The History of Hockey
The sport of hockey can be traced back to ancient Greece. Images of people playing with a curved stick and ball have been found, dating back to 600 BC. The sport also has history in China where beikou, a game with some similarities to field hockey, has been played for about 1,000 years.
In India a game similar to field hockey was played in the 17th century in Punjab state and In South America – Chile, the local natives of the 16th century used to play a game called chueca, which also shares common elements with hockey.
Modern Day Hockey
As we can see Hockey is one of the oldest sports in the world but the modern day hockey grew from English public schools in the early 19th century. The first hockey club was in 1849 at Blackheath in south-east London. The Hockey Association was founded in 1886. The first international competition took place in 1895 (Ireland 3, Wales 0). Ireland hosted a competition called the Senior Irish Open in 1894.
Hockey at the Olympics
Field hockey was first played at the Summer Olympics in 1908 and 1920. It was dropped in 1924, leading to the foundation of the Fédération Internationale de Hockey sur Gazon (FIH) as an international governing body by seven continental European nations. The sport was reinstated as as an Olympic sport in 1928 and has been played ever since. Men’s hockey united under the FIH in 1970.
Hockey World Cup
The Men’s Hockey World Cup was started by the FIH (International Hockey Federation) back in 1971. It’s held every four years, bridging the four years between the Summer Olympics.
The Women’s Hockey World Cup has been held since 1974 and was organised by the International Federation of Women’s Hockey Associations (IFWHA) until 1981, when the governing bodies merged into the current International Hockey Federation in 1982.
Sub Types of Hockey
Ice Hockey
The modern sport of ice hockey started in Canada. The first organised and recorded game of ice hockey was played indoors in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on March 3, 1875, and featured several McGill University students. However an outdoors version would have been played throughout the 19th century. Ice hockey of one of the toughest sports out there and the most popular sub type of hockey. It’s the most popular sport in Canada, Finland, Latvia, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia and has been played at the Winter Olympics since 1924.
Bandy
Bandy is very similar to Ice Hockey but it’s played with a ball instead of a puck. The first recorded games of bandy on ice took place in England during the great frost of 1813–1814, but development happened in Sweden and Russia where it’s most played
The first national bandy league was started in Sweden in 1902. Bandy was played at the Nordic Games since 1901. The Bandy World Championships have been played since 1957 and Women’s Bandy World Championships since 2004. There talks of it becoming a Winter Olympic sport in the future.
Hockey is fast, Physical and very Skilful
We recent wrote about the fastest field sports and Hockey and Ice Hockey both featured. In field hockey, flicks speeds can be up to 70mph and drives at up to 100mph that have to be caught with a small headed stick, it’s clear that this is a very fast game that requires extreme fitness, skill and agility.
Ice hockey is considered one of the fastest of all sports, and maybe it’s the fastest tempo and all action. With skating speeds in to 29mph and pucks regularly clocked at 100/mph+
Combine the speeds and the fact that you have to play up to 3 times a week in competitions, Professional Hockey players are some of the fittest athletes in sport
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