Role and behaviour of Umpire/Referees
The role of the umpire/referees is to ensure that the competition is officiated in a fair and impartial manner applying the rules of competition as outlined in the rules of competition documents of ITF HQ. To this end these officials must behave as members of ITF HQ Korea and not as representatives of any particular country or school. In consideration of this role they should not fraternise or unnecessarily interact with coaches or competitors during the competition but should treat the competition participants with respect and courtesy.
The Umpire Committee
The Umpire committee consists of the chair of the committee and other committee members and any other assistant as appointed by the committee. The Umpire Committee is responsible for training and appointing all official umpires/referees required for International and National competition and establishing the rules for ITF HQ Korea sanctioned competitions. All umpire/referees for such competitions must hold the relevant qualification as issued by ITF HQ Korea. The jury members will be drawn from the pool of qualified umpire/referees from all countries involved in the event, with each country providing jury members as required by the umpire committee.
Umpire qualifications
The classification of Umpires in ITF HQ Korea is a competency-based assessment that involves the five disciplines of Tul (T) or patterns, Ungyong (U) or special techniques, Matsogi (M) or free sparring, Kyokpa (K) or Power and Yaksok matsogi(Y) or pre-arranged sparring. Together the first letter of these disciplines makes the work TUMKY that phonetically sounds similar to the word Yom-Chi which in Korean is the word for Integrity. This is one of the most important tenets of Taekwon-Do for Umpires. The certificate for Umpires will reflect the accreditation level of the candidate and will be in the form of a large ITF HQ paper certificate and a smaller ID card that indicate the accredited disciplines. In order to attain this full qualification, the candidates must first complete the appropriate online Quiz and then participate in a face to face (either in person or electronically) training course provided by the Umpire Committee. The online quizzes for both General umpire rules and the individual disciplines may be accessed by going to the members tab at the top of the page and creating a login. Then hover mouse over ITF HQ Quizzes and click on UMPIRE QUIZZES.
Full qualification:
This is only available for those Umpires who are black belts and gain accreditation in all disciplines
Expert: 4th degree and above
Associate: 3rd degree and below
Individual Accreditation:
Pattern T-Tul
T1 (4th degree + only) : This qualification allows the holder to judge all ITF pattern competition
T2 (1st-3rd degree only): This qualification allows the holder to judge all patterns up to 2nd-degree black belt
Sparring M-Matsogi
M1– Jury president: This qualification allows the holder to act as Jury President in sparring matches. The Jury President should be a senior member and have a thorough understanding of the rules of sparring as well as being capable to record the results accurately.
M2 centre referee: This qualification allows the holder to referee the matches and requires a thorough understanding of the rules and the ability to make quick decisions and communicate using signals.
M3 corner judge: This qualification allows the holder to determine scoring points and record them accurately as well as calculate the outcome rapidly at the end of a bout.
Power K- Kyok
K1 All
Special techniques U- Ungyong
U– U1 All
Pre- arranged free sparring Y-Yaksok
Y– Y1 All
Rules of competition:
These can be found by accessing the following links
ITF HQ world championship rules March 2023 ver 11
World cup and continental championships rules-sept-2021
Spanish version Reglamento-Campeonato-Mundial-HQ-Korea1 Spanish version
Spanish version Reglas-del-campeonato-de-copa-mundial-continental-y-nacional/
