Rules and Regulations

At Rules of Sport, our aim is to explain the basic rules of sports in a clear and easy to understand way.

All you want to know regarding the history and evolution of hockey, its induction into the Olympics, the rules of the sport and some of the best Olympic performances have been compiled in this article.

Field Hockey is a sport that has been played for thousands of years and which bears much in common with the sport of soccer. As with soccer, the basic principle of Field Hockey is goal scoring. The players are divided into two teams with each attempting to get a ball into the others goal. At the end of the game, the team that has scored the most goals wins. As with all major sports, there are official rules of Field Hockey that govern the way the game is played around the world.

A field hockey match consists of two halves, usually 35 minutes each, and begins with a pass back (a non-defended pass from one teammate to another at mid-field). There are 11 players to a side, one of whom is a goalkeeper.

There was a time when field hockey was a contact sport. As the years have passed and rules changed, field hockey has evolved into the modern game it is today.

Field Hockey rules and rule changes in 2015.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) Executive Board has approved several changes to the rules of indoor hockey following a proposal from the Rules Committee. The majority of the changes are aimed at improving gameplay and the experience for spectators, while others are clarifications and tidying up of existing rules.

The Executive Board of the European Hockey Federation met over the weekend, in Brussels, Belgium. It was agreed that the recent Rules of Hockey published by the FIH would come into effect in European competitions (clubs and nations) as of 1st January 2015.

As the international governing body for hockey, we are responsible for the rules of Outdoor Hockey (11 a-side), Indoor Hockey and Hockey5s. Below you can download the rules for each format of the game and even order your own rulebook.

Rules of Field Hockey from the FIH.