History of Hockey
The origins of modern hockey have not been officially recorded but the game is believed to date from the earliest civilisations, making it possibly one of the oldest sports in the world. Historical records show that a crude form of hockey was played in Egypt over 4,000 years ago, and in Ethiopia around 1,000 BC. Various museums offer evidence that a form of the game was played by the Romans, the Greeks, and by the Aztec Indians in South America several centuries before the New World was founded in the late 15th century. Hockey-like games involving sticks and balls have been played for thousands of years and were called names such as ‘paganica’ (Romans), ‘hurling’ (Irish) and ‘shinty’ (Scots). The name ‘hockie’ appears to have been first recorded in Ireland in 1527 and probably comes from the French word ‘hoquet’ meaning ‘shepherds crook’. The modern game of hockey evolved in England in the mid-18th century, primarily around schools. Eton College in England was where the first set of rules for the game were written in the 1860’s. The birth of hockey as we know it today took place at the Teddington Cricket Club, where a more sophisticated game of hockey was being developed. It was through discussions at this club that decisions to include dribbling, passing, no use of the hand to stop the ball, goal scoring only from inside the goal circle and restricting the stick to shoulder height on the follow through of a swing, were reached. Further rules were written in 1875 when the Hockey Association was formed in England to administer regular competition. The game was played on a field nearly 200 metres long and all players chased the ball around the field. With experience, the rules of the game were revised and altered. As in football (soccer), team positions were slow to develop, but in 1889 the pyramid system of using five forwards, three half backs, two full backs and one goalkeeper evolved. This system is the most commonly used in hockey today. In 1908 the first Olympic hockey competition for men was held in London. Hockey was subsequently dropped from the 1912 Stockholm Games, and reappeared in 1920 in Antwerp before being omitted again in Paris in 1924. The organisers of the Paris Olympic Games refused to include hockey on the basis that the sport had no international federation. Hockey then took one of its most important steps forward in 1924 when Frenchman, Paul Léautey called together representatives from six national federations to form the sport's international governing body. The International Hockey Federation, known as the FIH, was created. The women's game developed quickly in many countries and in 1927, the International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations (IFWHA) was formed. The FIH and the IFWHA organisations came together in 1982 to form the FIH and create one international governing body for hockey. Today, the FIH consists of five Continental associations – Africa, Pan America, Asia, Europe and Oceania – and 122 member national associations.
The Olympic Games, World Cup, Champions Trophy and Commonwealth Games are the four most prestigious international hockey tournaments. FIH World Cup competitions are held every four years, two years before and after each Olympic Games, with separate tournaments for men and women. Separate men’s and women’s Champions Trophy tournaments are held annually for the world's six top teams. Please see the table below for the year that each of the major world level tournaments was introduced. Men 1908 1971 1978 1998 Women 1980 1972 1987 1998
Olympic Games World Cup Champions Trophy Commonwealth Games
Acknowledgements Hockey Australia would like to acknowledge the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and their website www.worldhockey.org, as a source for some of the content of this document.