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All organised sports have rules that ensure participants play correctly, safely and fairly. The rules are decided and regulated by the sports governing body. National governing bodies affiliate to international federations, which ensure the rules are applied across the world. Depending on the sport, the rules may be known as:

• rules – eg goalball
• regulations – eg motor sports
• laws – eg rugby union

Sport rules also need to reflect the laws and safety legislation of the country in which they are played. In the UK these are decided by Parliament. Laws take precedence over sport rules.

During performance, the rules are upheld by officials. The titles of officials vary according to the sport or their specific roles within it. For example, athletics has field judges, track referees and starters.

Types of rules

Typically, rules cover the following examples:

• number and type of participants – eg seven-a-side netball with specific positions
• play and performance – eg throw-in when a ball goes out of play
• scoring – eg a double fault in tennis earns the opponent a point
• clothing and footwear – eg full body suit ban in swimming
• equipment – eg weight of discus in athletics

Safety and risk management

In addition to the rules, organisers, participants and officials also need to manage risks within sport. These may be changeable elements for which it is difficult to make an exact rule. To do this, people undertake risk assessments. For example, a PE teacher must do a risk assessment for each lesson. Typically, examples of risk assessments include:

• clothing – eg removing jewellery, wearing appropriate footwear
• equipment – eg checking apparatus, providing protective/safety gear
• environment – eg checking the pitch, assessing the weather
• activities – eg warming up appropriately, participating at the right level
• techniques – eg being able to tackle correctly, providing support when needed

Terminology

Participants need to be familiar with the terminology used within each sport's rules. For example, offside (football), kill (volleyball), shido (judo), disobedience (equestrian), hog line (curling).