59 Fun Facts About Field Hockey

How many players from each team are allowed on the pitch at one time, including the goalkeeper?

Eleven: ten field players plus a goalkeeper, with rolling substitutions allowed at almost any time except during a penalty corner.

In field hockey, a field player may play the ball with which part of the stick?

Only the flat face and edges count; stopping or hitting the ball with the rounded back is a penalty, though accidental touches that don't affect play are let go.

The sport's world governing body is known by which acronym?

FIH stands for Fédération Internationale de Hockey, the body's French name; it writes the sport's rules through its Hockey Rules Board.

The modern game of field hockey was developed in the 19th century at public schools in which country?

Modern field hockey took shape in Victorian England, where Middlesex cricket clubs played it as a winter game to keep fit and the public schools spread it nationwide.

Where is the International Hockey Federation headquartered?

It moved there in 2005 from Brussels, joining the many Olympic sports federations clustered around the IOC's home city.

Hockey's omission from which Olympic Games prompted the founding of the FIH in 1924?

Paul Léautey founded the federation in Paris that January with seven member nations, and hockey was back on the Olympic programme by 1928.

Field hockey made its Olympic debut as a men's event at which Games?

Hockey debuted at London 1908, where England, one of four British home-nation teams entered, won gold; it was dropped in 1912, returned in 1920 and Great Britain won again.

Which country won the first women's Olympic hockey tournament in 1980?

The Moscow boycott thinned the field and the Zimbabwean squad, assembled weeks before the Games, went unbeaten to take gold.

How many consecutive Olympic gold medals did India's men win between 1928 and 1956?

India went 30 matches unbeaten at the Games in that span and did not concede a single goal in either 1928 or 1956.

Dhyan Chand's birthday, 29 August, is celebrated in India as what?

National Sports Day honours him, as does India's highest sporting honour, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

After the 1928 Olympics, Dutch officials reportedly broke Dhyan Chand's stick to check for what?

Legend says Dutch officials broke Dhyan Chand's stick looking for a magnet hidden inside, so uncanny was his control; nothing was found, and the story grew with India's 1928 Amsterdam gold.

Who scored ten goals in a single Olympic match, in India's 24–1 win over the United States in 1932?

Roop Singh was Dhyan Chand's younger brother; the pair scored 25 of India's 35 goals in Los Angeles and were dubbed the 'hockey twins'.

How many goals did Balbir Singh Sr. score in the 1952 Olympic men's final?

Balbir Singh Sr. scored five goals in India's 6–1 win over the Netherlands in the 1952 Helsinki final; he finished his career with 246 goals from 61 internationals.

Which country was the first to win the men's Hockey World Cup four times?

Pakistan won in 1971, 1978, 1982 and 1994; the World Cup trophy itself was designed and made in Pakistan, by the Pakistan Army.

The first men's Hockey World Cup in 1971 was moved for political reasons and played in which city?

Pakistan was due to host in Lahore, but political tensions with India in 1971 made it untenable, so the FIH moved the tournament to the Real Club de Polo in Barcelona, where Pakistan beat Spain in the final.

In which year did India win the men's Hockey World Cup in Kuala Lumpur?

India beat Pakistan 2–1 in the 1975 final in Kuala Lumpur, with Ashok Kumar, Dhyan Chand's son, scoring the winner; Balbir Singh Sr. managed the side.

Which women's team had won a record nine Hockey World Cup titles by the end of 2022?

The Netherlands took a ninth title at home in Amstelveen in 2022, their third in a row; only three other countries had won the women's event by then.

'Las Leonas' (The Lionesses) is the nickname of which country's women's field hockey team?

Argentina's women are Las Leonas, a name adopted after their silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics; they went on to win the World Cup in 2002 and 2010.

Luciana Aymar won the FIH Player of the Year award how many times?

Luciana Aymar was named FIH Player of the Year eight times between 2001 and 2013; Rosario's World Cup hockey stadium, where she won the 2010 title, is named after her.

Luciana Aymar's dribbling earned her comparisons to which footballer?

Hence her nicknames 'La Maga' (The Magician) and 'The Maradona of Field Hockey'.

Which country's men's field hockey team is nicknamed the Kookaburras?

Australia's men are the Kookaburras, named for the laughing kingfisher; they medalled at six straight Olympics from 1992 to 2012.

The Kookaburras finally broke their Olympic 'curse' with a first gold medal at which Games?

Australia's men finally won gold at Athens 2004, beating the Netherlands 2–1 in extra time in the final, after three silvers and three bronzes without a gold.

What job did Hockeyroos coach Ric Charlesworth hold from 1983 to 1993?

He also played first-class cricket for Western Australia and qualified as a doctor, making him one of the most versatile figures in Australian sport.

Dutch great Teun de Nooijer wore the number 14 shirt for club and country in homage to which sportsman?

De Nooijer chose 14 for Johan Cruijff, the Ajax and Netherlands legend who made the number famous; de Nooijer won Olympic gold in 1996 and 2000 and silver in 2004 and 2008.

Which Australian won the FIH Player of the Year award for a fourth time in 2010?

Jamie Dwyer won the award in 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2010, then a fifth in 2011; nicknamed 'Foetus', he scored over 240 goals for Australia and won the World Cup in 2010 and 2014.

Sohail Abbas, who scored 348 international goals, was known as the king of which shot?

Sohail Abbas was the master of the drag flick, the low-sweeping penalty-corner shot; his 348 goals for Pakistan, most of them from corners, made him the sport's top international scorer.

Field hockey pioneer Constance Applebee was athletic director for 24 years at which college?

Constance Applebee, who introduced field hockey to the US in 1901, ran athletics at Bryn Mawr College from 1904 to 1928; her Poconos hockey camp ran for decades, and she lived to 107.

How long is a regulation hockey pitch?

The dimensions were originally set in whole imperial units, which is why the metric figures look so odd: 91.4 by 55 metres.

A hockey goal is 12 feet wide. How high is it?

The posts and crossbar must be white, and a backboard 50 cm high runs across the full width behind the line.

The shooting circle is commonly nicknamed after which letter?

'The D' is the only place a goal can be scored from, which is why so much of the game is about getting the ball in there.

A penalty stroke is taken from a spot how far from the goal?

The attacker gets one push, flick or scoop against the goalkeeper; if it is saved, the defence restarts with a 15 m hit.

What match format did the FIH adopt for international hockey in 2014?

The traditional two halves of 35 minutes gave way to four 15-minute quarters in 2014, partly to help television broadcasts.

Hockey's penalty cards are shaped differently so they can be told apart. What shape is the green card?

Yellow cards are rectangular and red cards circular; unlike football, a player can pick up more than one green or yellow.

At international level, a green card sends the player off the field for how long?

A green card means a two-minute suspension at international level (it was once only a warning); a yellow brings at least five minutes, and a red is permanent exclusion with no substitute.

What does the FIH rulebook say about left-handed sticks?

Every stick is flat on the left side, so left-handers learn to play right-handed and use the reverse stick like everyone else.

Which material is banned outright from field hockey sticks under FIH rules?

The rules forbid any metal or metallic components in a stick; sticks were traditionally wood and now blend carbon, glass and aramid fibres, with the bow capped at 25 mm to limit drag-flick power.

The first Olympic hockey tournament played on artificial turf, in 1976, was won by which country?

New Zealand beat Australia 1–0 in the Montreal final, the first played on artificial turf; the synthetic surface sped the game up and helped end the long dominance of India and Pakistan.

How many players a side take the court in indoor hockey?

Indoor players may not hit the ball, only push it, and the sidelines are solid boards the ball rebounds off.

Roughly how much does a regulation hockey ball weigh?

A hockey ball weighs 156–163 g, about 160 g, with a circumference of 224–235 mm; it is usually white and dimpled to stop it aquaplaning on watered pitches.

The first known hockey club was formed in 1849 in which part of London?

Blackheath, in south-east London, had the first known hockey club in 1849; its members played a rough game with a solid rubber cube for a ball before later clubs standardised the rules.

The first international hockey match, in 1895, saw Wales lose 3–0 to which team?

Ireland beat Wales 3–0 at Rhyl in January 1895 in the first hockey international; Irish hockey is old, with the Irish Senior Cup dating to 1894.

A 1363 proclamation banning idle games including 'hockey' is attributed to which English king?

Edward III issued the 1363 proclamation ordering men to practise archery, banning idle games listed in English translation as handball, football, hockey, coursing and cock-fighting.

Sixteenth-century natives of which South American country played the hockey-like 'chueca'?

Chueca, also called palín, was played by the Mapuche of Chile and described by 16th-century Spanish chroniclers; Egypt had stick-and-ball games around 2000 BC and 17th-century Punjab played khido khundi.

Which country won its first men's Hockey World Cup in 2018 and then Olympic gold in Tokyo?

Belgium's Red Lions beat the Netherlands in a shootout in the 2018 World Cup final, then beat Australia the same way for Tokyo gold.

Which country lost Olympic men's hockey finals in 1980, 1996 and 2008?

Spain took silver all three times, losing to India in 1980, the Netherlands in 1996 and Germany in 2008.

Which team ended a run of Asian gold medals by winning men's Olympic hockey on home soil in 1972?

West Germany beat Pakistan 1–0 in the Munich final, the first men's gold for a non-Asian team since 1920; India (1980) and Pakistan (1984) would each win once more.

Which team won the women's Olympic hockey gold medal in 2016?

Only three teams other than the Dutch and the Hockeyroos have won the women's event: Spain in 1992, Germany in 2004 and Britain in Rio.

Which Dutch player was top scorer at the Beijing 2008 women's Olympic tournament with 11 goals?

Maartje Paumen, the Netherlands' penalty-corner specialist, scored 11 goals in Beijing as the Dutch won gold; she won a second Olympic gold at London 2012.

Hockey5s, the five-a-side format, has no penalty corners and replaces the penalty stroke with what?

A 'challenge' replaces the penalty stroke: one attacker runs at the goalkeeper one-on-one; the pitch is about half size, shots can be taken from anywhere, and the first Hockey5s World Cups were held in Oman in 2024.

A goalkeeper wearing a helmet may leave the 23-metre area they are defending only to do what?

The only exception is taking a penalty stroke: the goalkeeper may go to the far end to take it, and the clock is stopped while the stroke is set up and taken.

Why did the FIH decide in 2018 that new elite pitches should be a hybrid type needing less irrigation?

Water-based turf had become the top-level standard because the ball travels faster on it and it's less abrasive than sand-filled turf.

The Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, an annual invitational tournament, is held in which country?

It is named for a former king of Malaysia who was president of the Asian Hockey Federation, and a junior version bears the name of Sultan Ibrahim Ismail.

Which club shaped the modern game by introducing the striking circle and a spherical ball?

Teddington Hockey Club, formed in 1871 by cricketers wanting a winter game, introduced the striking circle and a spherical ball, and its rules became the basis of the modern game.

In which year was England's Hockey Association founded, before collapsing and being revived?

The Hockey Association was founded in 1876 but folded after about six years; London clubs revived it in 1886, and the International Rules Board followed in 1900.

What was the first women's hockey club, founded in 1887?

The Molesey Ladies, formed in 1887 in Surrey, were the first women's hockey club; the Irish Ladies Hockey Union of 1894 then became the first national association after the men's Hockey Association rebuffed the women.

Which country won men's Olympic hockey bronze at Paris 2024, beating Spain 2–1?

India beat Spain 2–1 in the Paris bronze-medal match with two goals from captain Harmanpreet Singh, a second straight Olympic bronze after Tokyo 2020.

Which Pakistani air marshal first conceived the Hockey World Cup?

Air Marshal Nur Khan, then president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, proposed a World Cup through World Hockey magazine editor Patrick Rowley, and the FIH adopted the idea in 1970.

Who won the 2023 men's Hockey World Cup in India, beating Belgium in a shoot-out?

The final finished 3–3 before Germany won 5–4 on penalties for its third title; the event was staged in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.

How many nations contested the first men's Hockey World Cup in 1971?

Ten nations played the 1971 tournament in Barcelona; the field grew to 14 in 1978 and to 16 for 2002, 2018 and 2023.