One man less immediately puts the team under pressure JAAP STOCKMANN means that their stamina, their ability to anticipate and their understanding of the game have become ever more important.” If a player gets a green card that means he has to leave the fi eld for two minutes. As a result his team temporarily plays with one player less. Jaap Stockmann: “Great rule. Two minutes with one man short seems like a minimal penalty but in top-level international hockey, one man less immediately puts the team under pressure. You just can’t allow that to happen. So, this new green card rule eliminates dumb stunts like talking to the referee or deliberately kicking the ball away.” Matt Taylor: “It’s more than just implementing the rule. The defence has to have more respect for the attackers. Before the defence could take a chance on getting a green card by making a somewhat more serious foul. That didn’t really matter. Now it’s totally different. Believe me: you don’t want to wind up playing ten against eleven against a top-level team like Bloemendaal. Even two minutes are two minutes too many.” Christian Blasch: “For us as referees not much has changed. We hand out the green card for the same kinds of offences as always. The only difference is that the player that gets one now has to sit on the bench for two minutes. Nevertheless I am pleased with the ‘upgrading’ of the green card. It used to be just a warning, now there is an actual consequence.” If a defensive player runs out too quickly in a penalty corner situation he has to take place at the centre-line. This means his team has one less player to defend against the corner shot. Jaap Stockmann: “It used to be that if a team, just before the end of play had to accept a corner shot there was always a defence player who ran out too quickly. The clock keeps running though. This impairment of the game has now been eliminated. As goalkeeper I’m responsible for organising the penalty corner defence. You really don’t want to lose a man for an infraction. After all, it means you suddenly have only three men versus eight from the offense. That makes the zone very diffi cult to defend.” Matt Taylor: “I don’t agree with Jaap on this one. One less man at the defensive penalty corner is not such a big deal. Virtually all teams use the drag fl ick and push the ball from the edge of the circle towards the goal in one move. So it doesn’t matter if you have three or four men to defend.” Christian Blasch: “This new rule makes it much easier for us referees to manage the penalty corners. Everyone knows what will happen if a defence player passes the goal line before the corner has been taken. This rule has defi nitely reduced the problem of running out too soon for tactical reasons, or intentionally trying to win time before the end of a game.” If a knockout game has not yet been decided after seventy minutes and extra time, 20 07 20 12 51 Pagina 50

Pagina 52

Scoor meer met een webwinkel in uw uitgaven. Velen gingen u voor en publiceerden brochures online.

EHL Anniversary Book Lees publicatie 10Home