player identification issues in print and digital coverage.
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