Following a legal appeal over the adoption of changes to the contest regulations by NSW the National Band Council of Australia (NBCA) has issued an update to the contest rules as posted to its web site in the revised 2011 Yearbook.

Legal Dispute

The dispute centred around the legality of the new section 4 regulations to be applied to the 2011 National Contest. This section has now been withdrawn and will be addressed at the 2011 conference in Melbourne.

..it is not the intention of the NBCA that overseas permit players should be excluded from the National Contest.Allen Woodham, Executive Officer — NBCA

“Contesting Bands will experience no difficulties as the registration formalities will be the same as in previous year’s”, Executive Officer, Allen Woodham stated. “This action will now provide an opportunity to ensure overseas and permit player requirements can be further clarified as it is not the intention of the NBCA that overseas permit players should be excluded from the National Contest.”

Parade of Bands

The Parade of Bands event will be conducted under the guidance of the regulations implemented at the 2010 conference and posted on the NBCA web site with the exception that the ‘change of direction’ will NOT be adjudicated at the 2011 contest.

Lengthy Discussions

“While these decisions may appear to be late in the day it has been a lengthy and difficult situation to resolve as lengthy discussions have been undertaken to seek a solution that was acceptable to all parties involved. It is always difficult to reach consensus when change is involved and we look forward to further clarification from delegates at the 2011 conference,” Allen stated.

Further detail www.nbca.asn.au