Goalkeeper Equipment Rules

[robbo]

For Chippie... I forgot to email you back, but thought it might be of general interest.

- Must wear a mouthguard
- Must wear a helmet with a facemask, a throat protector and a body pad
- The throat prtoector should be positioned such that a ball cannot fit between it and the helmet
- May wear padded gloves, arm pads and leg pads
- All padding must fit securely and not increase the width of the goalkeeper's body beyond the thickness of the padding
- Maximum thickness of the padding is 3cm
- Gloves must be tied securely at the cuff, and may not be webbed
- Must not wear any jewellery (whether covered by padding or not), taping jewellery is not acceptable
- All equipment must be deemed safe by the umpire

[mully]

still don't understand why they make women's keeper wear mouth guards underneath helmets... what for? If there's body checking like men's then fair enough, but there's a helmet and neck guard... Its make life/communicating so much easier without one.

By the way, there used to be a rule that if players shoot directly at keepers head its deemed illegal, is that still true?

[robbo]

It still is a rule, however it's not as black and white as most people think. I have seen games stopped everytime a shot hits the goalkeeper in the head - this is not correct.

A shot is deemed dangerous when it is fired hard, from close range at the goalkeepers head / neck. This would typically only be called when the player taking the shot is not under any sort of defensive pressure.

As for the mouthguard rule, I would imagine it has something to do with the impact of the ball on the helmet and / or when the ball finds a way through neckguards, as can and does happen.