Anti Doping Guidelines

Often, Athletes consider the Anti-Doping World as complex and can feel intimidated by the process. This section aims to help better understand Anti-Doping related matters.

World Netball is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code and adopted its own set of Anti-Doping Rules in 2004, which all member countries are required to accept, and all Athletes must abide by.

New rules were approved by the World Netball Board and came into force on September 1st 2022. They are compliant with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code 2021. The purpose of revising the Code is to better protect clean athletes around the world.

World Netball is unequivocally opposed to the practice of doping in sport and fully supports the position of the WADA against the use of banned substances and methods. This position is motivated by a desire for fair and equal competition and by concern for the health of athletes participating in such competition.

These Anti-Doping Rules shall apply to:

• the following Athletes, Athlete Support Personnel, and other Persons:
  • all Athletes and Athlete Support Personnel who are members of WORLD NETBALL, or of any National Netball Association, or of any member or affiliate organization of any National Netball Association (including any clubs,teams, associations, or leagues);
  • all Athletes and Athlete Support Personnel who participate in such capacity in Events, Competitions and other activities organized, convened, authorized, or recognized by WORLD NETBALL, or any National Netball Association, or by any member or affiliate organization of any National Netball Association (including any clubs, teams, associations, or leagues), wherever held;
  • any other Athlete or Athlete Support Personnel or other Person who, by virtue of an accreditation, a license or other contractual arrangement, or otherwise, is subject to the authority of WORLD NETBALL, or of any National Netball Association, or of any member or affiliate organization of any National Netball Association (including any clubs, teams, associations, or leagues), for purposes of anti-doping. To be eligible for participation in International Events, an Athlete or Athlete Support Personnel or other Person must have been registered by WORLD NETBALL through his or her National Netball Association. WORLD NETBALL registration will only be issued to Athletes or Athlete Support Personnel or other Persons who have personally signed the consent form as provided by WORLD NETBALL. All forms from Minors must be counter- signed by their legal guardians; and
  • Athletes who are not regular members of WORLD NETBALL or of one of its National Netball Associations but who want to be eligible to compete in a particular International Event.

Within the overall pool of Athletes set out above who are bound by and required to comply with these Anti- Doping Rules, the following Athletes shall be considered to be International-Level Athletes for the purposes of these Anti-Doping Rules, and, therefore, the specific provisions in these Anti-Doping Rules applicable to International-Level Athletes (e.g., Testing, TUEs, whereabouts, and Results Management) shall apply to the following:

Athletes from the top seven countries of World Netball’s World Rankings who are selected to represent their countries in the following international Competitions and Events: test matches, Netball World Cup and its regional qualifying competitions, Netball World Youth Cup and its regional qualifying competitions and FAST5 Netball World Series.

Click here for our latest anti-doping activity report. 

World Netball Anti-Doping Rules

Click here to download the World Netball Anti-Doping Rules.

For more information on the WADA code please go to www.wada-ama.org.

World Netball’s Responsibilities

World Netball carries out the following Anti-doping related tasks:

• The organisation of doping controls for all World Netball run tournaments.
• Management of World Netball’s Out-of-Competition Testing System through its Testing Pool
• Results management in case of Adverse Analytical Findings (AAF) and review of national Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRV)
• Management of Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs)
• Production and distribution of anti-doping material for doping controls and educational programmes
• Cooperation and coordination with the Anti-Doping Organisations involved in Netball (National Federations, National Anti-Doping Organizations, professional leagues)