Revised FIH Outdoor Umpires Briefing Released

Along with the major overhaul to the FIH website, the Umpiring Committee has released “V2” of the 2011 FIH Outdoor Umpires Briefing.

Changes are highlighted in yellow in the briefing and there appears to be only one, which appears on page 12 (and is bolded below):

For free hits (including centre passes, corners and all sideline restarts after the ball has been outside the field): –
• All opponents must be at least 5 metres from the ball 
• For free hits awarded to the attack within their attacking 23 metre area – all players must be at least 5 metres from the ball

In all situations – if taken quickly and a player is within 5 metres of the ball but is not playing, attempting to play the ball or influencing play, the taking of the free
hit does not need to be delayed; this same player can play, attempt to play the ball or try to influence play, once the ball has travelled 5 metres – be consistent in your judgment of this.

• Attacking free hits awarded within 5 metres of the circle are taken back to the nearest point 5 metres from the circle

 

This now clarifies an issue that has been discussed at length on sites such as Field Hockey Forum, and has evidently been in question in some jurisdictions around the world. The question revolves around the self-pass and a defender who is initially caught within the 5m granted to the attacker taking the self-pass.

Assuming that the defender does not interfere with the play in any way (i.e. shadows or channels the attacker in a direction or attempts to play the ball), when can that defender engage in play? Is it when the ball has traveled 5m from the spot where the free hit self-pass was taken, or is it when the defender has moved 5m away from the player carrying the ball?

This small amendment makes the correct interpretation very clear: it’s when the ball has traveled 5m from the spot where the free hit was taken.