Softball Australia has today made the decision to remove the $500 bond required to enter the National Championship Players Draft.

Revoking the bond removes a financial barrier to participating in the draft and makes competing at the National Championships more accessible to more people.

Softball Australia CEO Rosie Williams said, “The National Championships should be about getting the best players in our sport to compete at their highest possible level, and not a measure of access to disposable income.

“We understand the context behind why the bond was established, but we believe there are better ways to regulate the draft than imposing financial hurdles, especially in the current COVID climate, and we hope people do the right thing when they are drafted and don’t pull out.”

Previously, players nominating for the draft were required to pay a bond of $500, which would be refunded if the player was not selected in the draft. If the player was drafted, the bond would be transferred to the state that drafted the player, with the $500 deducted from the levy charged to the drafted player by the state.

The bond was implemented to prevent players from withdrawing from the National Championships after they were drafted because they did not want to play with the state that drafted them.

Softball Australia will now explore non-financial mechanisms to combat such a scenario, such as excluding any player who withdraws from the National Championships after being drafted for the  draft the following year, unless it can be demonstrated the player has a legitimate reason to withdraw post-draft such as injury.

Softball Australia will contact each player that has submitted their $500 bond for the 2022 Player Draft to advise of the refund process in due course.

Player draft regulations can be seen here.

Player Draft Nomination forms are available here: