Twitter
Advertisement

The Hockey Rules Board is making the goalkeeper optional from 2007

The Hockey Rules Board (HRB) has laid down a new rule for removal of the goalkeeper, barring for the penalty-corners and the stroke.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

NEW DELHI: From 2007 onwards, there will be no goalkeepers in hockey. Former Indian captain MM Somaya was left speechless for some minutes at the new rule which will be experimented with at various levels and applied from 2007-08 on the suggestion of the Hockey Rules Board (HRB) of the FIH (international hockey federation).

The HRB has made quite a few changes, to be followed by national associations affiliated to the FIH but the most innovative one seems to be the removal of the goalkeeper, almost completely, barring for the penalty-corners and the stroke.

Wolfgang Rommel, chairman of the HRB, mentions in the report: “We’ve set out three clear options: playing with a goalkeeper wearing full protective equipment; a goalkeeper just wearing protective headgear; or no goalkeeper at all.” If there is no goalkeeper, Rommel explains the following procedures. “This really means what it says: the team is playing only with field players. No player can then kick the ball in the circle and so on.”

This option allows a team, if they wish, to press all their players forward with nobody committed to defending the circle. According to the rules, a game cannot take place unless there is a goalkeeper wearing protective headgear on the field. The details of the ‘no goalkeeper’ rules will take some time to be clarified. “It sounds innovative and means pushing more players into the attack. In that sense, it is a tactical manoeuvre and would encourage players to play more attacking hockey,” the former Indian captain told DNA on Wednesday. Somaya feels that the idea may have been influenced by football, where the goalkeeper is allowed to take the corner kick and is able to assist the team by moving ahead.

However, the HRB members are aware that the main challenge before hockey is to keep it simple and make it easy for people to understand. “This objective is easier to state than to deliver. We have to get a balance between many things,” said Gill Clarke, a World Cup and Olympic umpire and now a member of the HRB.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement