Hockey rule changes the Aussie way

BACKGROUND

Field hockey is the second most popular participatory team sport in the world, with only the beautiful game – football – ahead of it, as number one. In terms of popularity, football is way ahead of hockey all over the world. If you compare technique and flow, football has the following advantages over hockey:

• Simplicity of the game
• Exhibition of superb individual skills, footwork and body feints
• Beautiful positive passes connected on the run
• Flair, dexterity and flow of the game
• Lasting memories of majority of the field goals scored

Did field hockey at one time posses the above qualities? Of course, it did. In every decade, and in every part of the world, hockey had teams and players who demonstrated the above qualities. These days these qualities are exhibited to a lesser degree; far lesser. Let’s take some examples from the decade of the 1980s.

• Germanyplayed with flair and had outstanding players like Stefan Blocher, Heiner Dopp and play maker Ekkhard Schmidt
• Australia- what a team they were, with flair and individual skills! They still are that way, three decades later
• Same is true with Netherlands and England, with a number of skillful players and play makers
• Pakistan, and to an extent India were great with individual skills in 1-on-1 and 2-on-1 game situations

RULE CHANGES IN HOCKEY AND FOOTBALL

There is one key difference in the way the sports of hockey and football have been administered – the number and frequency of rule changes.

How many major rule changes have been made in football in the last 5 decades? Only one, with the offside limit set to two players instead of three.

In contrast, in hockey, we have made around 15 rule changes since the 1960s. Some of these rules have affected the game in a positive way. For example, the self-pass, which is a European invention, and has made plays from a free hit quicker, while negating the deliberate delaying tactics, employed by the opponents during the game restart situations.

However, some other rules have backfired. For example, removing the obstruction rule and the no-offside rule has affected the game more in a negative way than in a positive way – not only for the teams from the Indian subcontinent, but also for the European teams that came up with the rules. Please refer to the articles on this topic, by the author.

The Hockey 9s the Aussie way

The latest set of proposed rule changes come fromAustralia; let’s analyze the positive and negative impact of these proposed changes.

Minimum of 2 Players Having to Stay in Opponents Attacking Half

The idea of having a minimum of 2 players staying in the attacking half, at all times is a positive step in the right direction. The attacking team will avoid attacking, with all its players, as they will keep back a defender or two in their own defensive zone to cover the 2 opponent players, who will be floating like a bee to sting them any time, on counter attacks. This will result in the defensive zone near the goal being attacked, less crowded.

This reminds me of the 80s and 90s, when the coaches kept 1 or 2 strikers floating up in the opponent’s zone, for counter attack with a long ball. This also forced the opponent teams, to have their defenders in the defense to mark the offensive floating forwards. Wise coaches managed and mitigated the risk, wisely.

Penalty Corner Change

Thumbs up for the Penalty Corner change in the Hockey 9s; as imaginative technical and tactical skills will be at display, to score a goal, which the fans always love to see. It will give a fair opportunity to all teams to show their skills, and reduces the disproportionate dependence on one specialized skill – drag flick – for the outcome of the game. I can bet you the innovative and cunning Germans and the Dutch will once again come with creative plays to optimize the effectiveness of this rule change, in their favor.

Making the Goal Wider by 1 Meter

In a way I feel that we are lowering the bar, to make the things easier for the players. The art of forwards being deceptive and creative in a very confined space, in order to neatly eliminate the defender and take a magnificent try with a soft deceptive push/hit, reverse stick flick or a parabola scoop over the rushing goal keeper, is not in vogue any more. We need to introduce and develop these artistic skills in the repertoire of the current forwards. By the way, aren’t most of the field goals these days scored, by a backhand reverse stick hit? There is nothing wrong in it. All I wonder is how can a goal keeper, with so much protective gear, allow these goals to be scored from the D top or from a very narrow angle? There is something very wrong in this. May be Ian Taylor, the 1988 Seoul Olympic games, gold medal winning goal keeper from Great Britain, can help us answer this question. Making the goal wider is an O.K. move, as it would increase the probability of goals being scored, as long as the forwards stay cool and calm, in front of the cage. Didn’t we read in the newspapers that the Indian forwards, hit the side boards several times, during the Lanco international super series inPerth,Australia? How more easier can one make the things?

Reduction in Team Size from 11 to 9

I am in favor of keeping 11 players on the field at all times, except when a player has been sent off the field by the umpire with a yellow or red card.

I understand the intent behind this rule change – create more open space, allow more time for the players, and make the game faster.

However, just like the introduction of the no-offside rule resulted in teams packing their deep defensive half, so may not be the case, if we reduce the number of players from 11 to 9. As the weaker teams and in some cases, even the stronger teams may not employ the tactics of safety first – packed defense, and hit long balls, to their 2 floating forwards, which may look more or less like a back and forth tennis rally. I have not been able to see any match or highlights from the recently concluded Lanco international super series inPerth,Australia, or talked to any coach or player, so this is a calculated guess.

Most probably with acres of free space in the midfield, there may not be less opportunity for players to show their 1-on-1 dodges, body feints, dexterity and play making moves, which they don’t employ any way these days. If we make things easier for our players and provide less opportunity for them to be imaginative and creative, they sure will take a short cut and make the sport of hockey less attractive, especially when compared with football.

Yes, with fewer players on the field, and with 2 players always staying in the opponent’s offensive zone, lots of open space will be created. But this will encourage the players to run with the ball over open areas of the field, more like horses in the wild, rather than race horses gracefully galloping on a track. There will be fewer opportunities to slow down the game, control the pace, face the challenges and score a goal. Unless a brave coach comes along and goes against the current trend, and incorporates the best from the past, to make the game a balanced one.

TREAT THE CAUSE, NOT THE SYMPTOMS

In a way, we are bending the rules to accommodate the players, with short-term quick fixes. This is similar to how we changed the no-obstruction rule and no-offside rules, as players were having difficulty receiving the ball, with an open body, when being marked tightly.

What is needed are creative and imaginative players, who use not just speed and force, but also silky skills, dexterity and tactical shrewdness to outwit the opponents. What hockey fans love to see are body feints, footwork, change of pace/direction, and play making passes, which strands the opponents bewildered.

We all may have seen this classic photograph from the 1982 soccer world cup, where 6 Belgian players are facing the one and only one Maradona. The face impression of the Belgium players says it all. This is the type of fear, which Manzoor Hussain Jr. and Shahbaz Ahmed, fromPakistan, created in the minds of the opponents, due to their individual skills and creativity.

Learn from the best of the past:

Football had and have players like Maradona, Pele, Ronaldinho, Romario, Messi and Xavi Hernandez, to name a few, who demonstrate a balanced package of speed, strength and skill. Hockey also had its stars like Manzoor Hussain Jr. and Shahbaz Ahmed fromPakistan, Richard Charlesworth and Peter Haselhurst fromAustralia, among others. These greats demonstrated their crowd-pleasing skills, while playing 11 a side matches rather than 9 a side.

The winningest hockey coach on this planet, Ric Charlesworth, is a respected name, and a key proponent of the Hockey 9s. According to Charlesworth, “Hockey is already obviously a very fast paced sport with lots of excitement and intensity. The Hockey 9s rules will increase the pace of the game and result in a more attacking style, which is obviously going to make for great viewing and undoubtly help us gain a few fans along the way. These rules are made for India and Pakistan, in my view. They have fluency, speed, terrific skills and play an attacking style of hockey.“

However, I would like the readers to reflect on the following questions:

• Which hockey players are faster, stronger and fitter – Asians or players from Europe/Oceania?
• Which players are better at creating space, with and without the ball – Asians or players from Europe/Oceania?
• Which players have better team tactics – Asians or players from Europe/Oceania?

The fair answer to all the above questions is that the Europeans and players from Oceania are better at all of the above, than the Asian countries likeIndiaandPakistan(withSouth Koreabeing an exception as the Koreans are super fit).

While Asian –IndiaandPakistan- players run with the ball, Europe/Oceania players make the ball run, go for decoy runs to create space and position themselves optimally to receive the ball, while dragging their opponents in vulnerable positions, and strike at will.

Results don’t lie usually:

The results from the inaugural Hockey 9s 4-nation men’s Lanco competition will bear me out – the top two positions went to Australia and New Zealand, the bottom two positions went to Pakistan and India.

It is no secret that Charlesworth likes Asian – Indiaand Pakistan– style of play, but the rule of reducing the number of players on the field will create even more space and time, which will result in creating more problems for the sub continent teams to cope with them. Their plate is already full. Hasn’t Charlesworth commented from his heart rather than from his head, for a change? When he says, “These rules are made for India and Pakistan, in my view”

CONCLUSION

The game is evolving day by day. Coaches are devising innovative new strategies and tactics, and modifying or discarding the old ones, to be more effective.

When it comes to changing of rules, we need to make sure that we look at the big picture and the small picture and its impact in the long run. For the budding players in their development stages of Learn to train, Train to Train and Train to compete – age group 10 to18 – we need to focus on developing …

• Superb ball control, passing and receiving skills under pressure
• Superb play making and creative skills in build up and offense
• Game sense and intelligent decision making abilities, via mini hockey games

This way, we have players with high a level of skills and the ability to read the game, be imaginative and creative on the field, rather than being mechanical players. This is where the theory of developing “All round players versus, specialized players” comes into play. We don’t want Jack of all trades and master of none; we want Jack of one trade – position – and master of it. Can a world class brain surgeon be a world class heart specialist? You be the judge! As we know that there are entirely two different strategies to develop either one of these doctors/players … All round players versus specialist. Let’s invest in developing imaginative and creative hockey players, rather than changing the rules so very frequently, to make the game challenges easier for our hard working players.

In conclusion, I like almost all the Hockey 9s rule changes that have come out ofAustralia, except for the proposed reduction of players on the field. I hope the FIH rule board flashes a green light, after the 2012 London Olympics.

To change, and to change for the better, are two different things- Old German proverb