After the world governing body permitted the use of the stick's rounded edge recently, a radical change on the sport's most vexing issue -- the penalty corner -- is anxiously awaited.

Suggested changes in the penalty corner format, published in the FIH's September 1998 bulletin, would eliminate the direct shot. New marking on the pitch -- a broken outer circle five yards parallel to the `D' -- promises to produce `open play' at every penalty corner. The format would render the fearsome sight of a Paul Litjens, Floris Jan Bovelander, Bram Lomans or for that matter a Sohail Abbas, ready to unleash a sledgehammer or a laser-like drag-flick at 150 kmph, a distant nightmare. And to the joy of spectators, umpires and players of skill, hockeyholds promise of becoming more spectator- and umpire-friendly.

The new suggestion, tried with much success in Australia a few years back, stipulates attackers to position themselves outside the broken circle called the five-yard zone.

Other requirements remain the same except that after the ball is played out from the goalline, it must cross the broken circle before a shot at goal (within the `D') is taken. The ball need not be stopped and could be deflected or passed first-time.

It's clear that the direct shot on goal is eliminated -- and good riddance, one might say. No whistling for ball not stopped `dead' or for a direct hit lifted above the 18-inch-high backboards. For that matter, the backboards would now be redundant.

The format stands the greatest chance of success after varied attempts to ward off the corners carnage. Most bizarre being a single 14-yard hit in a one versus one situation against the goalkeeper, suggested in 1985. Another, an ice-hockey styled time-bound dribble, used infestival tourneys that presented the attacker with a chance to beat the goal-keeper in a one-on-one situation. Neither found favour with the rule makers.

The FIH have asked all member associations to try out the format before making it a mandatory experiment. Like the recent `no off-side' rule, the mandatory experiment could became a rule after a two-year period.

This development should vindicate the FIH as a body above bias towards Asian hockey although India and Pakistan have generally thought differently.

The sub-continental exponents have perennially held the view that rule making favoured European sides. The thinking ignored a landmark change on September 1, 1982 that should have suggested otherwise.

The banning of the hand-stop at penalty corners 17 years ago was potentially detrimental to nations such as the Netherlands whose drill took a total of just 1.5 seconds. That they mastered the stick stop as well is another matter. As is the fact that Dutch legend Bovelander overcame anotherrestriction imposed in 1992 -- that of the ball made to be stopped outside the circle -- with devastating accuracy. Every attempt to reduce the inordinate influence of just one player on the result of the match seemed destined to doom. As even the latest rule forbidding rolling substitution at the award of the penalty corner that attempts to thwart `overpaid and underworked' executioners.

The FIH rules board also attempts to use the experimental five-yard zone resourcefully. Free hits within the zone would be prohibited from being played directly into the `D' unless a push is used. The idea is to prevent dangerous play in a usually crowded circle in such situations.

One wagers that the Europeans have got cracking with the new format as they did with the `no offside' rule. Another head start could leave Asian hockey in the cold once more. The Indian fraternity by and large, one fears, have yet to get wind of the intended change.