Field Hockey Stick - Permitted 'deviation'

Permitted 'deviation'

Although 'permitted deviation' (from the straight) to the edges of a hockey stick (handle) were included in the 1991 Rules of Hockey, a diagram of a hockey stick, to illustrate what was permitted was not included until 1993 and then it was a part stick diagram placed horizontally on a page smaller than the A6 page of the present rulebook. The diagram was very poorly drawn but it was a significant step for the FIH to include it at all. The diagram remained unchanged until 2004, when the orientation was altered so that the stick was shown upright and it was also shown full length. The X axis (previously vertical) became the ground plane and the Y axis a vertical line through the centre of the handle. Further improvements to the diagram (particularly the drawing of the representation of the stick and an illustration of possible curves to the handle) were made in 2006 and a second diagram, detailing head configuration, was added.

To describe the dimensions of Head and Handle the hockey stick is envisaged to be placed with the bottom curve of the stick-head on a level surface, the x-axis, with the stick-handle perpendicular to it (the y-axis). The y-axis runs from an intersection with the x-axis (0) vertically through the midpoint of the top of the handle. The Head is the part from the x-axis to the line C-C (diagram) a vertical distance of 100mm. This line C-C also describes the limit on any upturn to the 'toe' of the Head. By Rule there is no limit to the length of the stick-head along the x-axis, but practical considerations, as well as technicalities related to the joining of the Head and the Handle (on the line C-C), do create limitations.

The extent of the stick-head along the X+ axis, towards the 'heel' of the Head is confined by the rule requirement that the stick-head and the handle meet in a smooth continuous fashion at the line C-C and by a rule restriction on the shape of the handle, which is that the stick-handle must not project beyond the line B1-B1. It is possible to envisage a stick where the width of handle did not extend beyond the line A1-A1, thus allowing a significant extension of the stick-head along the X+ axis, but the practicalities of such a design seem to be limited and have not been explored. The length of the Head (or 'toe') along the X- axis has varied enormously, especially since the Second World War and again after the introduction of the timber lamination process in the early 1980s.

The stick handle may be bent or 'deviated', in a smooth curve only, once only to either side. That is the handle may have one out-moving curve on the 'heel' side of the head and one out-moving curve on the 'toe' side. It is therefore possible to have a hockey stick with a handle deviation to the front or 'toe' side or a handle deviation to the back or 'heel' side or a stick-handle that is bent once to both the 'toe' and 'heel' sides.

The sample diagram on the right shows three deviating areas (a), (b), and (c). Any of these areas could exist on a stick by itself but, in this illustration, area (a) could legally coexist with area (b) and area (c) could coexist with area (b); but areas (a) and (c) could not legally coexist on the same stick because they are both on the same edge and only one protrusion either beyond the line AA or beyond the line A1A1 - or both - is permitted on the handle.

The maximum permitted width of the handle (51mm) is illustrated in the diagram by the distance between the dotted lines A-A and A1-A1. A hockey stick handle will rarely be of the maximum permitted width: most are between 46mm and 48mm at the widest point.

The maximum permitted 'deviation' is shown by the lines B-B and B1-B1 respectively. The line B-B is 20mm further along the X- axis than the line A-A and the line B1-B1 is 20mm further along the X+ axis than the line A1-A1. There is no limit to the length of a protrusion along the y-axis specified, so the deviation curve or curves may be of any length along the length of the stick-handle. Some goalkeeping sticks have an outward curve on the 'toe' side (within the line B-B) that extends for almost half the total length of the stick.

The sample illustrated does not reach the line A1A1 on the 'heel edge' and the Y axis is not central to the shaft, which raises the question "How is the stick positioned for measurement of permitted deviation." The answer is that the vertical axis Y runs through the top centre of the handle and the stick is assumed to be suspended from that top centre point and perpendicular to the X axis (the ground), the curve to the base of the head of the stick being in contact with the ground, it is therefore not necessary for the Y axis to pass through the centre of the shaft just above the head of the stick, although in most traditional sticks it will do so (or very nearly do so - as 'rake' to the handle may cause the Y axis to run a few millimeters to the heel side of the true centre of the shaft). To November 2008 no official measuring method or device for measuring 'permitted deviation' has been approved by the FIH.