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THE RULES OF 1899 Contributed by Chris Fookes of Cardiff HC
All that follows has been cribbed from a book called "Hockey Historical and Practical" by J. Nicholson Smith and Philip Robson, with contributions from various people on their area of special interest. It was published by A.D. Innes & Co in London in 1899 and was part of the Isthmian Library. I got my copy some years ago from John Cranwell (advt.) Chapter XIV starting on p 127 was written by C. Connah of the WHA Council, who was also a founder member of Rhyl Hockey Club. Now I'm not saying he was biased by this, but his general tone makes the average Llanelli fan seem a paragon of tolerant impartiality. It seems that the selection of Welsh teams owed a lot to Byzantine politics. His most damning assertion comes in the section headed "Welsh Umpire" which starts:- "Well, so far as Welsh umpires are concerned, there are none, or at least I perhaps should qualify this by saying, there is one, but he is not a perfect one." He then continues a paragraph or so later:- "In making such a sweeping statement as 'there are no Welsh umpire', I am speaking from personal experience of the North only, but Ihave strong presumption that I am equally right about the South. I have seen one or two South clubs play; I have seen the South team play in the test match, and I have seen the South players in the International, and their play, or rather their non-observance of some of the rules, their questioning of the umpire's decisions, and their occasional absolute misreading of other rules, can mean nothing else than that the South umpires are quite as incompetent as those of the North. It is a subject much too delicate to enlarge upon." Rules of 1899 Rule 1 11 players per side, unless otherwise agreed. (The note is engagingly innocent) Rule 2 Dimensions (The lines must be white lines, and not little trenches cut out) Rule 3 The goals " ...shall consist of two uprights 12 feet apart, with a horizontal bar 7 feet from the ground." (All clubs should, if possible, make a point of affixing nets ...) Rule 4 Defines the circle Rule 5 The Ball "The ball shall be an ordinary cricket ball, painted white" (The ball must be painted white with ordinary white paint. This is to show that it is quite useless to use enamel paint.) Rule 6 The sticks The sticks shall have no metal fittings whatsoever, and no sharp edges, and they must be able to pass through a ring 2 inches in diameter. (plus ça change ...) Rule 7 Shoes No player is to have any metal spikes or projecting nails in his boots or shoes, (Running shoes are quite inadmissible) Rules 8 - 10 Choice of ends, bullies, penalty bullies Rule 11 Scoring a goal A long and complicated rule, made worse by the notes which include (This rule permits the flying shot from a corner, which scores a goal, if the ball be hit within the circle, touches a defender, and goes between the posts wholly over the line. But this is quite contrary to the spirit of the rukes, and we trust that all who have the best interest of the game at heart will use their influence to stop such strokes) Rule 12 Offside Judges a player to be offside in his own half of the field unless there are 3 defenders between him and his opponents' goal Rule 13 "The ball may be caught (but must be at once dropped on the ground) or stopped with any part of the body; but it must not be picked up, carried, kicked, knocked on or back, except with the stick There shall be no play with the back of the stick, and no charging, kicking, collaring, shinning, or tripping shall be allowed. Fencing or hooking sticks is allowable only when one of the players is within striking distance of the ball. A player may hook the stick but not the person of an opponent." (Plus definitions of obstruction which amount to incitement to riot.) Rule 14 Sticks and undercutting (Also lays down that no player may interfere with the game in any way unless his stick be in his hand. "A player without a stick in his hand must getaway five yards from the ball, if necessary, before recovering his stick") Rule 15 Free hits (The "sticks" rule is cheerfully infringed, and by some umpires winked at on the occasion of a free hit) Rule 16, 17 Free hits and penalty bullies (Two very complicated rules, with surprising conditions. Penalty bullies had to be taken by the two players who were involved in the original incident; goals could be scored directly from the penalty bully; all other players were to be outside the circle if the bully takes place inside the circle; the attacking side in such cases could nominate who was to take part in the bully with the defending offender; and much, much more, including the possibility of a defending side being offside in their own circle. In addition, both this Rule and others refer to the "referee, or, in his absence, an or either of the umpires ..." )
Rule 21 Should there be no umpire or umpires appointed by the two captains, the captains shall be arbitrators in all disputes, and should two umpires or abitrators fail to agree, they must appoint a referee, whose decision shall be final.. Etc. (The duties of umpires are generally to decide all disputed points when appealed to, and the duties of referee to decide all cases of difference between the umpires, and to keep a record of the game, and to act as timekeeper. Plus some interesting opinions on the conduct of umpires.) Rule 22 On an appeal for rough play the umpire shall have a discretionary power to warn the offending player, and if the offence be repeated, to suspend him from further participation in the game Rule 23 Deals with injuries |