Sportsfolio

History & origins

The story of Hockey

Stick-and-ball games are ancient and appear in Egyptian, Greek and Persian records, but modern hockey was codified in English clubs in the nineteenth century and spread through the British Empire. India and Pakistan then dominated the sport for fifty years, until a change of playing surface rewrote the balance of power almost overnight.

Milestones

11 moments that shaped the modern game.

  1. c. 2000 BCE

    Ancient stick games

    Carvings in Egyptian tombs and a relief in Athens show players with hooked sticks and a ball, in games clearly related to hockey.

  2. 1849

    The first modern club

    Blackheath Hockey Club in London is the oldest recorded club playing a recognisably modern form of the game.

  3. 1886

    The Hockey Association

    English clubs standardised the rules, fixing the size of the circle and prohibiting the use of the stick's rounded face.

  4. 1908

    Olympic debut

    Hockey appeared at the London Games with six teams, four of them representing parts of the British Isles.

  5. 1928

    India's era begins

    India won Olympic gold in Amsterdam without conceding a single goal, and went on to take six consecutive titles.

  6. 1948

    India beat Great Britain at Wembley

    The first Olympic final after independence, won 4–0 against the former colonial power, is among the most significant results in Indian sporting history.

  7. 1971

    The first World Cup

    The FIH launched a world championship in Barcelona, won by Pakistan, giving the sport a major event outside the Olympic cycle.

  8. 1976

    Artificial turf changes everything

    The Montreal Games were played on synthetic surfaces. The subcontinental dribbling game, developed on uneven grass, lost its advantage to European and Australian teams built on speed and structure.

  9. 1980

    Women enter the Olympics

    Women's hockey was added at Moscow, with Zimbabwe winning gold in a tournament reduced by the boycott.

  10. 2014

    Quarters and rolling substitutions

    The FIH restructured the match into four quarters with a stopped clock, a change designed to raise the tempo and suit broadcasting.

  11. 2021

    India's Olympic return

    India won a men's bronze in Tokyo, its first Olympic hockey medal in forty-one years, and the women's team finished fourth.