Personal sympathy and International rivalry

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You'd have to be a moron to wear a little skirt and play PROPER field hockey.

Usually devolves into a rugby-like scrum with sticks involved.

 

I feel sorry for people from the US... you REALLY do live in your own little bubble, don't you?

 

It's either that, or what Americans think field hockey is, isn't what the rest of the world thinks field hockey is. (Which I guess would still mean we'd be living in our little bubble.)

Just to be sure we're on the same page here, field hockey is a sport where the rules are similar to regular ice hockey, but there's a little ball instead of a puck, and it's played on a grass field instead of ice, right?

 

No you are not aldeth. Rules are far more complicated.

I play field-hockey. It is as fast as ice-hockey but it is less contact. It if more technical than ice hockey. The field is 91 meter long mostly made by artificial turf.

The ball is harder as a rubber puck, so we wear heavy shin-guards and mouth-protection. The goalie is more or less the same as the ice-hockey goalie.

We do not hit, check, poke, slash, or try to catch the ball in the air but suffer more rules. We play 11 against 11 in two halves of 35 min.


It looks a bit more like lacrosse, like DMC says, but the goal is on the back-line and no body protection. The ball stays on the ground unless it is played with a safe controlled ballistic-like push.

 

Yes, I meant the general layout is similar to hockey, with players trying to put the ball into a relatively smallish goal guarded by a goalie. I was trying to distinguish it from something like soccer, where the goal relative to the size of the goalie is large.

I knew there was far less contact - we cannot let our women get seriously injured - less padding a protection, and more people in the competition than hockey, without line switches, etc.

 

But the field is bigger, almost as big as football, and many football tactics works for field hockey as well. It is closer in that aspect then ice hockey.

The goals is roughly four times as big as an ice-hockey goal.

Lots of people switch over or play both

 

Aldeth - it's not even called 'field' hockey here because for us, hockey played on grass or turf is normal hockey. We have to call the cold version you play 'ice' hockey.

As a kid, my winter sports were hockey and soccer.

New Zealand has even won Olympic medals at field hockey.

I would describe hockey as being closer to soccer than anything else. It's 11 a side on a soccer sized field with the same general positions. But the goal is smaller, the goalkeeper is more heavily armoured, and penalties are taken as corners rather than right out in front.

In NZ, nobody plays ice hockey because it's too hard to find an ice-rink. Although we do have a national ice hockey team called the Ice Blacks, it's mostly made up of ex-pat Canadians. The NZ field hockey team is called the Black Sticks.

 

I bought a stick from a New Zealander once at a tournament. He die mention a few things about rivalry whit Australia.

 

Utterly amazing! It's the exact opposite here in the US! When you say "hockey" everyone assumes you mean the ice version!

 

That is why we think ahead and add the field when we visit.

 

Being on these forums helps break down international barriers!

 

I did wonder, 'field' hockey. I've never really heard it referred as that before. Hockey is on grass. Ice hockey is on ice. Ice hockey involved hitting people, hockey involved blocking peoples shots with your stick, and hoping to hell the ball doesn't hit your ankles!

 

It's like football

 

So, why on earth would you add sticks to football (either version) if not to beat people with?

 

NOG: To make sure our fans will not become hooligans.

 

Do the Americans realize how silly American football looks to Europeans?

We do not hit each other with the sticks. Sure we have our little ways and tricks to intimidate or anger, but it is more subtle. My shin protectors are made of an aluminium plate in foam and protects the ankle. Hockey is heavy on the back and knees.

 

Being an American, probably no. I always assumed it would look just as silly to you as European football looks to Americans. The craziness and fanaticism in which the sports are followed (American football in the US and soccer in Europe) are suprisingly similar.

 

I always find it amusing how the Americans actually care about the Olympics, too. Noone in Europe gives a crap about that damn shít.

 

I wouldn't say that's entirely true, Barmy.

Olympics carry a lot of weight, only the peak of interest lies in other sports, not football.