"Field hockey" or "Hockey" as it's generally known as, is a sport in which a team of players attempt to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking the ball with hockey sticks into the opposing team's goal post. Its official name is simply Hockey, and this is the common name for it in many countries. However, the name field hockey is used in countries where the word hockey is usually reserved for another form of hockey, such as ice hockey or street hockey. In South Africa, we have Ice hockey teams, which normally play at our local Ice Rings or places designed for the sport specifically, but Hockey refers to field hockey in SA.  

A Short History

In the early years, there is a depiction from 500BC in Ancient Greece, where it was said that the game was played with curved sticks or a horn. The game was called "Κερητίζειν" (pronounced "kerytezin") then, because it was played with a horn ("κέρας" in Greek) and a ball-like object.

It is also recorded in history that people in China and Europe played a similar game for about a thousand years and that the first word "hockey" was recorded in 1963 when King Edward III, of England, condemned the sport as an idle game that had a punishment of imprisonment.

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 in Britain. Teddington Hockey Club (a West London Town) formed the modern game by introducing the striking circle and changing the ball to a sphere from a rubber cube. The Hockey Association was then founded in 1886. The first international game took place in 1895 between Ireland and Wales (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 then dropped in 1924, leading to the foundation of the Federation Internationale de Hockey sur Gazon (FIH) as an international governing body by seven continental European nations, and hockey was reinstated in 1928. Then only Men's hockey was being played.

Hockey became a popular sport amongst Europeans, and soon Women's hockey was played at British universities and schools and 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.

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.

Today, Hockey has several regular international tournaments for both men and women. These include the Olympic Games, the quadrennial Hockey World Cups, the annual Champions Trophies and World Cups for juniors.

Hockey is played across South Africa, and you can find out more about the sport by going to Hockey SA.

In Cape Town, we have two associations, the Western Cape field Hockey Union  and the Western Province Ice Hockey Union both have extensive information about their variations and should you be interested you can contact them for more information.

If you would like to join a Hockey team in Cape Town and are unsure about how to go about it, Central Hockey Club, which is situated at the Vygieskraal Hockey Complex in Athlone, is a perfect place to start. Ron Hendrickse, who is the chairperson, can be contacted on Tel/Fax: 531-9133 Cell: 084-800-0844 for more information.

Sources

Hockey SA
Western Cape field Hockey Union
Western Province Ice Hockey Union
Central Hockey Club
Wikipedia
SA Hockey Association
Paperback: The game of hockey. (Sourced from Central Library)

Page updated: 26 July 2010