Field Hockey or Hockey is a stick and ball 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. Hockey is traditionally played on grass, but more often it is played on synthetic surfaces. It is most commonly known simply as "hockey" however, the name field hockey is used in countries in which the word hockey is generally reserved for another form of hockey, such as ice hockey or street hockey.
Field Hockey has a long history around the world. The roots of hockey are buried deep in antiquity. Historical records show that a crude form of hockey was played in Egypt 4,000 years ago and in Ethiopia around 1,000 BC. Various museums offer evidence that a form of the game was played by Romans and Greeks, and by the Aztec Indians in South America several centuries before Columbus landed in the New World. Historical records show that game was played in various antique civilizations, although it is not possible to know exactly when and where the game began. The modern game of hockey evolved in England in the mid-18th century, primarily around schools.
The first Hockey club was formed in 1849 at Blackheath in south-east London, but the modern rules grew out of a version played by Middlesex cricket clubs for winter sport. Teddington Hockey Club formed the modern game by introducing the striking circle and changing the ball to a sphere from a rubber cube. The Hockey Association was founded in 1886. The first international took place in 1895 between Ireland and Wales, Ireland won by 3-0 and the International Rules Board was founded in 1900. It was dropped in 1924, leading to the foundation of the Federation Internationale de Hockey sur Gazon (FIH) as an international governing body by seven continental European nations, and hockey was reinstated in 1928. Men's hockey united under the FIH in 1970.
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| The first men's hockey club in southeast London. |
The first Olympic Hockey Competition for men was held in London in 1908 with England, Ireland and Scotland competing separately. After having made its first appearance in the 1908 Games, hockey was subsequently dropped from the 1912 Stockholm Games, and reappeared in 1920 in Antwerp before being omitted again in Paris in 1924. The Paris organizers refused to include hockey in Olympic on the basis that the sport had no International governing body and hockey was reinstated in 1928. The French Association followed soon after, but this was not considered sufficient.
Hockey had made its first steps toward an International Federation when in 1909 the Hockey Association in England and the Belgium Hockey Association agreed to mutually recognize each other to regulate international hockey relations. The French Association followed soon after, but this was not considered sufficient.
Hockey took its most important step forward in 1924 when the International Hockey Federation, the world governing body for the sport, was founded in Paris under the initiative of Frenchman, Paul Leautey. Mr. Leautey, who would become the first President of the FIH, was motivated to action following hockey's omission from the program of the 1924 Paris Games. Mr. Leautey called together representatives from seven National Federations to form the sport's international governing body, the Federation Internationale de Hockey sur Gazon. The six founding members, which represented both men's and women's hockey in their countries, were Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Spain and Switzerland.
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| Irish Senior Cup |
In the early 1970s artificial turf began to be used. Synthetic pitches changed most aspects of hockey, gaining speed. New tactics and techniques such as the Indian dribble developed, followed by new rules to take account. The switch to synthetic surfaces ended Indian and Pakistani domination because artificial turf was too expensive comparison to the wealthier European countries and since the 1970s Australia, The Netherlands and Germany have dominated at the Olympics from 2011-2012.
Women's hockey was first played at British universities and schools, and the first club, Molesey Ladies, was founded in 1887. The first national association was the Irish Ladies Hockey Union in 1894 and though rebuffed by the Hockey Association, women's hockey grew quickly in many countries and in 1927, the International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations (IFWHA) was formed. The founding members were Australia, Denmark, England, Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, the United States and Wales. After celebrating their respective Golden Jubilees, the FIH in 1974 and the IFWHA in 1980, the two organizations came together in 1982 to form the FIH, but this allowed the introduction of women's hockey to the Olympic Games from 1980 where, as in the men's game, The Netherlands, Germany, and Australia have been consistently strong. Argentina has emerged as a team to be reckoned with since 2000, winning the world championship in 2002 and 2010 and medals at the last three Olympics.
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| Victorious: Argentina beat Holland to become world champions in Rosario |
Carla Rebecchi scored twice as Argentina were crowned women's hockey world champions for the second time beating holders Holland 3-1 in the World Cup final.
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