OVER THE subsequent 10 months, the World Hockey Federation (FIH) will check out a brand new penalty nook rule that, if ultimately carried out, may spell the tip for drag-flicks. The FIH additionally believes it would cut back the risk of defenders getting injured as they generally tend to hurry in opposition to the ball struck at as much as 150 kmph when a drag-flick is achieved.
In keeping with the proposed rule, all over a penalty nook, all attackers apart from the pusher on the backline will have to get started a minimum of 5 metres outdoor the placing circle – referred to as the ‘D’. The ball will have to go back and forth outdoor the 5m dotted line — which is past the ‘D’ — earlier than it may be performed again into the ‘D’ for a shot on objective, and provides defenders extra time to react to eventualities.
The present captain of the Indian hockey staff, Harmanpreet Singh, is among the fiercest drag-flickers on the planet and if the guideline alternate is offered submit the pains, a participant like him might not be as impactful in terms of goalscoring.
In a letter to nationwide federations remaining week, the FIH mentioned they “want to behavior the pains between August 2023 and Would possibly 2024”. The proposed rule, hockey’s international governing frame mentioned, can be attempted at a “small selection of competitions world wide” in males’s and ladies’s senior, junior and masters hockey.
According to the knowledge and comments, the FIH will make a decision whether or not to proceed with the present rule – in which the attacking aspect begins on the fringe of the ‘D’, a pusher pushes the ball, which needs to be stopped simply outdoor the ‘D’ earlier than a shot may also be taken at objective, both a success or a drag-flick.
India vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh plays a drag flick. (AP)
The FIH, then again, has underlined that the guideline alternate, if carried out, can be offered most effective after the Paris Olympics subsequent 12 months.
The pains usually are held in home hockey and the nationwide federations were requested to offer main points of the leagues and competitions during which they may be able to check the brand new rule.
Function-conversion statistics at the side of the selection of accidents and their nature can be seen all over the trial section.
The sector frame indexed 4 key causes to imagine the guideline alternate:
♦ To ‘cut back the risk through eliminating the direct shot and subsequently no use for defenders to run in opposition to an attacker capturing at objective.
♦ Hanging emphasis on “overload of gamers… somewhat than directly strike of objectives”, claiming it’s “extra very similar to commonplace hockey play”.
♦ Disposing of the will for protecting equipment, which it claims has been an entry-level barrier because of value, whilst on the identical time, making sure ‘protected look’ of hockey.
♦ Rushing up the sport through decreasing the time allowed for a staff to arrange for a penalty nook from 40 seconds to twenty.
The transfer comes at the again of a session undertaking titled, ‘Long run of the Penalty Nook’, introduced in Would possibly 2022 through the FIH. Again then, the arena frame informed nationwide federations in a letter: “We will have to imagine making adjustments to the penalty nook laws earlier than critical or deadly incidents happen and no longer wait to react till later on.”
Greater than 4,700 other folks took section within the survey and there was once an ‘even cut up’ between those that discovered the game ‘too unhealthy’ and people who believed there was once a ‘just right steadiness of protection and spectacle’. The FIH mentioned there was once an ‘even cut up’ between those that wanted to proceed with the present laws and people who wanted for a transformation.
The security side of penalty corners has been scrutinised essentially because of drag flicks – the motion when an attacker, in a single movement, choices up the ball simply outdoor the ‘D’, drags it into the circle and films it in opposition to the objective. The films, unleashed from a distance of kind of 12m from the objective, can go back and forth at speeds of as much as 150kmph.
In past due 2020, the individuals of FIH’s well being and protection committee analysed 295 fits from 11 global tournaments that came about in 2015 and 2016. Their analysis confirmed that penalty corners have been chargeable for 13.9 p.c of the total accidents (49 out of 352), and incorporated blows to the top.
Whilst goalkeepers put on entire protecting equipment, the defenders are left prone, particularly the primary participant who rushes directly in opposition to the drag-flicker to dam the attitude, and the ones status close to the objective posts because the remaining line of defence.
The defenders are in this day and age allowed to put on protecting equipment – gloves, visors, knee pads, and so forth – however the FIH mentioned it offers them “an unnatural sense of protection”, thus striking themselves in unhealthy positions to forestall the ball from going into the objective.
If the brand new rule comes into drive, the defenders might not be allowed to put on protecting equipment all over penalty corners.
What has modified
Representation: Suvajit Dey
In contrast to the present rule, the place the attacking gamers can stand on the best of the ‘D’, as in keeping with the proposed rule they’ll have to face past the 5m dotted line outdoor the circle.
The prevailing rule permits the attacking staff to take a right away shot at objective from penalty corners after preventing the ball simply outdoor the ‘D’. Below the proposed rule, the ball has to go back and forth 5m outdoor the circle earlier than it’s stopped through the gamers, who can be situated on the dotted line.
The ball needs to be performed again throughout the ‘D’ earlier than a shot may also be taken at objective.
