Ancient to modern Field Hockey in Indian

Context

Jagan Topno ,
Hockey Coach ,
STC Ranchi
 Contents

Origin of Field Hockey

 Evolution of Modern Hockey
 Playing Facility,Equipments,Skills
 Golden era of Indian Hockey (1928-1980)
 Introduction of Astro Turf and its impact
 Stagnation of Indian Hockey (1980 – 2008)
 Revival of Indian Hockey after 2008
Field Hockey Video Presentation
ORIGIN OF HOCKEY
 Hockey is one of the many sports derived from prehistoric
man’s delight in stick and ball games which gave the world
such varied pursuits as English Cricket, American base ball,
Persian polo. Its birth place was Asia and authorities credit
Persia with having devised it about 2000 BC.
 It is said Greeks and Romans played hockey but nothing is

known about nature of the game. The earliest mention of the

present day game dates back to 1527 where it was called
“hokie “players hit around small ball with stick.
 Origin of game can be traced back to the early civilisation of

the world about 4000 years ago in Egypt, where Hockey and
ball depicted on walls , drawings looks to be hockey, found
in Egyptian Tomb.
 Some shreds of evidence also found in Ethiopia around 1000

BC and in Iran around 2000 BC.

Evolution of Modern Hockey
 Modern hockey was created in England resembles
more closely games, popular in British Asle.
Hockey’s immediate forerunners were the scotish
shinty, English and welsh Bandy and Irish Hurling.
 Hockey is the modern version of organised ice

hockey played as team sport, is often credited

to .In James Creighton.
 In 1872, moved from hali fax Nova Scotia to

Montreal bringing scates hockey sticks and other

equipments ,
 Generally assumed true ancestor of hockey was

‘Hurling’ , played with shorter with broader oval

blade 200 BC, now a national game of Ireland.
Evolution of Modern Hockey……
 The modern game of hockey was developed in British
Asle started in England in mid 19th century.
 First Hockey club The Blackheath formed in 1861 in

Ireland
 First association formed in Britain in 1876

 A decades later 09 other international member clubs

formed permanent association.

 First international match played in 1895(England vs

Ireland)
 Introduction of field hockey in London Olympic in

1908
 Again in Antwerp Olympic in 1920,since then it

became regular feature in Olympics.

 Formation of International Hockey Federation– 1924
Evolution of Modern Hockey…………
 As development of field hockey takes places in
British Asle. started in in mid 19th century.
 First hockey club Blackheath formed in 1861.
 The stick were made of oak and the end position was

steamed and pressed to give it a hooked shape and

ball was solid cube of rubber with rounded corners.
 First association formed in Britain in 1876,a decade

later other international members clubs formed

permanent associations.
 First international match in 1895, (England vs

Ireland)
 Introduction of hockey in olympic 1908(London) with

(France ,Germany plus 04 UK nations, second time in

1920 Antwerp, Belgium ,
 Women's hockey introduced in 1980
 Hockey in India
 However, first version of modern day field hockey
was introduced by British,the game became popular
as school game.This made its way to Indian Army
during British rule in the year 1850.
 Availability of long plots as play fields
uncomplicated nature of equipments gradually
became popular choice of sport among children
and young adults.
 Resulted first club in kolkata in 1885-86.First
hockey association in India ‘Bengal Hockey
Association” in 1908,as game popularised many
more associations came in to existence like
Bombay,Odisha,Bihar,Delhi .
 First International tour to New Zealand in 1926.
 Playing Facility
 Hockey Pitch - Rectangular in shape of
length 91.40 mtrs and breath 55.00 mtrs.
Ancient- Natural turf(grass) Till 1972
Modern- Artificial surface(astro turf)
 Match format/Duration of game/Match
 Ancient-35 min.-10 min Break-35 min.

(70min.)
 Modern-15 min.-2min.Break-15min.-

10min Half Time-15 min.-2min.Break-

15min.( 60min.)
Equipments
 Hockey stick – Initially hockey stick made of
wooden,now made of composite carbon
fibres.Max length – 105 cms, wts – 37 gms
 Hockey Ball– earlier made of leather wrapped
and replaced with plastic material preferably
white in colour/agreed colour.
Weight : 156 gms to 163 gms
Circumference : 224mm to 235 mm
Popular Hockey Skills
 Ancient  Modern

 Slap Hit
 Hit  Drag Flick
 Dribling  Reverse Hit
 Dodging  3 D skill
 GOLDEN ERA OF INDIAN HOCKEY(1928-1980)
 Golden era lasted for 28 years between 1928 to 1956 in
Olympics Indian team won gold medal consecutively 06
times, India played 24 Olympics matches won all
24 ,scored 178 goals and conceding only 07 goals. India
had won gold medals in 1964 and 1980 taking total
tally to 08 gold.
 First sporting achievement after independent india ,was
1948 Olympic India won gold medal in London against
host UK beating in final. this was most significant
moment in Indian history.
 first time National flag was displayed in abroad.
 Again glory of yore wrested back in 1980 Moscow
Indian hockey team beat Spain by 4-3 goals in a thrilling
final to ensure its eighth and last Olympic gold medal.
Introduction of Astro turf and its impact
 Historically field hockey was played on natural turf(grass) but
now a days it is being played on artificial turf .The transition
into artificial pitch i.e Astro turf came during the year 1970s
which was made mandatory for major competitions in 1976 .
Facilitates -
 Smooth surface, easier ball control
 Feasible to play in any season
 Help reduce infringements of rules, fewer stops of game
 Faster game, more interesting for point of spectators
Impact -
 Require high level of physical Fitness
 Require Specific skills

 Limits artistic / skillful hockey

 Require tactical hockey
STAGNATION OF INDIAN HOCKEY(1980- 2008)
 First time Olympic game was played on Astro
turf in Montreal Olympics 1976. India stood
7th in the tournament.
 1980 Moscow Olympic was actually well begun

& managed to win gold. Women's team also

participated first time , finished fourth.
 In 1982 Asian games men’s team- silver and

women – gold
 India were slow to take on Astro Turf, local

players mostly play on natural grass fields.

Meant team India fell short at global level.
 Decline of Indian hockey hit rock bottom in

2008 ,failed to qualify for Beijing Olympics

Video on Indian Hockey wizard
 REVIVAL OF INDIAN HOCKEY
 New generation of youngster is taking India’s game back to
its original greatness with some breath taking performances
in recent time.
 After long time India won silver medal in 2016 champions

trophy
 After 36 years India lost Holland by 2-1 in closely contested

quarter final match in 2018 World Cup

 Beating Argentina Olympic champion FIH pro league

recently.
 Presently India men team ranked 4th in FIH World ranking
 Indian Women team also highly motivated after Rio

Olympics 2016 and currently ranked 9th .

 Both Men’s & Women’s team qualified for Tokyo Olympic .

 First time Indian Hockey men and women team will play

Olympic with high ranks and medals expected.


 REASONS OF REVIVAL

 Installation of Astro turf facilities :-

 Kurg region (Karnataka) ,
 Bhopal, Jhansi,Gwalior (MP) ,
 Luckhnow (UP),
 Chotanagpur belt (Jharkhand Odisha & Chatishgarh),
 Manipur region (Manipur Mizoram),
 Punjab region (Punjab,Hariyana)
 Pune (Maharastra)
 Introduction of Hockey India League (HIL)
 Hosting of major International event like champions trophy, World cup etc in

India
 Setting up of Sports Academies by privates organization like

SAIL,TATA,PNB,MP State etc,

 conducting national Championship by Hockey India in three different

category.
 Conducting hockey coaches Education program (CEP) by Hockey India & SAI

in India
 start of own NCOE/HPA by Sports Authority of India.
 Conclusion
 THREE III

I - Interest of i)
Players ii)
Parents, iii) Society,
iv) Organisation
 I - Infrastructure
i) Field
ii)Accommodation

 I - Incentives
i) Monetary
ii) Non monetary
THANK YOU