At the recent International event; 2015 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup it was a trans- Tasman affair in the final between World no. 1 Australia and world no. 7h New Zealand. Two penalty corner goals from Andy Hayward against a 50th minute goal from Australia’s Jacob Whetton gave the New Zealanders a 2-1 lead as fulltime loomed. But they conceded a contested penalty stroke in the last minute. Captain Mark Knowles beat Manchester from the spot to send the match into a shootout with just 29 seconds remaining.
It came down to a shoot out in which three heroic saves from NZ goalkeeper Devon Manchester steered the Black Sticks to a 3-1 result. New Zealand had achieved a memorable result against the World no. 1 Aussie team.
It was not so much about the result of the game but the outcome that is of interest as it opens up a discussion about two issues that is considered worthy to bring to Go Hockey News readers. In the following post match video
Kookaburas coach Graham Reid said afterwards, “I thought we pressed very well but at the end of the day they got a corner, a soft corner. We had lots of opportunities but we didn’t put them away. That’s what hockey is about – capitalizing on those opportunities. We didn’t do that today.”
Firstly let it be said ‘Well done New Zealand’ on the deserved achievement. So what is the issue?
‘Soft corners changing the ‘would be’ results of games’
The notion of ‘soft corner’ has been creeping into our modern hockey game for some time. It is where a team gets a penalty corner against itself for a minor ‘in circle’ breach which then ultimately results in a goal to the attack. Drag flicking specialisation in penalty corners has meant that teams once in the attacking circle play for a minor breach against the defence so that their drag flicking specialist gets an opportunity to put a goal away. This is extremely frustrating for the defence especially when the breach may have occurred on the outskirts of the circle and by its nature a field goal was not eminent. The goal result then can change the real winning position of the game, i.e., a team on top strategically now has its back against the wall to win. The better the corner drag flicker the more reliance a team becomes on attaining penalty corners than scoring exciting field goals. It is our viewpoint this is killing the game of hockey as it was doing to rugby union a decade ago where penalty kickers like Johnny Wilkinson from England who kicked England into a World Cup final and to win the final.
So what is the solution?
Hockey as a sport needs to build up the value emphasis of scoring field goals, which is about making hockey exciting to watch, and de-emphasizing the reliance on penalty corner conversions especially that result from ‘soft corners’. Therefore let field goals be valued as 3 points awarded to the attackers and corner conversions be valued as 1 point to the attacker. To counteract defenders deliberately breaching in the circle to prevent field goals be more diligent in awarding penalty strokes and card send offs. Penalty strokes can then be valued as 2 points to the attackers.
We have witnessed in recent times the spectator excitement of hockey 9’s and hockey 5’s with their open game format resulting in plenty of field goals. Corner striking specialists have always been important to a team but it is a shame when you review game results and the goals scored to find their source as being penalty corner goal conversions only.
The question posed, is it the time to review the scoring system at elite game level?
