Regular Tips

Theses are regular rules related tips from England Hockey

November 2007

Temporary and Permanent Suspensions of Players (and Substitutes) for both Indoor Hockey and Outdoor Hockey

Some umpires have become confused when reading rule 14 regarding Personal Penalties.

Anyone reading rule 14 on its own (in either the outdoor or the indoor rules) should remember that the definition of a player is “One of the participants in a team”, and that the definition of a Team covers the players on the pitch and substitutes.

Rule 14.1 makes it clear that any player can be cautioned, warned, temporarily suspended or permanently suspended. As the term “player” refers to players on the pitch and to substitutes, all these actions can be taken with a substitute in exactly the same way as for a player on the pitch.

14.1 (c) and 14.1 (d) also make it clear that if any player is suspended, whether temporarily (yellow card) or permanently (red card), the affected team plays with one less player for the duration of the suspension. This applies equally whether the player being suspended happened to be on the pitch or happened to be a substitute at the time of the suspension.