Umpire (field Hockey) - Video Umpires

Video Umpires

In FIH World-Level competitions, where facilities are available, a video umpire is appointed in addition to the field and reserve umpires. The scope of the video umpire's role is restricted to making decisions as to whether or not a goal has been legally scored. To this end, the video umpire may assist in decisions to determine:

• whether the ball crossed the goal line (within the area bounded by the goal posts and crossbar);
• whether the ball was legally played or touched inside the circle by the stick of an attacker, or touched the stick or body of a defender inside the circle, and after either of these actions did not travel outside the circle before passing completely over the goal-line and under the cross-bar;
• whether the ball travelled outside the circle before it entered the goal from a shot by an attacker, without being touched by the stick or body of a defender, during the taking of a penalty corner;
• whether a breach of the Rules has been observed within the attacking 23 metre area in the play leading to the awarding or disallowing of a goal. It is then for the Match Umpire to take any breach into account in reaching their decision.

Decisions may be referred to the video umpire upon the request of a player of either team, or directly by a field umpire. Each team is permitted one video umpire referral per match, which is retained if the referral is successful and forfeited if the referral is unsuccessful. There is no limit to the number of field umpire referrals in a match.