[Chris Horton]

Because there’s grass and grass. 4G pitches mimic a grass football pitch, which were seeded with a large proportion of hard-wearing but coarse ryegrass, and mown to 50 to 75 mm. That worked fine with a foot diameter football. Hockey on grass used to be played on the outfield of a cricket pitch, with a much greater proportion of fine grasses that could be mown much closer, to 25 to 40 mm. That was perfect for a hockey ball, which was basically a cricket ball painted white. The best grass pitches, like Spa Ground in Cheltenham, or Imperial Grounds in Bristol, were fantastic to play on.

We could no more play hockey on a football pitch in 1973 than we can on its plastic equivalent in 2023.

[Chris Horton]

Added to Rule 9.10 ‘falling raised ball’ is: “The ball may be intercepted within 5 metres but outside of playing distance provided it is done safely”.

Some say this is something elite umpires were already allowing as fair play, and the Rule has been aligned with practice. Nothing wrong with that.

Other main change is much more leeway for defenders removing face masks after PC: only penalise if they play in mask outside 23m area, and then only with a simple free hit.

[Author]

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