Team Manager's Guide to SA Hockey Association Outdoor Hockey Senior 2027

FIH Rules 1.11, 2.5 and 2.6 (2027):

• New for 2027 (Rule 1.11): each team has a bench outside and along one side of the field. You use the same bench for the whole match, as directed by the competition's regulations or, if there are none, by the umpires.
• The bench is for substitutes and team officials. A team official is anyone appointed by the team who isn't a player and is authorised to sit on the bench, such as the head coach, team manager, physiotherapist or doctor. The number, roles and accreditation of team officials can be set by competition regulations.
• Nobody except players and umpires may go onto the field during the match without an umpire's permission.
• Players on and off the field, including those on the bench, are under the umpires' authority for the whole match, including the quarter and half-time breaks.
• Team officials can now be carded, and the team plays a player short for any green or yellow card suspension.
• Suspended players and officials sit in the designated place and must not coach, shout or do team duties.

Substitutions take place within 3 m of the centre-line on the team bench side.

FIH Rule 4 (2027). Competition regulations and SA Hockey or provincial regulations may add requirements on clothing and advertising.

Field players:

• Players in the same team must wear uniform clothing. Each player may choose shorts, a skort or a skirt, as long as they're the same colour and design.
• Nothing dangerous to other players may be worn.
• Shin, ankle and mouth protection are strongly recommended.
• Hand protection must fit, uncompressed, into an open-ended box 290 x 180 x 110 mm.
• Body protection may be worn under clothing. Knee pads for defending corners may be worn outside the socks only if exactly the sock colour or black.
• Face masks: strongly recommended when defending a corner or stroke; otherwise headgear only for assessed medical reasons (a smooth face mask, soft head covering or plastic goggles).
• New for 2027: no device to send or receive communication may be used or worn.

Goalkeepers:

• A shirt or garment of a different colour from both teams, worn over any upper-body protection (elbow protection needn't be covered).
• At least headgear, leg guards and kickers. Headgear and hand protectors may be removed only to take a penalty stroke.
• No kit that significantly increases the natural size of the body or area of protection.

Captain: a distinctive arm-band or similar on the upper arm or shoulder, or over the top of a sock.

Sticks: smooth, no rough or sharp parts, must pass through a 51 mm ring, and have a maximum bow of 25 mm.

FIH Rules 2.2, 2.3 and 10 (2027). A team plays either:

• with a goalkeeper, who wears a shirt of a different colour and at least headgear, leg guards and kickers; or
• with field players only. Then nobody has goalkeeping privileges or wears a different shirt, and nobody may wear protective headgear except a face mask when defending a penalty corner or stroke.

Switching between these options must be done as a substitution.

Goalkeeper substitutions (revised for 2027):

• Time no longer has to be stopped. A goalkeeper may leave during play and be replaced, including by a field player, through the substitution area at the centre-line like any other player.
• At your team's request, time may still be stopped for a goalkeeper substitution (some competition regulations require the request). The stoppage isn't extended for putting kit on or off.
• Only when time is stopped may a goalkeeper replaced by a field player leave near their own goal, and they must go straight to the team bench.
• An injured or suspended defending goalkeeper may be replaced during a penalty corner. If your goalkeeper is suspended, your team plays one player short.

On the field: the goalkeeper can't take part in play outside their own 23-metre area (except to take a penalty stroke) and must wear headgear at all times except when taking a stroke.

FIH Rule 2.3 (2027):

• Unlimited: any number of players at once, and any player can go off and come back as often as you like.
• When: at any time, except from the award of a penalty corner until it's completed. During that period only an injured or suspended defending goalkeeper may be replaced. If another corner is awarded before the first is completed, wait until the retaken corner is completed.
• Where: players leave and enter within 3 m of the centre-line on the team bench side.
• Order: the substitute may only come on after the player being replaced has left the field.
• Time isn't stopped for substitutions, except that a team may ask for time to be stopped for a goalkeeper substitution. Time isn't extended for putting on or taking off kit.
• Suspended players: no substitute during a suspension. Once it's over, the player may be substituted without first returning to the field. Otherwise they return within 3 m of the centre-line.

The captain is responsible for substitutions being carried out correctly.

FIH Rules 2.4, 2.5, 2.7 and 6.5 (2027):

• A player who is injured or bleeding must leave the field, unless medical reasons prevent it. They can't come back until wounds are covered, and nobody may play in blood-stained clothing.
• Nobody else may come onto the field (team officials and medical staff included) without an umpire's permission.
• A player who leaves for treatment, a drink or a kit change (not as a substitution) may only come back on between the 23-metre lines on the substitution side.
• You can substitute the injured player at any time except during a penalty corner. Time isn't stopped for substitutions.
• If the umpires stop time for an injury and no penalty was awarded, play restarts with a bully close to where the ball was (not within 15 m of the back-line or 5 m of the circle).
• An injured defending goalkeeper may be substituted during a penalty corner, by another goalkeeper or a field player.

Players on or off the field stay under the umpires' authority for the whole match, including intervals.

FIH Rule 2.1 (2027): no more than eleven players per team on the field at any time.

If a team has too many:

• The umpires stop time to correct it.
• If it materially affected the match, the captain must get a yellow card.
• Decisions made before it was corrected can't be changed once time or play has restarted.
• Play restarts with a free hit to the opponents, unless a penalty had just been awarded against your team, in which case that penalty is taken.

How to avoid it (Rule 2.3): a substitute may only come on after the player being replaced has left the field, and both must use the area within 3 m of the centre-line on the bench side. The captain is responsible for making sure substitutions are done correctly.

FIH Rule 3 (2027):

• Each team must appoint one player as captain.
• The captain wears a distinctive arm-band or similar on the upper arm or shoulder, or over the top of a sock.
• If the captain is suspended, a replacement captain must be appointed.
• The captain is responsible for the behaviour of all players on the team and for making sure substitutions are carried out correctly. A captain who doesn't exercise these responsibilities gets a personal penalty.
• If a team has too many players on the field and it materially affects the match, the captain must get a yellow card (Rule 2.1).

Cards given to the captain for these team offences don't count towards the 2027 rule that a player can't receive a second card of the same colour. So the captain could still get a second green or yellow card.

The toss (Rule 6.1): the team winning the toss chooses either which goal to attack in the first half, or to start the first two quarters with the centre pass. The other team gets the other choice.

New in the FIH Rules of Hockey 2027 (Rule 14): umpires can give personal penalties to team officials (head coach, manager, physio, doctor and anyone else authorised to sit on the bench), treating misconduct the same way as a player's.

• The same official shouldn't get two green or two yellow cards in a match. After any personal penalty, the next carded offence must get a higher card.
• Misconduct while suspended must get a higher-category penalty.
• While suspended, the official stays in the designated place and must not coach, shout or do any team duties. They may rejoin the team at a quarter or half-time interval, then return to finish the suspension.
• Umpires must deal firmly with players or team officials who abuse opponents, umpires or other officials, verbally or by body language.

Competition regulations may add further consequences for a red card beyond the match.