England Hockey have now responded to the rule changes announced by the FIH on 18 December 2018. They have confirmed that there will be no changes made to the domestic game during the rest of the 2018-19 season. That means all games for the current season will continue to be played under the Rules of Hockey 2017.

It does appear that there are some questions about the impact of the proposed changes on grass roots hockey. The England Hockey response refers to significant changes being the move to 15 minute quarters, the end of kicking back privileges and changes to free hits within the 23m area and they intend to “seek clarification on the rationale” for these.

England Hockey say they intend to say more in “early 2019” presumably once they’ve received a response from the FIH. We will let you know.

The England Hockey response can be found on their website.