No Pass/No Penalty and No Earned Pass

Officiating (Public Read-Only)
1

Hi all!

I just combed through the 2025 WFTDA rules and there is no mention of the “No Pass/No Penalty” in it. I found it on a 2018 Officiating Cues document (https://static.wftda.com/officiating/wftda-officiating-cues-codes-and-signals.pdf) on the WFTDA website but it was not on the 2019 quick guide version (located at the end of the PDF).

This was brought up during a league scrimmage last night. Another official said that “No Pass/No Penalty” has been replaced with “No Earned Pass” but we can’t find that in the 2025 rule set either. Could someone please help me :slight_smile:

2

The relevant section is 2.5. The words “no earned pass” aren’t there, but the concept is implied by the existence of an “earned pass”

Earned Passes

Jammers only “earn” a pass if the pass occurs while the Jammer is wearing the Star on their helmet with the stars showing and:

  • The Jammer is Upright and In Bounds during the pass, or

  • Another Skater skates behind the In Bounds Jammer, giving up their position.

All earned passes count as passes.

The signal isn’t in the Quick Guide page at the end because that section only lists penalties, which a No Earned Pass isn’t.

2 Likes
3

It’s not in the rules, it’s in the WFTDA OFFICIATING CUES, CODES AND SIGNALS document because it’s a signal. The name there is “No Earned Pass”.

4 Likes
4

Oh yes, that makes sense. Thank you!

5

As correctly identified above, No Earned Pass is the correct terminology, however I do wish that we would revisit this term in future updates.
I think that No Earned Pass while being more precise language has a comparably bad mouthfeel to No Pass No Penalty, which to my mind is the reason why the latter term has stuck around as a colloquialism so firmly.

5 Likes
6

+1 to @Menace. IMO we should use the term “Pass Not Earned.” Or “Unearned Pass.” Because it’s still a pass, they just didn’t earn it.

1 Like