Playing the ball and putting the ball in play are the names of two of the rules of

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

, rule 7 and rule 10 of the

Bandy Playing Rules Bandy Playing Rules is the name of the rule book for bandy, edited by the Federation of International Bandy. The rule book is available online. The current book was adopted in September 2013. The rule book and the rules are overseen by the Rules a ...

. They are similar and thus are both dealt with in this text. According to rule 7.1, a bandy player is allowed to hit, stop, give direction to or bring the ball with him as long as the point where his

stick Stick or the stick may refer to: Thin elongated objects * Twig * The weapon used in stick fighting * Walking stick, a device to facilitate balancing while walking * Shepherd's crook * Swagger stick * Digging stick * Swizzle stick, used to stir d ...

hits the ball is not higher than his shoulder when it is in an upright position. Even if the stick should be used, the player may direct the ball with his body or with his skates, according to rule 7.2, but not with his hand, arm or head, and if he continues playing the ball, he should use his stick and nothing else. Breaking the rules may give the other team a

free stroke Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to proc ...

or a

penalty stroke In field hockey, a penalty stroke, sometimes known as a penalty flick, is the most severe penalty given. It is predominantly awarded when a foul has prevented a certain goal from being scored or for a deliberate infringement by a defender in the ...

, according to rule 7.3. Under rule 10 of the bandy playing rules, the two basic states of play during a game are ''ball in play'' and ''ball out of play''. From the beginning of each

playing period Playing period is a division of time in a sports or games, in which play occurs. Many games are divided into a fixed number of periods, which may be named for the number of divisions. Other games use terminology independent of the total number of ...

with a stroke-off (a set strike from the centre-spot by one team) until the end of the playing period, the

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...

is in play at all times, except when either the ball leaves the field of play, or play is stopped by the referee. When the ball becomes out of play, play is restarted by one of six restart methods depending on how it went out of play: If the time runs out while a team is preparing for a free-stroke or penalty, the strike should still be made but it must go into the goal by one shot to count as a goal. Similarly, a goal made via a corner stroke should be allowed, but it must be executed using only one shot in addition to the strike needed to put the ball in play.

References

{{Bandy rules Bandy rules Bandy terminology