http://www.fieldhockeysport.com en-us Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:40:42 -0800 http://www.fieldhockeysport.com/field-hockey-history/ Games played with curved sticks and a ball have been found throughout history and the world. There are 4000-year-old drawings from Egypt. Hurling dates to before 1272B. and there is a depiction from 500BC in Ancient Greece when the game was called pronounced - kerytezin because it was played with a horn ("κέρας" in Greek) and a ball-like object. There were hockey-like games throughout Europe during the Middle Ages and the word 'hockey' was recorded in the Galway Statutes of 1527.

The modern game grew from English public schools in the early 19th century. The first club was 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 (Ireland 3, Wales 0) and the International Rules Board was founded in 1900. Hockey was played at the Summer Olympics in 1908 and 1920. It was dropped in 1924, leading to the foundation of the Fédération 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.

The two oldest trophies are the Irish Senior Cup, which 1st XI teams compete for, and the Irish Junior Cup.

The game had been taken to India by British servicemen and the first clubs formed in Calcutta in 1885. The Beighton Cup and the Aga Khan tournament commenced within ten years. Entering the Olympics in 1928, India won all five games without conceding a goal and won from 1932 until 1956 and then in 1964 and 1980. Pakistan won in 1960, 1968 and 1984.

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—in comparison to the wealthier European countries—and since the 1970s Australia, The Netherlands and Germany have dominated at the Olympics.

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 rapidly around the world. This led to the International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations (IFWHA) in 1927, though this did not include many continental European countries where women played as sections of men's associations and were affiliated to the FIH. The IFWHA held conferences every three years, and tournaments associated with these were the primary IFWHA competitions. These tournaments were non-competitive until 1975.

By the early 1970s there were 22 associations with women's sections in the FIH and 36 associations in the IFWHA. Discussions started about a common rule book. The FIH introduced competitive tournaments in 1974, forcing the acceptance of the principle of competitive hockey by the IFWHA in 1973. It took until 1982 for the two bodies to merge, 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 medals at the last two Olympics, and the world championship in 2002.

Most hockey field dimensions were originally fixed using whole numbers of imperial measures. Nevertheless, metric measurements are now the official dimensions as laid down by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in the "Rules of Hockey 2007". It is these dimensions that are given in this article, with the imperial units in parentheses.

The game is played between two teams of 11 on a 91.40 m × 55 m (100 × 60 yard) rectangular field. At each end is a goal 2.14 m (7 feet) high and 3.66 m (12 feet) wide, and an approximately semi-circular area 14.63 m (16 yards) from the goal known as the shooting circle (or D or arc), bounded by a solid line, with a dotted line 5 m (5 yards 6 inches — this marking was not established until after metric conversion) from that, as well as lines across the field 22.90 m (25 yards) from each end-line (generally referred to as the 23 m lines) and in the center of the field. A spot, called the penalty spot or stroke mark, is placed 6.40 m (7 yards) from the center of each goal.

Traditional grass pitches are far less common in modern hockey with most hockey being played on synthetic surfaces. Since the 1970s sand based pitches were favoured as they dramatically speed up the pace of the game. However, in recent years there has been a massive increase in the number of 'water based' artificial turfs. Water based astro turfs enable the ball to be transferred more quickly than on the original sand based surfaces and it is this characteristic that has made them the surface of choice for international and national league competitions. Water based surfaces are also less abrasive than the sand based variety and hence reduce the level of injury to players when they come into contact with the surface. The FIH are now proposing that new surfaces being laid should be of a hybrid variety which require less watering. This is due to the negative ecological effects of the high water requirements of water based synthetic fields.

The biggest two field hockey tournaments are undoubtedly the Olympic Games tournament, and the Hockey World Cup, which is also held every 4 years. Apart from this, there is the Champions Trophy held each year for the six top-ranked teams. Field hockey has also played been at the Commonwealth Games since 1998. Amongst the men, India has won 8 Olympic golds and Pakistan have lifted the World Cup 4 times. Amongst the women, Australia has 3 Olympic golds while Netherlands has clinched the World Cup 6 times. Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament held annually in Malaysia is becoming a prominent Hockey Tournament where teams from around the world participate to win the cup. ]]> Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:44:50 -0700 http://www.fieldhockeysport.com/field-hockey-history/