INTRODUCTION
I had not been a Hockey fan, but I still like this game as it is very quick and agile. This game is the national game of both India nad Pakistan. I don’t know about the conditions in Pakistan, but in India, this game is not having enough importance. I can’t understand why they made this the Indian national game if it is not the most played and watched game in India? The Indian performance in Hockey too has been poor. Their great defeats include their last loss to Pakistan by 6-1 which is quite horrifying for all Indian Hockey fans.
HISTORY
The game of Hockey has a long history. The word ’Hockey’ came from the French word ’Hoquet’ which was a curly stick used by the early shepherds. There had been games similiar to Hockey in ancient civilizations all over the world. The modern hockey took it’s origin in England long time ago. The current rules of Hockey originated in 1889. Then there were the origin of a large number of hockey clubs all around England. After the first international match in 1907 between England and France, there had been matches between Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, India, Pakistan etc. Indian hockey was very much influenced by the British.
RULES
There are much similiarities in this game with foot ball. One of the eleven players is the goal keeper while the others include attackers, midfielders and defenders. The game takes place for about seventy minutes which is divided into two halves of thirty five minutes each with a small interval between them. There is also chance for extra time and penaity shootout just like in foot ball. The length of the hockey stick is between 86 and 94 centimetres. The curved part of the stick is called blade. The ball should be taken with the flat side of the bat only. No one except the goal keeper is allowed to touch the ball with anything except the stick. The length of a hockey ground is 300 fts and width 180 fts. The goal should be hit from within the striking circle drawn just infront of the goal post. The hockey ball is white in colour with a circumference of 23 cm and a weight of 160 gms. The fouls are counted almost like in foot ball.
WORLD CUP
As long as world cups of hockey are concerned, there had been ten of them so far.
1971 - Pakistan bt Spain
1973 - Holland bt India
1975 - India bt Pakistan
1978 - Pakistan bt Holland
1982 - Pakistan bt Germany
1986 - Australia bt England
1990 - Holland bt Pakistan
1994 - Pakistan bt Holland
1998 - Holland bt Spain
2002 - Germany bt Australia
EVOLUTION
The hockey is quite different from what it was in the earlier periods. Another form of field hockey is ice hockey which very much quicker and is played on ice with the skates on. The game started in Canada and it is a part of Olympics from 1920. I forgot to mention the fact that field hockey too is a part of Olympics. In ice hockey, there are six players playing for one hour if my calculations are right. The ground has only 60m length and 26m width. A disc is used instead of the hockey ball and the sticks are lengthier than those in field hockey. Coming back to field hockey, women’s hockey was also started with the first match taking place in 1887. From 1980 Moscow Olympics, women’s hockey too was a part of Olympics.
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