History of Hockey

Hockey is considered to be among the oldest sports of the world. It is older than the Ancient Olympics by over 1000 years. There are many instances of ancient drawings depicting people playing with sticks and balls.

It is a field game basically played with sticks (with curved ends) and balls or pucks among two teams and has been a source of entertainment for numerous years. Its structure and playing has changed down the years and has reached the level of being an international competition sport played by almost every country in the world. Besides, it has transcended from being an only men game to being played by women today.

Its origins is said to be found in Asia and Persia and it's acknowledged to be created in about 2000BC. Evidence shows that the cities of ancient and Middle Ages of Egypt, China, Ethiopia, Rome, France, Ireland, Netherlands, South America, Greece, Scotland, Australia and countries of Europe and England have played this game. Evidence includes a wonderful drawing depicting the game played by two men with curved sticks standing next to a ball; which can be seen at an ancient tomb in Egypt Nile Valley and the statues carved by Themistocles around 478 BC.

The origin of the hockey word is ambiguous and not clear with various sources such as Irish (‘hockie’), French (‘hocquet’), Anglo-Saxon (‘comocke’) etc.

Although, hockey has been played by various civilizations since ancient times, the present form of hockey was developed in England in the 19th century who themselves played an adapted version of the “hurling game” played by the Irish around 1272 BC. Hence, the Irish game is considered the proper forefather of modern hockey.

Hockey, as played in villages and public schools of England in 17th-18th centuries, was chaotic and rough with no rules and regulations with competing teams of 60-100 players and matches lasting for days resulting in fractures and injuries. The umpires were mere puppets and did as per the wishes of the players. Some headmasters of schools and colleges put a halt to this with stringent rules and regulations. The game was further regularized with the advent of official hockey bodies like the Hockey Association formed in 1875. Significant improvements were team size and decision making power of umpires.

Ever since, the hockey game has progressed with milestones being achieved in a couple of years. In 1861, the very first hockey club was formed in Blackheath. Next milestone was the hockey match (Ireland vs. England) at international level in 1895. Hockey was included in the 1908 Olympics and was considered a men’s game. Later on, two major international hockey associations were created for men and women hockey in 1924 and 1927 respectively. In 1980 Olympics, women hockey game was included.

The British Empire is responsible for the spread of modern hockey. At present there are various forms of hockey all evolving from some earlier hockey games played over the years like ‘Field Hockey’, most common form (played on grass), Ice hockey (played on Ice), Street Hockey (played on street) and many others.