Rules of Hockey

FIELD HOCKEY RULES

A SUGGESTION FOR CHANGE

The article is set out in three parts. 1. Highlighting of areas slated for revision or deletion 2. Suggested change to the Free Hit Rule. 3. Additional comment.

1.The parts of the Rule slated for deletion or amendment (de-cluttering and clarification) are highlighted in red.

Because of these clauses:-

The ball is moved using a hit, push, flick or scoop

the ball may be raised immediately using a push, flick  or scoop but must not be raised intentionally using a hit.

….where, for obvious reason, “the ball” is used in the Rule in place of “the Free Hit”. We otherwise could get the silly constructions – A Free Hit may be raised with any stroke except a hit or A Free Hit is moved using a hit, push, flick or scoop. – in this suggestion where the term “Free Hit” is currently used in the Rule it will be replaced with “Free Ball” because a Free Ball can be moved with any stroke and the raised ball contradiction is avoided.

13.1. Location of a free hit:
a a free hit is taken close to where the offence occurred

‘Close to’ means within playing distance of where the offence occurred and with no significant advantage gained.(AMEND)

The location from which a free hit is taken must be more precise inside the 23 metres area.(AMEND)

b a free hit awarded to the defence within 15 metres of the back-line is taken up to 15 metres from the back-line in line with the location of the offence, parallel to the side-line (this has already been amended, 2019, to allow the restart to be taken from anywhere within the circle if a free ball is awarded for offence by the attacking team in the circle)

13.2. Procedures for taking a free hit, centre pass and putting the ball back into play after it has been outside the field:

All parts of this Rule apply as appropriate to a centre pass and putting the ball back into play after it has been outside the field.

a the ball must be stationary
b opponents must be at least 5 metres from the ball
If an opponent is within 5 metres of the ball, they must not interfere with the taking of the or must not play or attempt to play the ball. If this player is not playing the ball, attempting to play the ball or influencing play, the free hit need not be delayed.

when a free hit is awarded to the attack within the 23 metres area, all players other than the player taking the free hit must be at least 5 metres from the ball, except as specifically indicated below for attacking free hits awarded within 5 metres of the circle (DELETE)

the ball is moved using a hit, push, flick or scoop

the ball may be raised immediately using a push, flick or
scoop but must not be raised intentionally using a hit

from a free hit awarded to the attack within the 23 metres area, the ball must not be played into the circle until it has travelled at least 5 metres, not necessarily in a single direction, or has been touched by a player of
the defending team (DELETE)

If the player taking the free hit continues to play the ball (ie no defending (AMEND) player has yet touched it) :

– that player may play the ball any number of times, but the ball must travel at least 5 metres, before that player plays the ball into the circle by hitting or pushing the ball again. (DELETE)

Alternatively:

– after a defending player has touched the ball, it can be played into the circle by any other player including the player who took the free hit.

At an attacking free hit awarded within 5 metres of the circle, the ball cannot be played into the circle until it has travelled at least 5 metres or it has been touched by a defending player. On this basis, defenders who are inside the circle within 5 metres of the free hit are therefore not interfering

with play and may also shadow around the inside of the circle a player who takes a self-pass,provided that they do not play or attempt to play the
ball or influence play until it has either travelled at least 5 metres or alternatively been touched by a defending player who can legitimately play the ball.

Players inside or outside the circle who were 5 metres or more from the point of the free hit< at its award are not allowed to move to and then remain in a stationary position within 5 metres of the ball as the free hit is taken. (DELETE)

Other than as indicated above, any playing of the ball, attempting to play the ball or interference by a defender or an attacker(DELETE) who was not 5 metres from the ball, should be penalised accordingly.

Following a time stoppage after the award of an attacking free hit inside the 23 metres area, upon the re-start all players other than the player taking the free hit must be at least 5 metres from the ball. (DELETE)

It is permitted to play the ball high above the attacking circle so that it lands outside the circle subject to Rules related to dangerous play and that the ball is not legitimately playable inside or above the circle by another player during its flight. (AMEND)

2. Suggestion for amendment of Rule 13.1 and 13.2.

13.1. Location of a free ball:
a a free ball is taken close to where the offence occurred

‘Close to’ means within two metres of where the offence occurred and with no significant advantage gained.

The location from which a free ball awarded to the attacking team is taken must be more precise (within half a metre of the offence) inside the 23 metres area.

b a free ball awarded to the defence within 15 metres of the back-line is taken up to 15 metres from the back-line, parallel to the side-line, and in line with the location of the offence.

13.2. Procedures for taking a free ball, centre pass and putting the
ball back into play after it has been outside the field:

All parts of this Rule apply as appropriate to a free ball, centre pass and putting the ball back into play after it has been outside the field.

a the ball must be stationary
b opponents must be at least 5 metres from the ball or quickly attempting to get to be 5m from the ball.

It is elsewhere suggested that the umpire should signal with a second whistle immediately the ball is stationary and within two meters (outside the 23m area, 0.5 meters inside the 23m area) of the place of the offence, to indicate play may be restarted.

If an opponent is within 5 metres of the ball, they must not interfere with the taking of the free ball or must not play or attempt to play at the ball. If this close defending player is not playing the ball, attempting to play the ball or influencing play, the free ball need not be delayed.

a free ball may be moved using a hit, push, flick or scoop

a free ball may be raised immediately using a push, flick or scoop but must not be raised using a hit

If the player taking the free ball continues to play the ball (i.e. no other player has yet touched it) that player may play the ball any number of times and move with the ball without limit in distance or direction, as if dribbling in normal open play: this playing action from a free ball is called a self-pass.

If a player takes a self-pass  (moves the ball from its stationary position) before opponents have been given the opportunity to retreat the required 5m (and opponents are at the time properly attempting to so retreat) that is to be regarded as an advantage played and opponents may cease retreating and immediately attempt to tackle for the ball – that is, normal play immediately resumes.

Going ‘inactive’ that is standing still (perhaps with the stick raised) when a quickly taken self-pass is employed, is not retreating or attempting to retreat and should be discouraged by the umpire (a reset of the free ball and a verbal warning in the first instance). A defender close to the ball who makes no attempt to retreat when a free ball is awarded but instead interferes with play (attempts to play at the ball or prevent the taker playing at the ball) should be further penalised with a personal penalty and, if within his or her own 23m area, a penalty corner

Any playing of the ball, attempting to play the ball or interference by a defender who was not 5 metres from the ball or attempting to get 5 metres from the ball before a free ball is taken, should, subject as always to the Advantage Rule, be penalised accordingly.

A Free Ball awarded for an offence committed between the hash circle and the shooting circle must be taken from a position next to but outside the hash circle line and opposite to where the offence was committed.

It is permitted to play the ball high with a flick or a scoop or a lob, above the attacking circle so that it lands outside the circle, subject to Rules related to dangerous play.

4. Additional comment.

The clauses concerning the direct playing of the ball into the circle have been deleted because they were introduced as a safety measure but oddly, without a counter-part in open play or during a penalty corner. It was suggested at the time the amendment was made that a free ball could be played from a (sic) free ball in a planned way into the circle with the intention of setting up a deflection towards the goal and that this practice was potentially dangerous.

This restriction does not make much sense because prohibiting the playing of a free ball from within the opponent’s 23m area directly into their circle impedes the flow of the game and significantly reduces the advantage of being awarded a free ball in this area.

It is also is perfectly possible to plan to play (hit) the ball into the circle from predetermined positions in open play and to set up deflected shots at the goal by this means –  and this possibility has not been considered to be potentially dangerous to opponents – it is allowed.  In fact if a free ball is passed to another close same team player (presently beyond 5m) within the 23m area (which is easy) there is nothing to prevent that player immediately hitting the ball with maximum power directly into the circle to enable such a deflection and this also can be done in a planned way. The currently often employed tactic of deflecting from close range a pass or a ball propelled towards the goal during a penalty corner, high into the goal also make a nonsense of the restriction placed on a free ball awarded within the opponent’s 23m area for safety reasons.

 This prohibition has given rise to some very complicated 5m restrictions, especially around the taking and defending of a self-pass close to the opponent’s circle. The prohibition also made the corner unworkable – of no or little benefit to the side awarded it – and led to many attempts to ‘manufacture’ offences – self-passers from a corner charging into defenders with the aim of ‘winning’ a penalty corner. The corner had eventually to be replaced with a restart for the attackers on the 23m line (the restart on the 23m line is a big improvement on the original corner but that was simply fortuitous and we got this improvement via a curious route).

What makes far more sense than the existing restriction is to prohibit the raising of the ball with a hit into the opponent’s circle in any phase of play – irrespective of intention to raise the ball – so we dispense with the subjective ‘intentionally’ and replace it with ‘raised into the circle’, an objective criterion (the ball is or is not raised off the ground, a fact based judgement – more detail about this proposal is given in the article concerning the rewrite of Rule 9.9 the intentionally raised hit). 

Rule 9.9. should prohibit the intentional raising of the ball into the opponent’s circle already, but does not because umpires have been instructed to ‘forget’ that the ball has been raised (despite intentionally raising of the ball with a hit being specifically mentioned as an offence and there being the possibility of disadvantage to opponents) and consider only if a raised ball is actually dangerous to opponents. The determination of “dangerous” depends on the causing of legitimate evasive action from an opponent (a subjective judgement), but such evasive action is presently being ignored if the ball is propelled from beyond 5m of the evading player, even though ‘legitimate evasive action’ is not distance limited. (There therefore needs to be amendment to Rule 9.8. to provide objective criteria for a dangerously played ball when the ball is propelled towards an opponent from more than 5m – say up to 15m from an opponent: this is long overdue). These amendments to Rule 9.9 and 9.8 have already been suggested in other articles.

The reintroduction of moving the ball to outside the hash-line when a free ball is awarded for an offence committed between the shooting circle and the hash circle, is necessary because the removal of the requirement that same team players be five metres from a free ball when it is taken, would mean that a free ball awarded close to the shooting circle would probably be a greater advantage than the award of a penalty corner.

The last clause of the current Rule gives ‘a nod’ towards the idea of prohibiting the intentional raising of the ball into the opponent’s circle with strokes other than a hit but it applies only during the taking of a free ball and does not in fact cover the raising of the ball into the circle, but over it with a scoop, and so it is an insufficient and a rather odd addition to the Rule.

2019

Despite the huge problems with Rules 13.1. and 13.2 the FIH have made only two ‘housekeeping’ amendments for 2019 onward. They have gone back to allowing a defending team to take a free ball, awarded against opponents for an offence in the circle, from anywhere in the circle (as remained the case in indoor hockey). This will assist with game flow and allow the team awarded a circle free ball to counter attack quickly, but compared with the ‘choking’ of a free ball awarded to the attacking team in the opponent’s 23m area it is an insignificant change, one that will hardly be noticed.

There is also a change to the allowed positioning of a defender already within the circle who is also at the time the free is awarded to opponents within 5m of the place of the offence. As this entire clutter is here slated for removal I will not elaborate further on this additional permitted shadowing complication. I hope we will soon be able to forget all about it.

Links. Second whistle.

https://martinzigzag.com/2018/08/14/a-second-whistle/

Rewrite of Rule 9.9.

https://martinzigzag.com/2018/03/12/a-suggested-rewrite-of-rule-9-9/

Rewrite of Rule 9.8.

https://martinzigzag.com/2018/03/12/a-suggested-rewrite-rule-9-8/ ‎

Additional link Goal Zone

https://martinzigzag.com/2018/03/30/suggested-introd…ewrite-rule-9-14/ ‎

https://martinzigzag.com/2018/04/09/rewrite-of-the-free-hit-rules/