When should I penalise contact?

World Netball Rule 17. The sanction for every contact infringement is a penalty pass.

Interference (17.1-17.3): a player must not make physical contact that unfairly interferes with an opponent's play, whether accidental or deliberate. Examples include pushing, tripping, grabbing, holding or leaning; knocking or hitting (including when shooting); hitting or placing hands on a ball an opponent holds; and pushing the ball into an opponent. To be penalised, the contact must cause one of these:

• the opponent loses the ball,
• interference with their passing or shooting action, or
• a change in their body position that stops them moving freely and puts them at an unfair disadvantage.

Incidental contact that causes none of these is a fair contest. Don't penalise it.

Causing contact:

• A player who jumps must be allowed to land. An opponent must not move into their landing place, and when two players jump together, must yield it to the player who gains possession.
• A player must not move so close to, or so quickly into the path of, a moving opponent that they can't stop or change direction.
• Inevitable contact: a player must not stand so close that the opponent can't move at all without contacting them.

Player safety (17.9): the following are normally dangerous play needing game management on top of the penalty pass:

• contact with an airborne player that puts a safe landing at risk;
• moving into, or failing to yield, a landing place;
• forceful, careless or reckless contact that causes head and/or neck contact.