Tournament RuleSet
Feile na nGaiscíoch 2025
General Ruleset (applies to all tournament sections)
Fight Area: Circular ring area, 6m in diameter, with red and blue markings on the opposite ends.
Exchange: Fight time between a judge starting the fight (“Fight”, “Begin”, etc.) and ending the fight (“Halt”).
Match: A fight between two individual fencers. A match lasts up to 7 exchanges or 3 mins or 20 points cap, whichever comes first. (points gained in the last exchange can go above 20, to max of 24 (19+5) for a deep target). Final exchange called at 10 secs mark (no time limit)
Round: Sum of all matches between two teams (The round can have as many matches as necessary until one team is eliminated)
Clean Hit Scoring: 5 (deep) or 3 (shallow)
Afterblow: A valid afterblow is the immediate next blade action with no pause in between. The blade should have already started travelling towards the target when the previous hit landed.
Double/Afterblow Scoring: fully weighted, hits deduct points from each other.
Quality:
What counts as valid strike:
◦ Cut made with at least 45 cm travelling arc with proper edge alignment
◦ Thrust made with enough impact to make the bend of the blade visible
◦ Slice made with at least 45 cm slicing (in or out) motion with proper edge alignment
What does not count as a valid strike and should be rejected:
◦ Cut/Slice executed with a flat or poor edge alignment
◦ Thrust executed without visible bend of the blade
◦ Cut/Slice resulted in edge travelling less than 45 cm
◦ Light taps, scratches, hits at the outer protecting layer that otherwise would have missed the body
Scoring:
CLEAN HIT (no afterblow, invalid afterblow, or afterblow is parried):
5 points for a clean hit at deep target area (head, torso)
3 points for a clean hit at shallow target area (arms, legs)
DOUBLE/AFTERBLOW (both sides hit, valid afterblow):
5 Red 3 Blue = 2 Red
3 Red 5 Blue = 2 Blue
5 Red 5 Blue = 0 no score
3 Red 3 Blue = 0 no score
0 Red 0 Blue – 0 no score (no quality or unclear exchange)
Control:
When you take the opponent's sword or arms, and they can’t protect themselves, being at your mercy, you have control (i.e. controlling his sword, disarming and leaving distance etc.). Achieving control awards 5 points.
Strikes with the body and wrestling do not score any points but can be used (in controlled manner) in order to facilitate scoring with a weapon (blade or pommel). Joint locks and throws/takedowns are not allowed!
Disarms can score only if used in control manner and will be awarded with 5 points, grabbing the blade is allowed but only on the strong half of the blade,
Pommel Strike, Buckler Strike (both only to the face and, in case of the buckler, only with the boss) and Ring out (only with both feet and only if the other fencer didn’t step out as well) is awarded 1 point.
Disallowed targets: groin area, back of the head & spine area, back of the knee, ankle and feet.
Note! If the back of the head, back is struck due to self-exposure, the points will be given and the fencer who exposed the back of the head will receive a warning.
If back of the head is struck due to offensive actions, like push, then strike, or run around and strike - this will be a warning.
Process of an exchange:
• Each fighter starts an exchange in their dedicated spot
• Only one designated person (Second) is allowed with them ring-side, on the outside of the ring. Any additional club members or other supporting visitors need to be in the spectator area.
• Main referee will call the start (Fight) and stop (Hold) of the exchange
• After the HOLD command both fighters need to stop immediately and go back to their corners
• Parrying a late attack is allowed but attacking is not.
• Any attack made after the HOLD command is nullified
• Fighters can only contest referee decisions through their Seconds (and only when standing in their corners)
• Only ONE contest against a decision is permitted per Match.
• Main referee will always make the final call, after consulting with side referees. Additional contests may lead to penalties.
Penalties:
There will be a Warning/Yellow/Red/Black Card system in place to be used as a penalty system.
There can be only one warning per fighter per tournament, each next warning will result in Yellow Card.
Yellow Card will be recorded on the scorecard. A second yellow card will automatically become a Red Card.
Red Card will nullify the points gained within the same exchange and is recorded on the scorecard.
Black Card disqualifies fighter from the tournament (3rd Red Card automatically becomes Black Card)
Warning and further penalties will be used by referees in order to control the order of bout and fighters behaviour during the event. Excessive force, dangerous behaviour, time delaying tactics, presenting lower value targets and any other forms of gaming the ruleset will result in a warning/yellow card penalty.
Any attempts to influence judges via speaking, screaming, celebrating, complaining, arguing etc. will be penalised. This applies to Fencers and the Fencers’ Second.
Repetitive contesting decisions can result in a penalty to your fighter (ie. If a fencer contests continuously, yellow or red cards can be awarded, point deductions to your fighter, or award points to the other fencer.)
Additional Rules for Teams Tournament
Since each team will consist of THREE (3) fencers, changes were made to accommodate the greater number of matches that will take place during the tournament (e.g. reduced number of exchanges, shorter rounds, and elimination rules).
For each team of three, two fencers should be assigned to use longswords, while the third fencer can use a weapon of their choice that is NOT a longsword.
Weapon choices available to the third fencer:
Rapier
Messer
Sidesword
Smallsword
Arming sword
Rapier and Dagger
Sidesword and Dagger
Smallsword and Dagger
Arming sword and Buckler
Sidewsword and Buckler
Sabre
Rounds begin with one fighter from each team competing. This is called a “match”. When a win condition is achieved, the match is over, and the defeated fencer is out of the round. The victor will remain in play and immediately face the next member of the opposing team in a new match. The round continues, match by match, fencer by fencer until one team is eliminated. The most successful teams from each pool will progress to the next stage.
Third place round will be held for teams eliminated in the semi-final stage.
Ways to win:
1. A team that has more victories i.e. the team that has at least one fencer that was not defeated.
2. A match will be ruled a DRAW if both fencers have the same number of points.
3. In the case of a draw, both fencers are eliminated.
▪ In the case where both fencers are the last remaining fencers in their respective teams and their match concludes in a draw – the round will be decided by a tiebreaker.
4. Tiebreaker
▪ In a situation where both fencers are the last remaining fencers in their respective teams and their match concludes in a draw, there will be an additional exchange between those two fencers.
A winner of the round can be decided with the following win conditions during the additional exchange:
• A fencer will win if they score a point and defend opponents afterblow.
• A fencer will win if they score a deep hit, and the opponent deals a shallow hit in the afterblow.
◦ Reset conditions in a tiebreaker exchange:
▪ In case of a double hit with the same value score (deep hit against deep hit, shallow hit against shallow hit), tiebreaker exchange will be reset and fencers will continue to fight until a winning condition is met.
Survivor Stays-On System
1. The winner of a match fights the next fencer from the opposing team.
2. A draw means both fencers are out (unless both fencers are the last remaining fencers in their team, in that case tiebreaker rule applies)
3. If the final fighter of a team loses the match, the team loses the round.
Team Rotation System
The order of team members will be determined by the table, with a different fencer starting the match each time. This should guarantee, that each team member gets to fight.
Additional Scoring Information:
Off-hand Dagger Scoring:
Dagger scoring functions the same as scoring with any other weapon i.e. Deep and Shallow Targets are the same (Head and Torso = Deep Target. Arms and Legs = Shallow Target).
Double/Afterblow functions the same, with scores subtracting, provided afterblow is valid.
Dagger scores are as follows:
Deep Target hit with Off-hand Dagger: 3 points
Shallow Target hit with Off-hand Dagger: 1 point