“Whatever we do, either nothing or radical,” says Jon Wyatt, “we will upset half of the hockey players which isn’t ideal.” Having received around 4,700 responses over four months, world hockey’s sport and development director is talking about the penalty corner rule and its future following the FIH’s decision to open up a consultation period last year with a view to tinkering with the setpiece and balancing both entertainment and safety.
“People really care about it,” Wyatt tells The Hockey Paper. “Fifty per cent of responses said leave it alone and stop meddling with the rules and the other 50 said it’s dangerous, ‘I’m in A&E every other week’, ‘I’m a No 1 runner’ or ‘I see this in my team’.”
For a sport which has changed or added rules for the better – think self pass and video referrals – the penalty corner could be the biggest yet if there are wholesale changes to make the sport safer.
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SAM WARD: Why we shouldn’t get rid of the penalty corner
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“The PC is still only 25-odd years old and didn’t exist before 1995”? I’ve got a hockey book from 1984 describing the penalty corner.
I was playing in 1960 and penalty corner was played from any place on the circle as it is today, only when the ball is hit with the hockey stick, it must hit backboards which 12 inches from the ground level., any rebounds can be hit at any height into the goal. Remember it was grass in those days, not as true as todays Astro Turf.
These youngsters have no idea of the HA rules from the past. I was playing before 1969, becoming a HA Coach & Umpire by 1978. The trouble is no amount of padding or headgear is going to stop serious accidents. Sadly some day soon, someone will be killed by a flying shot. Not even the goalkeepers are that safe.
I would like to see and hear the board again making it safer for all players in a penalty corner and changing the rules of only 1 point for a corner but 3 points for a field goal. This emphasising a field goal more important than a penalty corner making the game even more exciting.
…and whilst you are at it stop calling it a ‘corner’. Same with ‘long corner’ neither have anything to do with a corner so let’s come up with some more interesting names. Also how about stopping the ‘end of match’ whistle before the ‘SC’ is played thus giving the offensive team an added bonus by allowing 10 players around the circle to gain an unfair advantage for one moment of the game, blow the whistle for time once the SC has ended.
Why stop traditional terms? Why change the HA rules?
Says MLW183 who clearly knows best!