User:Mosmof/Wikipedia:Notability (sports)

This article is regarded as a guideline used to determine whether or not a sportsperson merits an article at Wikipedia.

In general, the text of an article should include enough information to explain why the person is notable. A subject is presumed to be sufficiently notable if it meets the general notability guideline below, or separate project-specific guidelines that may exist for some subjects or sports.

At a minimum, all articles must have been discussed in independent, non-trivial, reliable sources - not including sources independent of statistical analysis websites or guides. In short, they should be able to meet the criteria laid out at Reliable sources and Verifiability.

However, in certain cases, editors may have trouble finding sufficient sources to meet notability and verifiability guidelines if an athlete is from a non-English peaking country or the claim to notability came before the internet age, and archives are unavailable/inaccessible.

Please note that the failure to meet these criteria does not mean an article must be deleted; conversely, the meeting of any of these criteria does not mean that an article must be kept. "Meets WP:ATH" or "Fails WP:ATH" should not be used as sole arguments for keep or delete. These are merely rules of thumb which some editors choose to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to keep an article that is on articles for deletion and relevant guidelines such as WP:V and WP:RS.

Applicable policies and guidelines
WP:V, WP:BLP, WP:BIO

Generally acceptable standards
Sports figures are considered notable if they:
 * (Unless noted within a specific section) Have participated in a competition that is generally regarded as the highest level of the sport, including, but not limited to and not always, Olympics or a world championship.

Source requirements for notability
WP:GNG requires a subject to have "received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject, it is presumed to satisfy the inclusion criteria for a stand-alone article." For the purposes of determining a subject's notability, following media are NOT considered "significant coverage" and/or "independent of the subject":
 * Articles and news releases on team and school athletic department websites
 * Match programs, media guides and equivalent
 * Match reports, game recaps and equivalent
 * Generic athlete profile pages
 * Local newspaper or magazine article that does not establish the athlete's notability beyond his/her own community or organization

However, for the purpose of verifying facts, the above are generally considered reliable, unless controversy or disagreement requires them to be overridden by a more independent and/or reliable source.

American football/Canadian football

 * American football/Canadian football figures are considered notable if they:
 * Have appeared in at least one game in any one of the following professional leagues: the Arena Football League, the Canadian Football League, the National Football League, the American Football League, the All-America Football Conference or the United States Football League, or any other top-level professional league.
 * Have received a major award or selected to be a College Football All-America Team as a College football player.  "Major awards" are: the Heisman Memorial Trophy, Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award, AP Player of the Year, and the 18 position specific awards. "All-American" refers to the five end-of-season teams recognized by the National Collegiate Athletics Association.
 * Served as head coach in the aforementioned professional leagues or a NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision/Division 1-A college football team.

Baseball
See:
 * WikiProject Baseball/Notability guidelines

Basketball

 * Basketball figures are considered notable if they:
 * Have appeared in one game in the American Basketball Association, Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto, Euroleague, National Basketball Association, National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (United States), Serie A, Women's National Basketball Association, or a similar major professional sports league.
 * Anyone who was selected in the first two rounds of the NBA Draft.
 * Have been selected as an NCAA Division 1 All-American, won a widely recognized national player of the year award, or named Most Outstanding Player at the men's or women's NCAA Division 1 basketball championship.

Cricket
WikiProject Cricket participants have adopted the following guidelines for notability of a cricket person for an article in Wikipedia:
 * Cricket figures are considered notable if they:
 * 1) has appeared in at least one Test, ODI, ICC Trophy match from 2005, or ICC Trophy final prior to 2005 as player, umpire, coach or administrator
 * 2) has appeared in at least one major (i.e., first-class or List A) match as a player

The term "first-class cricket" can be misleading since, officially, it did not begin until 1947 and should not be applied retrospectively according to the MCC definition. Whereas in practice the term is loosely applied to major matches since the 17th century, it is better to think of major cricket as an all-embracing term that includes ListA as well as first-class. Hence, a player who represented Kent in the county match in 1709 is equally notable with a player who represented Kent CCC in the Twenty20 Cup in 2007.

In addition, non-players who have made a notable contribution to cricket should have pages. These include benefactors, administrators, umpires, coaches, writers, broadcasters, historians and so on. With these, it is important to ensure that the article's content outlines the person's notability in terms of his or her contribution to the sport. There is bound to be a more subjective view of such contributions whereas an appearance in a first-class match enables a purely objective view to be taken. Note especially that the person must have earned notability in their own right; they are not notable if they are a member of a club.

Figure skating
''Figure skaters competing at the highest level of international competition are by definition not "professional" skaters, they are "eligible" skaters, because they are eligible to compete in the Olympics. Eligible skaters earn money only from ISU-approved and sanctioned events and competitions. Ineligible skaters have no such restrictions and so are considered to be "professionals".''

This is modified from Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Figure Skating. Notability for competitive figure skaters, in descending order of notability:
 * Figure skating figures are considered notable if they:
 * 1) Competed at an ISU Championship: World Figure Skating Championships, World Junior Figure Skating Championships, European Figure Skating Championships, Four Continents Figure Skating Championships
 * 2) Medalled on the senior level at the skater's national championships.
 * 3) Competed at a Grand Prix of Figure Skating event (Skate America, Skate Canada International, Trophee Eric Bompard, Cup of China, Cup of Russia, NHK Trophy, Bofrost Cup on Ice)
 * 4) Medalled at a non-Grand Prix international senior-level event (commonly referred to as "senior B" competitions, as opposed to "A" competitions, which are the Grand Prixs and ISU championships. See figure skating competitions for more information and List of figure skating competitions for a list of events. Notable examples of senior Bs are the Nebelhorn Trophy, one of the oldest senior international events, and the Karl Schäfer Memorial and the Golden Spin of Zagreb, which have both been used many times as the Olympic qualifying competition.)
 * 5) Medalled on the ISU Junior Grand Prix
 * 6) Competed internationally on the junior or senior levels.

Skaters who are not inherently notable, but may be notable for other reasons (this simply cannot be the only claim of notability):
 * 1) Competed at a domestic competition that is not that country's national championships (for example, qualifying competitions for the national championships, such as Eastern Sectionals in the United States and Central Ontario Sectionals in Canada).
 * 2) Skaters who compete at a level lower than Junior (ex: Novice (all countries), pre-Novice (in Canada), and Juvenile in the U.S.).

Notability for people associated with skating who were not notable as eligible skaters:
 * 1) A coach who has coached notable skaters, but were not themselves notable as skaters. (ex: Pam Gregory)
 * 2) A choreographer who has worked with many  notable skaters, but were not themselves notable as skaters. (ex: David Wilson)
 * 3) Judges who have been involved in judging scandals.
 * 4) Professional skaters who have competed professionally, or have made appearances on televised skating shows.
 * 5) Heads of national and international federations.
 * 6) Individuals recognized for their contributions to skating by membership in the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, or a national figure skating hall of fame, such as the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
 * 7) Other individuals who have made significant contributions to the development of figure skating as sport or entertainment, other than as competitors, whose accomplishments are verifiable by multiple reliable sources. (ex: Tom Collins, founder of Champions on Ice)

Association football
See Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Football/Notability

Golf

 * Golf figures are considered notable if they:
 * They have competed in the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, Solheim Cup or similar international competition
 * They are enshrined in one of golf's recognized Halls of Fame
 * They have won at least one professional golf tournament (ex: PGA, LPGA, European Tour, Champions Tour)
 * They have won at least one recognized amateur golf tournament (ex: US Amateur, British Amateur)
 * They have competed in one of the major tournaments:
 * Men (under 50): US Open, British Open, The Masters, PGA Championship
 * Women: Current majors — US Women's Open, Women's British Open, Kraft Nabisco Championship, LPGA Championship; or past majors — du Maurier Classic, Western Open, Titleholders Championship
 * Senior men: Senior PGA, US Senior Open, Senior Players Championship, Senior British Open, The Tradition (note, however, that almost all of the players who would qualify by this criterion would also qualify by virtue of having appeared in one of the under-50 majors)
 * They have competed as a professional on the PGA, LPGA, European, or Champions Tour for at least one full year
 * They hold a golf record (ex: lowest score) recognized by the USGA, PGA, LPGA or St Andrews

Ice hockey

 * Ice hockey figures are considered notable if they:
 * Played one or more games in the National Hockey League, the Elitserien, the SM-liiga, the Russian Super League or other such top national professional league.
 * Played one or more games in a defunct league generally considered to have been a "major" professional league, such as the World Hockey Association, the National Hockey Association, the Czechoslovak Extraliga, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and suchlike.
 * Played one or more games in an amateur league considered, through lack of a professional league, the highest level of competition extant, such as the 19th century Amateur Hockey Association or the Soviet League.
 * Played five or more seasons, and at least 100 games, in a fully professional minor league such as the American Hockey League, the International Hockey League, the ECHL, the Mestis, the HockeyAllsvenskan or other such league.
 * Achieved preeminent honors (all-time top ten career scorer, league or playoff MVP, first team all-star, All-American) in a lower minor league such as the Central Hockey League or the United Hockey League, in a major junior league such as the Ontario Hockey Association or the Western Hockey League or in a major collegiate hockey league.
 * Played on a national Olympic team.
 * Are Honoured Members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Motorsports

 * Motorsport figures are considered notable if they:

Rugby league
A player of rugby league would be deemed notable if they have:
 * 1) Have played first grade rugby league (depending on country).
 * 2) Have played in a first grade team consistently.
 * 3) Have had a good rugby league career in second grade (depending on country).
 * 4) Have played in more than one year of rugby league.

Other personalities surrounding the game are notable if they:
 * 1) Are a consistent first grade rugby league commentator.
 * 2) A referee that has refereed at least 100 games.
 * 3) A notable newspaper/other media journalist.

Rugby union
From the WikiProject Rugby union main page: WikiProject Rugby union participants have adopted the following guidelines for notability of a rugby union person for an article in Wikipedia:
 * has appeared in at least one test match, sevens competition or domestic rugby competition, as player, umpire, coach or administrator
 * has appeared in at least one first class rugby union match

Please note that the failure to meet these criteria does not mean an article must be deleted; conversely, the meeting of any of these criteria does not mean that an article must be kept. These are merely rules of thumb which some editors choose to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to keep an article that is on articles for deletion. In particular, players from the early days of rugby cannot meet these criteria as they pre-date the era of first-class rugby.

Tennis

 * Tennis figures are considered notable if they: