ORIGINS

• Hockey became established as a sport in the nineteenth century, the first governing body being the English Hockey Association, founded in 1875. The All-England Women’s Hockey Association was founded 20 years later in 1895.

• It is played in all five continents on grass, and also, more latterly, on all-weather artificial surfaces, that has made the game much faster.

SPACE REQUIRED

• The pitch is 100 yards long and 60 yards wide. There is a goal at each end, which is 4 yards wide. Shooting circles are drawn in front of each goal, measuring, at their centre, 16 yards from the goal.

PLAYING APPARATUS

• Each player needs a hockey stick, which hooked at bottom with a flat face on its left side. The game is played with a hard white ball up to 9.25 inches in circumference.

• The players wear shirts, shorts or skirts. The goalkeeper has begun to resemble ice-hockey goalkeepers in recent years, in that they wear protective clothing including body padding, a helmet with a face guard, and large padded gloves. Shoes depend upon the surface played and range from flat-soled trainers to canvas boots with moulded rubber studs.

RULES AND REGULATIONS

• The rules have been changed frequently over the years in the search for a fast-flowing game without interruptions, and because of the hard ball and sticks, more rules had have to be applied to protect the players from undue injury.

• The players may only control the ball by using the flat side of their sticks. Within the goal circle, the goalkeeper may kick the ball. The aim is to score the more goals than the opposition in this 11-a-side game. The ball has to enter the goal having been hit by a player within the shooting circle.

• A game lasts 70 minutes, divided into two halves of 35 minutes with a ten-minute interval.

RECORDS SET IN THE GAME

• For many years hockey was dominated by India and then by Pakistan, although in recent years the balance of victory has swung in Europe’s favour.

• From 1928 until 1968, India and Pakistan had won every Olympic tournament. Mohamad Malik, born in 1941, won gold with Pakistan at the 1968 Olympics, having won a silver medal for four years earlier. He took another silver four years later, as well as gold medals in the 1971 World Cup.

DID YOU KNOW?

• The Victorians had a thing about proper dress, not least for women in sport. For the first women’s international hockey match, the English ladies were condemned to wear ankle-length skirts and corsets when playing against Ireland!

• Rewards for sporting success can be unpredictable. When Zimbabwe won the Olympic hockey gold in 1980, the Zimbabwean Minister of sport rewarded the team with … an ox!