The Rules of Hockey

For this weeks post, seeing as I have already talked about the history of hockey and the pitches themselves, it only seemed right that I would now talk about the rules of hockey.

The Basics

The main aim of the game of hockey is to get the ball into the goal, however there are basic rules that we need to follow in order to allow this to happen.

• 

  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fhstickball.svg

  Each team consists of 11 players, including the goalkeeper
• The game is split into two halves of time, usually around 35 minutes.
• In hockey you can make as many substitutions as you like. This is called ' rolling substitutions'.
• The aim is to score more goals then the opposing team, to do this the ball must cross the goal line of the goal.
• All goals only count if the shot was taken from inside the striking circle.
• The ball can only be moved using the flat part of the hockey stick. If the other side is used a free is given against the team due to 'back stick'.
• The ball can also not be picked up using your hands or kicked by your feet. If it hits the foot at anytime it is a free the other way.
• If the ball goes out along the pitch anywhere, it is a free to the team that did not hit it out. 
• If this happens in the attacking 25 then a free is taken along the 25 yard line. This is called a long corner.
• When a free is taken, the defending players must be 5 yards in distance away from the person taking the free.
• No rough contact for example pushing, tripping or shoving is allowed in the game of hockey. If the referee sees this this then a free can be given to the other team.
• When a player is making a tackle they must make contact with the ball, not the stick. If they make contact with the stick, this is a stick tackle and a free will be awarded to the other team. 
• You can also not block a person from getting the ball using your body. This is known as obstruction.         

These are the basic rules of hockey that any beginner would need to know. As the level of hockey increases you will be introduced to more rules of the game.



http://flickr.com/photo/69433842@N00/2786238556

• When in the striking circle, if a shot on goal is taken inside the circle, hits off a defenders stick and goes in, this counts as a goal. It is called an own goal. However if the shot is taken from outside the circle and hits off the defenders stick, it does not count.
• If the ball is raised in the circle and it is considered dangerous then a free will be awarded to the team that didn't raise the ball.
• If a player is fouled anywhere in the circle they may be offered either a stroke or a short corner. A stroke is taken from the penalty spot while short corners are a little more complicated.
• If any offense is made by a player there are a number of circumstances. They may get a warning from the referee, a green card, a yellow card or a red card. 
• A  green card means the player is off for two minutes, a yellow is five minutes and a red card is off the rest of the game. If a player receives two green cards they equal a yellow card.

Short Corners

Video courtesy of Field hockey tube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvXPRqThXMHUhVz08dtyAgw

A short corner may be awarded to the attacking team for a number of reasons. These include if the ball hits a foot in the circle, if a defending player hits the ball out deliberately over the end line or if a foul is committed in the circle. 

• A short corner consists of 5 or sometimes more attacking players lined up around the outline of the circle, while there are 4 defenders along with the goalkeeper in the goal.
•  An attacking player called the pusher, pushes the ball out from to push spot to a player at the top of the circle.
•  This player is called the stopper or the trapper. They stop the ball in order to allow the next player known as the hitter to hit the ball at the goal.
• There is also players and the left and the right to whom the hitter can also pass to.
• Meanwhile the 4 defenders run out after the ball has been pushed in order to prevent a goal from being scored.
• If a defender runs too early, they have 'broken the line' and they are sent to the halfway line.
• Also when the stopper is stopping the ball, it must be stopped outside of the circle and pushed in for it to count.

Short corners are the best opportunity for an attacking team to score. It can also be quite dangerous for the defending teams. In order to provide them some protection defenders wear short corners masks to protect there faces.

I hope you enjoyed this post and have learned a little bit more about how the game of hockey works. In my next post I will be talking more about the equipment used in hockey by the players.

Thank you for reading.






https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Olympia_London_22_07_2012_Hockey_Damen_China_Korea_Strafecke_China.jpg