Following many adverse comments about the so called “quick tap” style of free pass, the IKF Exco asked the Playing Rules Committee (PRC) to investigate the effect such a type of pass was having on the game and, if necessary, come up with a proposal to change the rules in such a way as to leave the other requirements of the rule unchanged and at the same time, if possible, make any subjective judgement required by the referee to be either not required or be as easy as possible.

The PRC examined the statistics gathered from top matches in the Netherlands and Belgium and found that where such a free pass was taken the success rate was becoming more like the success rate for a penalty, thereby making the award of a free pass “no longer fit the crime”. The PRC had already stopped that type of pass from being taken in a forwards direction by stopping the taker from placing his foot nearer to the post but even with the pass being taken sideways or backwards, players have become so proficient that it was still becoming almost non-defendable.

Therefore, from 1 July 2010, the playing rules have been changed and the free pass will become much more like its name – a pass. The ball will need to travel at least 1m through the air (measured parallel to the ground) before it can be played by a co-attacker.

At the same time the other type of free pass where the co-attacker keeps one foot on the floor outside the circle and falls into the circle to tap the ball back to the taker has also been outlawed by making the requirement that the ball can only be played by the co-attacker when standing outside the circle with both feet on the floor. If this player jumps from outside the circle and lands again outside the circle then the third part of the rule (which has not changed) would have been satisfied as the ball would have passed outside the circle.

The proposal by the PRC should be seen as an interim one as the IKF Exco will be setting up a multi-national working group to examine and discuss not only the free pass but other aspects of the rules, e.g. substitutions, format of the match etc, and then come up with some proposals for experiments leading possibly to changes in the future.

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