Human beings have looked for ways to be active and to compete against each other since forever and a day. We have been playing games since, I would imagine, we could stand up right. Over the centuries there has been a variety of sports that are similar to the what we now call field hockey. Historical artwork has been seen that depicts what may have been a stick and ball game being played in Ancient Greece roughly five centuries before the birth of Christ. There are similar activities shown to have been played in Ancient Egypt, Ming Dynasty China, Inner Mongolia and in the seventeenth century Indian region of Punjab. The Native Americans in the northern hemisphere played a variation of what is now called lacrosse, albeit this is a sport played mainly in the air, than on the ground. To this day there are still stick and ball games being played in the Gaelic cultures of Northern Europe. The Gaelic Athletic Association of Ireland pride themselves on the game of hurling, whilst the Scots, in the north of Britain, play their own variation called shinty. Although, these two sports are predominately played in their respective countries of origin, there has been extensions abroad, namely based around migration overseas.
This is a story shared by many sports played in the modern era. Variations of many sports have been seen throughout history. When people talk about games being invented by the English, a more accurate description would be to say that they have been codified. In the mid to late nineteenth century, the upper and middle classes in England started to write down a common set of laws of which to play by for sports such as rugby and association football. This was so that the various Public Schools across the country could bring together the various codes, variations and differing sets of rules that they all played by, mainly in order to help with test matches and away fixtures between the teams, but also, it would appear, to simply give the educated classes something to do in their spare time. The Public School system in England had developed an extra curricular education of sporting activities to promote their values of ‘Muscular Christianity’ within the pupils. Sport was used as a way for young men to exert themselves physically and help to prevent themselves from more sexual temptations before they could find themselves a wife. The students at Eton College were playing a type of field hockey since the mid 18th century and the first Oxford vs. Cambridge varsity match was played in 1890. British military officers of the time period, also considered that the fresh recruits were lacking in strength and fitness, so the patriotic teachers of the time were decided upon the idea of training up their wards to fight for their country. The middle and upper class men within England where additionally keen to make use of their spare time. Codes were defined, rules were written and sporting clubs and associations were formed.
Blackheath became the trailblazers within the sport, having formed a hockey club in the first half of the 19th century, with their own version of the game that was more similar to the rugby that they had been playing at the time. Cricketers also seemed to be pushing the sport of hockey forward as well, as an alternative to playing football in the winter. Teddington Cricket Club created a hockey wing to their activities in 1871. They formed the basis for the rules of the modern game, as we know it today, by introducing the shooting circle at either end of the pitch and changing the focal point from a rubber cube to a spherical ball. The Hockey Association was formed in 1886, with The All-England Women’s Hockey Association being forming nine years later in 1895.
Blackheath and Elthamians Hockey Club, as it is known today, claim that they are the oldest club in the history of the game, though this is disputed by Teddington. On their website, Blackheath provide a history of the club, which was linked with the local Rugby Football team until 1864. The oldest article in their possession is a book with records the minutes from a meeting 1861 in which the subscription was noted as being 7/6 and the retirement of secretary, Mr. R. O’Neil. The club notes that they have seen an external source that backs up their claim to having been in existence since before then, having been formed no later than 1840. The sport’s close associations with education remained true here, with a strong allegiance being developed between the Rugby Football and Hockey Club and the locally based Blackheath Proprietory School, drawing players from the educational establishment to join the ranks of amateur participation. Blackheath’s website goes on to describe an early flavour of what hockey would have looked like at their club,
“Then, as now, the game that Blackheath played bore occasional resemblance to other peoples. The club played on the heath by the All Saints church next to Montpelier C.C. and the game started when ten people were present. A sack containing about 35 caps, red one side and blue the other (hence the club colours today) was produced from the “Princess of Wales”, and as more people arrived they joined in. The pitch was at least 180 yards long, 60 to 70 yards wide and the goal was 10 yards wide; there were no nets and a good surface was unnecessary. Teams were fifteen a side; a goalkeeper, two backs, two three quarter backs, three half backs and seven forwards and the ball was a cube of solid rubber “not to exceed 7 oz in weight” which had frequently to be boiled to keep it elastic. Sticks were made of oak bent by steam with a flat back, originally both sides of the stick could be used. Within a remarkably short time however certain rules were introduced which have a modern flavour. In 1863 “Left handed hitting and throwing of sticks to be prohibited”; “that the hands and legs should not be used for stopping the ball at Hockey (goal keepers excepted)”, this rule was later rescinded. In 1864 a player “shall not loiter between the halfway flag and the goal of the opposite side unless the ball be between him and the opponents goal”. So by 1864 there was an offside rule, no feet and hitting with one side of the stick only; there was also a roll in and a hit out.”
Teddington make the rival claim to being the original hockey club. Founded in 1871, at least three decades after the game played in Blackheath had taken root, members of the Teddington Cricket Club were looking for a sport to play during the winter season. They decided to play a stick and ball game based along the lines of association football, instead of the rugby football style of game preferred by Blackheath. The Teddington Hockey Club website describes the evolution of thought better than I ever could,
“The TCC [Teddington Cricket Club] members rejected a game played by a Blackheath club that involved a 7oz (200g) rubber cube; catching, marking and scrimmaging; generally based on rugby football. The Teddington club chose to limit the number per side to eleven, and preferred to play with old cricket balls. They also introduced the idea of the striking circle (‘The D’), and they played several games in Bushy Park, in the winter of 1871.
In defining the rules this way, Teddington were the first to play the game that became modern hockey. Clubs were also set up in Richmond and Surbiton in 1874, and inter-club matches were played between them and Teddington. The game grew sporadically, as the clubs didn’t always agree on the rules!”
The sport of hockey was becoming more and more popular. Other clubs had started to spring up around England and by the latter part of the 19th century, there was even a working Hockey Association. The presence of an over arching organisation for the sport of hockey in England and by 1876 a set of rules helping to codify the game. According to The Hockey Museum website,
“Rule 7: the ball may be stopped, but not carried or knocked on by any part of the body. No player shall raise his stick above the shoulder. The ball shall be played from right to left, and no left, or back handed play, charging, tripping, collaring, kicking or shining shall be allowed.”
This was a definite move away from the game that had been developed but the Blackheath Rugby and Hockey Club, that seems to have been prone to a tad more physicality. The first steps towards what we now consider the modern game. This original Hockey Association didn’t last very long and soon disbanded. However, another and more successful attempt to organise hockey on a wider scale was achieved. On an evening in January of 1886 six clubs got together in order to form the Association that has evolved into the one we have today in England. Those original six were Teddington, Surbiton, Wimbledon, Trinity College Cambridge, Molesey and Ealing. Blackheath, who had been having difficulties with adjusting to differing rules when playing games against external opposition, finally joined in the early 1890’s.
Hockey is a sport that has now played all around the world, with a broad and interesting history. To find out more about the development of the game over the years, go to The Hockey Museum website, here…
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