Hospital pass is a term used in several football codes to describe a pass of which the recipient is subject to, usually unavoidable, heavy contact from an opposing player. The term may be applied to passes between team mates in several sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

s, including rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

, rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

, australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

, American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

, and association football—and now also widely used metaphorically.

Rugby league and rugby union

A "hospital pass" is usually given by the player carrying the ball because they are attempting to prevent themselves being caught with the ball and tackled. The pass is often made under pressure and without consideration of the situation of the player receiving the pass. The player catching the ball is often stationary and already in the path of a defender thus presenting an easy target for a hard impact tackle.

Australian rules football

To be considered a "hospital pass," the ball is played with minimal accuracy or timing to the extent that it may cause the intended recipient injury as a result of heavy contact from an opponent contesting for the ball. Hospital passes are typically made by kicking the ball on a high, looping trajectory

Trajectory

A trajectory is the path that a moving object follows through space as a function of time. The object might be a projectile or a satellite, for example. It thus includes the meaning of orbit—the path of a planet, an asteroid or a comet as it travels around a central mass...

or very slowly across the ground towards a team mate. This can enable opponents to contest for possession, resulting in heavy contact, often legitimate (but not always). The high lobbed pass is considered a particularly undesirable technique, as the resulting collisions can be very heavy.

American football

A "hospital pass" in American football is a pass thrown high to a receiver, generally one that is running sideways rather than running downfield. The receiver is forced to jump while running at full speed to catch the ball, and a defender coming the other way attempting to tackle the receiver can cause a collision where both players are moving at full speed and the receiver is unable to move out of the way.

Metaphoric usage

• Cricket: "...when Steve Waugh...handed over the captaincy to Ricky Ponting, he sent down one of sport's great hospital passes."
• Business: "Fyfe denies he was thrown 'hospital pass"
• Politics: "The big Brown hospital pass..."