Penalty corner (field hockey)

The penalty corner or short corner is a special and important phase in the development of a field hockey match.

Also called "PC" or simply "penalty", it is awarded to the offending team when the defending team committed a foul in its circle or a particularly bad foul in its defending quarter. The offending teams keenly seek after these penalty corners since they offer great scoring opportunities, similar to those offered by direct free kicks in Football (soccer).

When a penalty corner is awarded, all the defending players but five (including the goalkeeper) must stay behind the centre line, while the five remaining defenders have to stay behind the back line. The attacking team players place themselves around the circle with one player behind the back line with the ball. When he or she pushes out the ball to his or her team-mates, the defending teams may then step inside the field. Before a shot on goal can be taken, the ball must first travel outside the circle. If the ball is hit, as opposed to a flick, scoop or push, the ball must be below 460 mm before crossing the line to score a goal. If the ball raises above 460 mm in its flight, provided there is no danger(If there was it would result in a free hit to the defenders), and drops below 460 mm under its own accord before crossing the goal line (With no interference from the goalkeeper or defenders), it is still counted as a goal.

Whilst the Penalty Corner has always been an important part of the game, that importance has become more pronounced following the introduction of artificial turf. The former great penalty corner strikers like Paul Litjens, Ties Kruize and Michael Peters were successful due to the countless hours they spent in practice perfecting their skills and craft. Uneven bounce and unpredictability were ironed out when artificial turf was introduced. Hence the proliferation of penalty corner specialists during the eighties and nineties including Floris Jan Bovelander, Jay Stacy, Carsten Fischer, Khalid Bashir, Craig Davies, Jim Irvine and Seong Seo Kim were no doubt largely due to the eveness and predictability of the new surface. While these players are basically hard hitters of the ball, the introduction of the drag flick provided another dimension to counter the goalkeepers who lie down during the hit. This new skill of drag flicking also introduced new exponents of this skill including Bram Lomans, Taco van den Honert and Taeke Taekema, Steller (Netherlands) , Sohail Abbas (Pakistan), Sandeep Singh (India), Shanmuganathan Kuhan (Malaysia), Florian Kunz, Christopher Zeller (Germany), Calum Giles (England), Hayden Shaw (New Zealand) and Jorge Lombi (Argentina) who are the modern exponents of this lethal skill. They all have ability to whip the ball at speed up to 120 km/h. This technique has remained the favoured way to score goals on penalty corners.

History

The Penalty Corner was introduced in 1908 for offences by defenders in the circle. At a penalty corner, the Rules required the ball to be stopped before a shot at goal but this was not umpired rigorously; all defenders were behind the goal-line with attacking players outside the circle.

In 1949 deliberate offences by defenders within the 25 yards area and persistent offences by defenders at corners were penalized by a penalty corner.

From 1961 at penalty corners and for long corners, a maximum of six defenders were to be behind the back line with the remainder of the defending team at the 25 yards line.

In 1975 with the publication of the first common Rule book for men and women further changes were made. The ball now had to be stopped dead by an attacker before a shot at goal; there was to be no latitude.

1987 saw a further reduction in the number of defenders behind the back line from six to five. This year also saw the introduction of a height limit on the first hit at goal, the ball should not cross the goal-line higher than 18 inches and if the ball traveled more than 5 yards outside the circle then the penalty corner rules no longer applied.

1995, following the introduction of rolling substitutes a few years previously, substitution was now allowed at penalty corners and penalty strokes. This led to the introduction of true specialists, brought on just for penalty corners.

In 1996 the stop was moved to outside the circle

From 1997 the rules required the prolongation of play to permit the completion of a penalty corner at half-time and full-time.

1998: Substitutions at penalty corners were no longer permitted except for an injured defending goalkeeper but were still permitted at penalty strokes.

2003: The requirement to stop the ball was removed, instead, the ball was only required to travel outside the circle.

ee also

*Field hockey history