A self-confessed traditionalist, Dutch hockey legend Floris Jan Bovelander has given the thumbs-down to the present four-quarter format.
“Four quarters is not my style. I prefer two halves of 35 minutes. It benefits the weaker teams [to have more rest]. I think India,Netherlands and Australia have the power to play, play and play... after 20 minutes, the opposition is gone.
“Now, if you hold for 15 minutes and have a break, you can continue for another 15. I am not really happy with that rule. I think it is also commercial — you could have some replays and advertisement spots. Somebody has to pay,” says Bovelander.
The Dutchman, one of the all-time greats in penalty corners, feels that despite the technological progress, the success rate of short corners has not changed much.
“Drag-flick has matured. In our days, I used to hit and flick the ball. It developed as a technical part of the game. It was researched — how you should flick, how your body should rotate… In Holland, they have all those monitors on your body to see forces in the arms, which angle is the perfect one...
“The hockey sticks were curved and then there was some new rule because they were too curved [for the international federation’s (FIH) liking]. But, in the end, a good penalty corner is still one out of three. If you are lucky, one out of two. If you are very lucky two out of two,” says the 51-year-old, nicknamed Boem Boem for his devastating penalty corners.
Bovelander, who scored 216 goals in 241 internationals, is amazed at the bravado of those defending drag flicks. “The biggest change is the defenders running into the ball. It is a suicidal ‘run’, but it has made it much more difficult [to score].”
For Bovelander, who became a World champion in 1990 before bidding adieu on a high with the 1996 Atlanta Games gold, compatriot Bram Lomans remains the best.
“Lomans… because he made the third goal in the Olympic final [against Spain]. I scored two and we were up 2-1. He was there for the drag-flick in case I got injured. We decided in the last five minutes that he would flick.
“It was my last game and I felt like I was handing over the short corner [responsibility to him]. Bram flicked into the right corner [67th minute] and made sure that we were Olympic champions. For me, that was the most memorable moment of drag-flicking.
“Pakistan’s Sohail [Abbas] was the first to put power on the penalty corner. India’s Sandeep Singh is also good,” he says.
On the five-a-side format, being promoted by the FIH, Bovelander, in a lighter vein, said, “I set up beach hockey. So I have to support five-a-side as well.”
He says five-a-side could at best be a promotional event. “When you have five players, then, just as we did in beach hockey, make the ball bigger, make the goal bigger. But I prefer 11-a-side. I am kind of traditional,” says Bovelander with a smile.
