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Field hockey

Friday, 3 February 2017 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Around the World / Rund um die Welt
Category/Kategorie: General, Sport Reading Time:  10 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post Field hockey is a team sport of the hockey family. The earliest origins of the sport date back to the Middle Ages in England, Scotland, France and the Netherlands. The game can be played on a grass field or a turf field as well as an indoor board surface. Each team plays with eleven players, including the goalie. Players use sticks made out of wood, carbon fibre, fibre glass or a combination of carbon fibre and fibre glass in different quantities (with the higher carbon fibre stick being more expensive and less likely to break) to hit a round, hard, plastic ball. The length of the stick depends on the player’s individual height. Only one end of the stick is allowed to be used. Goalies often have a different kind of stick, however they can also use an ordinary field hockey stick. The specific goal-keeping sticks have another curve at the end of the stick, this is to give them more surface area to save the ball. The uniform consists of shin guards, shoes, shorts, a mouth guard and a jersey. Today, the game is played globally, with particular popularity throughout Western Europe, the Indian subcontinent, Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and parts of the United States (such as Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania). Field Hockey is the national sport of India and Pakistan. The term “field hockey” is used primarily in Canada and the United States where ice hockey is more popular. In Sweden the term landhockey is used.

During play, goal keepers are the only players who are allowed to touch the ball with any part of their body (the player’s hand is considered ‘part of the stick’ if on the stick), while field players play the ball with the flat side of their stick. Goal keepers also cannot play the ball with the back of their stick. Whoever scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is tied at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shootout, depending on the competition’s format. There are many variations to overtime play that depend on the league and tournament play. In college play, a seven-aside overtime period consists of a 10-minute golden goal period with seven players for each team. If a tie still remains, the game enters a one-on-one competition where each team chooses 5 players to dribble from the 25 yard line down to the circle against the opposing goalie. The player has 8 seconds to score on the goalie keeping it in bounds. The play ends after a goal is scored, the ball goes out of bounds, a foul is committed (ending in either a penalty stroke or flick or the end of the one on one) or time expires.

The governing body of hockey is the International Hockey Federation (FIH), with men and women being represented internationally in competitions including the Olympic Games, World Cup, World League, Champions Trophy and Junior World Cup, with many countries running extensive junior, senior, and masters club competitions. The FIH is also responsible for organising the Hockey Rules Board and developing the rules for the sport. A popular variant of field hockey is indoor field hockey, which differs in a number of respects while embodying the primary principles of hockey. Indoor hockey is a 5-a-side variant, with a field which is reduced to approximately 40 m × 20 m (131 ft × 66 ft). With many of the rules remaining the same, including obstruction and feet, there are several key variations: Players may not raise the ball unless shooting on goal, players may not hit the ball (instead using pushes to transfer the ball), and the sidelines are replaced with solid barriers which the ball will rebound off.

Most hockey field dimensions were originally fixed using whole numbers of imperial measures. Nevertheless, metric measurements are now the official dimensions as laid down by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in the “Rules of Hockey”. The pitch is a 91.4 m × 55 m (100.0 yd × 60.1 yd) rectangular field. At each end is a goal 2.14 m (7 ft) high and 3.66 m (12 ft) wide, as well as lines across the field 22.90 m (25 yd) from each end-line (generally referred to as the 23-metre lines or the 25-yard lines) and in the center of the field. A spot 0.15 m (6 in) in diameter, called the penalty spot or stroke mark, is placed with its centre 6.40 m (7 yd) from the centre of each goal. The shooting circle is 15 m (16 yd) from the base line.

The game is played between two teams of whom eleven are permitted to be on the pitch at any one time. The remaining players may be substituted in any combination. There is an unlimited amount of times a team can sub in and out. Substitutions are permitted at any point in the game, apart from between the award and end of a penalty corner; two exceptions to this rule is for injury or suspension of the defending goalkeeper, which is not allowed when playing with a field keep, or a player can exit the field, but you must wait until after the inserter touches the ball to put somebody back in. Players are permitted to play the ball with the flat of the ‘face side’ and with the edges of the head and handle of the field hockey stick with the exception that, for reasons of safety, the ball may not be struck ‘hard’ with a forehand edge stroke, because of the difficulty of controlling the height and direction of the ball from that stroke. The flat side is always on the “natural” side for a right-handed person swinging the stick at the ball from right to left. Left-handed sticks are rare, but available; however they are pointless as the rules forbid their use in a game. To make a strike at the ball with a left-to-right swing the player must present the flat of the ‘face’ of the stick to the ball by ‘reversing’ the stick head, i.e. by turning the handle through approximately 180° (while a reverse edge hit would turn the stick head through approximately 90° from the position of an upright forehand stroke with the ‘face’ of the stick head).

Edge hitting of the ball underwent a two-year “experimental period”, twice the usual length of an “experimental trial” and is still a matter of some controversy within the sport. Ric Charlesworth, the former Australian coach, has been a strong critic of the unrestricted use of the reverse edge hit. The ‘hard’ forehand edge hit was banned after similar concerns were expressed about the ability of players to direct the ball accurately, but the reverse edge hit does appear to be more predictable and controllable than its counterpart. This type of hit is now more commonly referred to as the “forehand sweep” where the ball is hit with the flat side or “natural” side of the stick and not the rounded edge. Other rules include; no foot-to-ball contact, no use of hands, no obstructing other players, no high back swing, and no third party. If a player is dribbling the ball and either loses control and kicks the ball or another player interferes that player is not permitted to gain control and continue dribbling. The rules do not allow the person who kicked the ball to gain advantage from the kick, so the ball will automatically be passed on to the opposing team. Conversely, if no advantage is gained from kicking the ball, play should continue. Players may not obstruct another’s chance of hitting the ball in any way. No shoving/using your body/stick to prevent advancement in the other team. Penalty for this is the opposing team receives the ball and if the problem continues, the player can be carded. While a player is taking a free hit or starting a corner the back swing of their hit cannot be too high for this is considered dangerous. Finally there may not be three players touching the ball at one time. Two players from opposing teams can battle for the ball, however if another player interferes it is considered third party and the ball automatically goes to the team who only had one player involved in the third party.

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