Penalty box
Encyclopedia
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, 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...
and some other sports where a player sits to serve the time of a given penalty, for an offense not severe enough to merit outright expulsion from the contest. Teams are generally not allowed to replace players who have been sent to the penalty box.
Hockey
Ice hockey has popularized the term "penalty box", and in most cases it is just that—a small isolated bench surrounded by walls on all four sides, with the side facing the ice having the access door. There are typically two penalty boxes: one for each team. In ice hockey a period in the box occurs for all penaltiesPenalty (ice hockey)
A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,...
unless circumstances call for an ejection
Ejection (sports)
In sports, an ejection is one of several disqualifying actions assessed to a player or coach by a game official , usually for unsportsmanlike conduct....
or a penalty shot
Penalty shot (ice hockey)
In ice hockey, a penalty shot is a type of penalty awarded when a team loses a clear scoring opportunity on a breakaway because of a foul committed by an opposing player. A player from the non-offending team is given an attempt to score a goal without opposition from any defending players except...
. If three or more players are serving penalties at once, the team will continue playing with three on the ice but will not be allowed to use the players in the box until their penalties expire.
Most leagues specify that a team cannot replace on the ice a member serving a minor (2-minute) penalty. This results in situations such as the power play
Power play (sport)
"Power play" is a sporting term used in various games.*In ice hockey, a team is said to be on a power play when at least one opposing player is serving a penalty, and the team has a numerical advantage on the ice...
, in which the opposing team outnumbers the penalized (shorthanded) team, and (in the event of coincidental minor penalties) situations in which both teams must skate with only five players (including the goaltender
Goaltender
In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring...
) on the ice.
If a team scores a goal while one or more of the opposing team is serving a non-coincidental minor penalty, the penalty with the least time remaining is canceled, and the player serving that penalty may return to the ice. In the case of a double-minor (4-minute) penalty, the penalty is treated as two consecutive 2-minute penalties. If the opposing team scores, only the penalty currently being served is canceled; if more than two minutes remain, the penalty clock is reset to two minutes and the player must remain in the box; if less than two minutes remain, the entire penalty is canceled and the player is released. A major (5-minute) or misconduct (10-minute) penalty must be served in full, regardless of the number of goals scored by the opposition. To keep play fair, coincidental minor penalties ("matching minor" penalties assessed to both teams simultaneously) are also served in full regardless of scoring. Goaltender
Goaltender
In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring...
s never go to the penalty box, even though they are assessed penalty minutes. Any penalties enforced against goaltender
Goaltender
In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring...
s or the bench are served by a teammate, with many leagues requiring that teammate to have been on the ice when the penalty was taken.
Rugby football
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...
and 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...
), only penalties involving violent play, dangerous play, professional foul
Professional foul
In sports, a professional foul is a deliberate act of foul play, usually to prevent an opponent's scoring.-Association football:The concept gained notoriety in association football after an infamous incident in the 1980 FA Cup Final when Willie Young of Arsenal committed a deliberate foul on Paul...
s or repetitive commission of a specific offence result in a sin binning, where the offending player must spend 10 minutes off the field. In rugby union, the referee
Referee
A referee is the person of authority, in a variety of sports, who is responsible for presiding over the game from a neutral point of view and making on the fly decisions that enforce the rules of the sport...
usually signals such infringements by displaying a yellow card. In Australian rugby league, the referee will raise both hands and spread his digits to indicate "10 minutes"; elsewhere, the yellow card is used.
Often, if a team is committing one offence repeatedly, the referee will warn the captain that the next time they commit that offence, the player responsible will be sent to the bin. For the most serious offences and/or repeated misconduct, the referee may send off
Ejection (sports)
In sports, an ejection is one of several disqualifying actions assessed to a player or coach by a game official , usually for unsportsmanlike conduct....
players, who take no further part in the game and leave their team a player short. Referees also have the power to send team officials to the stands.
In the National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
, there is no physical sin bin. Players must serve their punishment in the dressing room; remaining on the sideline or in the stands is not permitted.
Rugby Sevens
In rugby union sevensRugby sevens
Rugby sevens, also known as seven-a-side or VIIs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches. Rugby sevens is administered by the International Rugby Board , the body responsible for rugby union worldwide...
, the sending-off period is 2 minutes, which as a percentage of match time is actually a more severe penalty, as a normal sevens match lasts only 14 minutes instead of the 80 used in 15-man union or 13-man league. During this time, the offender's team must play with one fewer player.
Use and proposed use in other sports
The following sports use penalty boxes (by that or another name) in some form:- BandyBandyBandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.The rules of the game have many similarities to those of association football: the game is played on a rectangle of ice the same size as a football field. Each team has 11 players,...
- Field hockeyField hockeyField Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
- HandballTeam handballHandball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
- International Rules footballInternational rules footballInternational rules football is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international representative matches between Australian rules football players and Gaelic football players....
- LacrosseLacrosseLacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
- RingetteRingetteRingette is a team sport played on an ice surface. Played primarily by females, Ringette requires the use of straight sticks to control a rubber ring; with the objective of the game being to score goals by shooting the ring into the opponent's net. It was introduced by Sam Jacks in North Bay,...
- Water poloWater poloWater polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
- Roller DerbyRoller derbyRoller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Game play consists of a series of short matchups in which both teams designate a scoring player who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team...
The hybrid sport of International Rules football
International rules football
International rules football is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international representative matches between Australian rules football players and Gaelic football players....
presents a slight anomaly since penalty boxes are native to neither of the sports from which International Rules was conceived, namely Gaelic football
Gaelic football
Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...
and 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...
(although the Gaelic Athletic Association
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...
did experiment with the idea, before moving on to another experimental format, which requires a player given a yellow card to be substituted).
Proposals to introduce penalty boxes in association football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
(soccer) have been discussed by the International Football Association Board
International Football Association Board
The International Football Association Board is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football.-Operations:...
http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/Refereeing/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2003/03/42800.htm, but a proposal by the Irish Football Association
Irish Football Association
The Irish Football Association is the organising body for association football in Northern Ireland, and was historically the governing body for Ireland...
to trial the idea was rejected in 2009. Some Indoor soccer
Indoor soccer
Indoor soccer or arena soccer, or six-a-side football in the United Kingdom, is a game derived from association football adapted for play in an indoor arena such as a turf-covered hockey arena or skating rink. The most important difference in play is that the indoor field is surrounded by a wall...
leagues and competitions already utilise them. In small sided football (i.e., 5-, 6- and 7-a-side), "timed suspensions" are used, and indicated by a blue card, instead of the traditional yellow for a caution. Periods of suspensions vary depending on the match length (e.g., a 25-minute-half match has a suspension of 5 minutes) and are defined in the competition's rules.
In professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
the promotion Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling has used a penalty box in the King of the Mountain match
King of the Mountain match
The King of the Mountain match is a professional wrestling match exclusive to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling . It consists of five competitors competing for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship or the TNA X Division Championship as of Slammiversary 2009...
, where instead of retrieving an object hanging above the ring, the winner is the first person to use a ladder to hang a championship belt
Championship (professional wrestling)
A Championship or "title" in professional wrestling is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations.Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in scripted rivalries...
above the ring — after having scored a pinfall or submission (pinfalls count anywhere) to earn the right to try. A wrestler who has been pinned or forced to submit must spend two minutes in a penalty box.