Posted on May 05, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. / Modified on May 05, 2025 at 5:37 PM.
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May 3, 2025 will remain a pivotal date in the history of female ice hockey in Switzerland. During its annual general meeting, the management of the female leagues ratified the supervised introduction of physical charges in women’s League (PFWL), the first national division, from next season. A major decision, expected by some but nevertheless controversial, which must allow increased professionalization of the discipline, and which constitutes a step towards a form of parity with male hockey.
So far, in women, contacts were strictly limited to specific situations – especially when two players compete for the puck along the band. Familiar actions among men-such as charges with the body or the fact of finishing his defeat even if the opponent no longer has the Puck-were for example not authorized. But this rule was necessarily subject to interpretation and would generate frequent controversy within the arbitral body as among the coaches. “The question of arbitration is systematically returned during our assemblies. At one point, we even wondered if it was not necessary to train referees specifically for Women’s League, “said Laure Aeschimann, president of the Neuchâtel Hockey Academy (NHA), testifying to a widely shared frustration.
