Stick positioning for faceoffs
Comments about this discussion:
Started
What do people generally rule on where the stick can be in relation to the ball for faceoffs or restarts.
There seems to be a few ways that a faceoff could be played
1) Players sticks must be behind the ball (on their side of the court) until the ball touches the ground (play starts)
2) Players sticks must be behind the ball (on their side of the court) until the ball is released from the hand, but can move it afterwards before the ball touches the ground.
3) Players sticks can be in front of the ball ready to hit backwards from the before the ball is released from the hand.
For faceoffs to start a half it is clear when the stick is past the ball as you have a halfway line, for all other faceoffs it is a bit less clear.
Comment
Yes, there are some ways a face-off could be played. From my point of view I have no problem with all. For me it is key that the players leave enough room for the ball to touch the ground freely, I do not take care where the unicycles, sticks or blades are.
Comment
I haven't really had problems with this in the past but it would seem most natural to expect the stick, wheel and rider to be behind the middle line until the ball touches the ground and play starts. There's a fair bit of intimidation tactics and shit talking being played from time to time so being extra vigilant here makes sense (ie, the biggest player typically goes in front for the opening faceoff).
Comment
I haven't had problems per se but have seen referees telling people to move their sticks to certain positions before they will play a ball. So I was wondering what the general consensus is of it.
I have not looked at it TOO closely howeve if someone's stick was well over half way I would probably tell them to move it back to their side.
Comment
Nicolai or Christian is there any particular thing that is allowed or not allowed in Suisse league?
Comment
We have no additional rules for the face off.
In our leagues most face offs are played according to your second statement. But this is just the way it is done and not part of any official rule.
Comment
Would people be happy for any of those techniques to be used?
Comment
I see only a nice to change but no need to change or add the rules. We got examples how it will be handled by the different referees, nobody reported a real problem with the existing rule or complains.
Comment
I also have not come across any issues/complaints about another player's stick position during face off. I guess if one person wants to hit the ball back, and the other forward, this could create an issue. I haven't come across this yet.
Comment
Time to close this discussion?
Comment
That is fine as long as referees don't mind being told no if they ask players to move their sticks to a new position. I have seen some swiss referees at UNICON tell players to move their sticks back if they were over the halfway line.
In my opinion the player has every right to say "I am allowed to leave it here"