Our Background
In January 1994 some long serving line judges decided to form an association to better organise the activities of line judges and promote their activities at home and abroad. The Association was registered as an associate member of the Badminton Association of England, now Badminton England, under the name of The Badminton Line Judges Association and was the first formal line judges association in the World. In 2009 the Association changed its name to the Badminton Line Judges Association of England (BLJAofE) to distinguish it from other line judge associations abroad that have also been formed since 1994. The BLJAofE has now been granted full membership of Badminton England, and is entitled to attend Badminton England General Meetings, and has voting rights in the decision making process.
The BLJAofE is an entirely voluntary organisation that is administered by a committee of volunteers from its membership. The Officers consist of a Chairman, Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer and a National Training Coordinator, plus a President and additional Committee members all of whom are elected at the AGM. Badminton England and the Badminton Umpires Association of England are each entitled to send a non-voting representative to BLJAofE Committee meetings. There are Constitutional and Disciplinary sub-Committees.
Since its inception, the BLJAofE has worked hard to improve the working conditions and benefits of line judges in conjunction with Badminton England and other tournament organisers.
Home and Away
The BLJAofE has established contacts with overseas Badminton organisations to offer its services at their tournaments. As a result, Association members have been invited to National tournaments in many European countries, as well as International tournaments such as the Thomas and Uber Cups, Sudirman Cup, European Championships and World Championships. Members have also officiated at the Commonwealth and Olympic Games.
In addition to its overseas work, the BLJAofE has continued to serve the All England extremely well and has also provided line judges for England Internationals, national and local events such as the English Nationals and National junior tournaments.
We work closely with Badminton England with regard to providing line judges for major and more minor events. We do this by instituting regional recruitment and training schemes, and mentoring members as needed with a view to turning out high quality court officials. We helped to make the Badminton event at the London Olympics in 2012 the best ever of all the Olympics since the sport’s introduction in Barcelona in 1992.