It is believed that hockey had its origin in West Asia, in Persia (now Iran). A game resembling modern hockey was played there during ancient times. A basic form of hockey using sticks and balls was also played in ancient Egypt of African continent in as early as 4000 years ago. In Tomb No. 17 at Beni Hasan in Egypt, a representation of two players with curved sticks in a ‘bully’ position was found. Records also show that a game almost similar to hockey was played in Ethiopia in eastern Africa around 1000 B.C.

In course of time, hockey reached Western countries and then slowly came back to Eastern countries many years later. The Olympic games of ancient Greece included a game like Hockey. A bas- relief by Themistocles (514-499B.C.) uncovered in Athens, Greece many years ago shows the prevalence of some form of the game there. The Romans who played the game after the Greeks, bettered the game. During their empire-building mission, they took the game to the land, which they conquered. That is how hockey reached in Britain and became the Britisher’s game. The Aztec Indians who lived in what is now Mexico in North America were too playing hockey.

The name ‘hockey’ was first used in Ireland in 1527. In the medieval age a game like hockey was played in France, which resembled the modern hockey most. It is believed that the term ‘hockey’ to have been taken from the French word ‘hoquet’ meaning shepherd’s staff with a hook at the end. Hockey was a popular game among the villagers of England in the 17th and 18th centuries. There were 60 to 100 players in each team and the object was to hit the ball in to the common ground of the opposing village. The first mention of hockey occurs in Lincolnshire, England in the year 1772 AD. In 1852 an English Public School of Harrow, England became the first to reduce the number of players in each team to 30.

The birth of modern hockey took place in the mid of 19th century. It was in 1860 that the first rules of the game were written down at the Etton College in England. In 1861, the first organized hockey club –‘Blackheath Rugby and Hockey club’ was established at Kent, in England. And the first National Hockey Association was formed in 1875. At that time all the players were allowed to chase the ball everywhere in the 200 metres ground. So, there was much confusion. The International Hockey Federation was founded in 1884. The rules of the game were formulated by the British Men’s Hockey Association, which came into being in 1886. Many changes were made in 1889 and the system of 5 forwards, 3 halves, 2 backs and a goalkeeper became the standard structure of each team. In 1890 the International Rules Board of Hockey was set up by England, Ireland and Wales; and the umpires were introduced. The All England Women’s Hockey Association was founded in 1895.

The first international hockey match was played between Wales and Ireland in Rayle on 26th June 1895. Ireland won in 3-0. Hockey was introduced to other countries of the world by the Britishers during their expansion of British Empire. In 1901 the game was played in North America.

The most important international hockey competitions are the Olympic Games, World Cup, Champions Trophy, Azlan Shah Cup etc. Hockey as a male event was introduced for the first time in London Olympics in 1908. England holds the record of winning the first Gold medal in Olympics. The first World Cup Hockey Tournament was organized in Barcelona, Rome in 1971 in which Pakistan won the cup by defeating Spain.

In 1924 Hockey was left out from Paris Olympics, as there was no international hockey federation. Paul Leautey, a French man established the International Hockey Federation at Paris in 1924 named as ‘Federation Internationale de Hockey’ (FIH) with Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Spain and Switzerland as its founding members.  Paul Leautey is the first President of the federation. In 1927 the International Federation of Women’s Hockey Associations (IFWHA) was formed by 8 countries.  But in 1928 the FIH and IFWHA were merged and formed IHF or the International Hockey Federation. India was the first non-European country to join the federation. The Headquarters of the IHF is at Brussels in Belgium.

In India the first Hockey Club was set up in Kolkata in 1885-86. Later the Bengal Hockey Association, the first in the country was founded in 1908. The All Indian Hockey Federation was formed in 1925 with Colonel Bruce Turnbull as President and M.S. Ansari as Secretary. India played Hockey in the Olympics for the first time in 1928 at Amsterdam in Holland and won the Gold medal. India has won 8 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals in Hockey in the Olympics. The period from 1928-1956 is considered to be the ‘golden era’ of Indian Hockey as India won 6 consecutive Olympics gold medals during that time. The other two gold medals were won in 1964 Tokyo Olympics and in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The silver medal was in the 1960 Rome Olympics and the two bronze medals were in 1968 in the Olympics of Mexico City and in 1972 Munich Olympics. India also holds the world record of giving highest goals that is 24-1 against USA in 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.  India has won the World Cup Hockey once in 1975.

Among the Prominent hockey players of world the name of Dhyan Chand comes first and tops the list. He is called as the ‘Wizard of Hockey, and is the greatest player in the history of the game. The other famous players of India are Jaipal Singh, Lal Shah Bokhari, Kishan Lal, K.D. Singh Babu, Balbir Singh (sr), Leslie Claudius, Prithipal Singh,Vasudevan Bhaskaran, Zafar Iqbal, Pargat Singh, Dhanraj Pillay, Dilip Tirkey etc. Leslie Claudius is called as ‘Hockey King’ as he won 3 gold and 1 silver medals in Olympics.

The important National level cups and trophies in India are- Dhyan Chand trophy, Agha Khan cup, Scindhia gold cup, K.D. Singh babu trophy, Rangaswamy cup, Lady Ratan Tata trophy etc.

Sport profile:- *  No. of players in each team- 11. *  The circumference of the ball- 223 to 224 cm. *  Weight of the ball- 155 to 163 grams. *  The breadth of the blade of hockey stick- not more than 2 inches. *  Weight of the stick- Within 8 ounces. *  Length of the playing field- 91.44 metres. *  Breadth- 50 to 55 metres.