New hockey rules to be applied during National Schools Games

By Oscar Pilipili

Administrator Martin Milla has predicted that the game of hockey will be entertaining and competitive following the introduction on new rules during term one National Games at Maseno School.

Milla said the new rules are currently in use at district, county and provincial championships and will, for the first time, find their way to nationals during this year’s games at Maseno.

The first rule states that when a defender infringes an attacker during a penalty corner he is sent to the half line as the corner is retaken.

"This is a very interesting scenerio because the defending team will have one player less (four instead of five) inside the box when a penalty corner is being taken," said Milla, a former international player and veteran umpire.

Spell doom

"The penalty corner rule will also apply to an attacker who infringes a defender inside the circle," Milla added.

The rules spell doom to any player who will be shown green card as this will no longer be a mere warning but a two-minute suspension.

Milla said that the game of hockey, that is potentially dangerous, will be more safe with the introduction of the 23-metre rule which bars a direct hit to the circle from the said distance.

According to Milla, the ball must move at least five metres first being a player targets to drive it to the circle.

"A ball being hit at 23 meters must travel at least two times before it gets to the circle," explained Milla.

The tie-break rule is the most interesting of all with the introduction of penalty shoot outs.

According to this rule, if the playing teams failed to break a deadlock after the regulation 70 minutes and extra time, they proceed to an exciting penalty shoot out which is a one on one situation between attacker and goalkeeper.

Unlike the penalty stroke that was previously hit at the 12 meters mark, the shootout gives attacking player eight seconds on blow of the whistle to launch attack from 23 metres and dribble towards the goal to score.

Challenging aspect

The goalkeeper is allowed to make any movement to prevent the attacker from scoring. Milla said: "This is the most entertaining and challenging aspect of the game because players involved (both attacker and goalkeeper) must be very skilful and agile. The attacker must be also very fast to hit the ball within required time (eight seconds)."

Milla concurred that the new rules are challenging but maintained that it was upon coaches to update their players accordingly.

He observed that schools from regions where hockey is not dominant like Eastern and Central are likely to lag behind in understanding and application of the rules.

"The success of a team depends on coaching methods and interpretation of rules. Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association has planned coaching and umpiring clinics ahead of the national games where technical officials will once again be taken through the rules," Milla said.

Reigning national champions St Anthony’s boys and Kapkoilel girls, both from Rift Valley, are the first hockey teams to qualify for the Maseno games.