Tickets go on sale for CHOGM 2011 hockey tournament, Waldron
Author: Terry Waldron
Published on: 17-June-2011
Tickets have gone on sale for a hockey tournament with an exciting new format to be held in the week leading up to October’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
Sport and Recreation Minister Terry Waldron said the tournament would see Australia’s men’s and women’s teams, the Kookaburras and the Hockeyroos, take on some of the world’s best participating teams, including India, Pakistan, Malaysia and New Zealand.
“Hockey Australia has created an innovative tournament called the International Super Series (ISS) which introduces new and exciting rules to make the game faster and more exciting than ever before,” Mr Waldron said.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for West Australians and CHOGM visitors to watch elite athletes pitting themselves against the best in the world in a never before seen format.”
The ISS will be played at the Perth Hockey Stadium in Bentley from Thursday, October 20 to Sunday, October 23.
Some of the new rules include:
· each match consists of two 15 minute halves (instead of two x 35 minutes) with five minutes for halftime and 10 minutes between games
· all teams have a maximum of nine players on the field (instead of 11) with one player having to stay in the attacking half - or be penalised
· more tolerance of foot and stick contact to reduce unnecessary stoppages in play
· if the ball goes into the goals from a shot outside the circle, that team will be awarded a long corner, encouraging the goalkeeper to keep the ball alive.
The Western Australian and Federal governments are jointly funding the ISS as well as two international netball matches featuring four of the top seven teams in the world which will also be held in the lead up to CHOGM 2011.
On October 23, at the Burswood Dome, the South African Proteas and Malawi Queens will play before the Australian Diamonds take on the New Zealand Silver Ferns in a Test match.
Tickets for the netball matches will go on sale in July. For more information go to www.netball.asn.au
