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Planet Field Hockey

HI, hockey friends,

I am almost 70....played a lot of hockey...at all levels....and enjoyed it.

I followed very much the game through the years...got bored when "short corners" became so decisive in determining results.Did not agree that individual set pieces had to replace team performances.

In Utrecht '98 at the world cup....when short corner specialists were off the field etc....I lost finally interest....and haven't seen an international match since.Is this a bit of a new trend ?...I don't know.

In 1952 at Helsinki,some Italian soccer internationals watching India-Holland 6-1 were reported to say :that's how we should play soccer....hockey was clear to them....was something special....even to try and imitate.Of course they didn't know that they were looking at one of the better teams of a school .....that had re-invented the hockey sticks....the dribbling skills and practically the whole game.

After that time,somehow and gradually,...the development of our game,changed radically.In the '70s an artificial turf was imposed to the whole world....even the thousands of rural players in India,Pakistan,etc...and short corners became the decisive routines.Few individuals would decide for teams.....against the spirit of team-sports.
FIH took no corrective actions....this meant that effective, sometime brutal defenses + SCs became the more efficient winning formulas.Attacking skills,dribblings,brilliant artistry in a contact-free sport were practically discouraged and eliminated. Was Europe administrative power getting back to the '60s Asian field supremacy ?....

The result to day is that it is very hard to see a player dribble anybody....nor any two or three players combine and burst through a defense.....the typical showing of attacking hockey.Let's say better...... spectators would like to see much more of this....

The final games of any top competition are practically decided by SCs.A title of an hockey article of these days, in South Africa ,confirms once again this fact of life : "

TWO IMPECCABLY EXECUTED SHORT-CORNERS STUN SOUTH AFRICA AS GERMANS TAKE TWO-NIL TEST LEAD" (The Star-Jan 2002)

Other sports,where penaltiesdid threaten the development of the game,took different corrective actions.

Basketball and Rugby,curbed drastically the value of penalties...which often are given for accidental infringements,moods,etc...They promoted open play and rewarded the more difficult skills,using a point-scoring system,cured and developed through the years.

A rugby try,the conclusion of open play,as a field goal in hockey,is now worth 5 to 7 points.A rugby penalty is worth 3 points.

In basketball,a personal fault which is very similar to a SC,is worth 1 point whereas an open play basket is worth 2 to 3 points.

Why could not hockey do something on these lines ?.....Asian game would come again tops?.....or Europe/Australia rather, would now come tops?....an uncertainty that could enhance competition and spectacle.

Mine, are personal comments and appreciations of our game during the last 50 years......one opinion among many which it is meant to be constructive.....and now,with the new media, it can be easily disseminated to responsible hockey people to hopefully stimulate some more discussion at the appropriate levels.
I,for one believe that a better scoring system for hockey,should be :

Short corner: 1 point
Free hit's deflection into goal: 1 point
Open play goal: 2 to 3 points
Penalty stroke: as open play goal


With very best wishes

NM - Johannesburg - Jan 2002

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