II EQUIPMENT AND PLAY

Field Hockey

I INTRODUCTION

Field Hockey, game in which two opposing teams attempt to drive a ball into the goal of the opponent by means of sticks that are curved or hooked at one end. The sport, played both professionally and on the amateur level, is popular with men and women in Europe, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, and other parts of South America, Asia, and Africa. In the United States, field hockey is played primarily by women.

II EQUIPMENT AND PLAY

Field hockey is usually played outdoors on a grass or artificial turf field. (All international matches are played on artificial turf.) The field is 100 yd (91.44 m) long and between 55 and 60 yd (50.29 and 54.85 m) wide. It can, however, be played indoors on a smaller field. The goals, situated at the center of each goal line, are 12 ft (3.66 m) wide. Goalposts 7 ft (2.13 m) high are joined at the top by a crossbar. A net is attached to the crossbar, the goalposts, and the ground behind the goal. The ball, with a circumference of about 9.25 in (about 23.5 cm), has a cork center wound with twine and a seamless white leather cover; it weighs not more than 5.75 oz (163 g). Each player carries a wooden stick about 36 in (about 91 cm) long that weighs between 12 and 23 oz (340 and 652 g) for women and up to 28 oz (793 g) for men. The stick is curved at one end and flattened on one side (the striking side). The head of the stick may not be more than 4 in (10.2 cm) long.

Players normally wear shirts and shorts, or skirts, and mouth and shin guards. Goalkeepers also wear protective pads, face guards, and gloves. Officials include two umpires and sometimes two timekeepers and two scorekeepers. Each team is composed of 11 players, usually 5 forwards, 3 halfbacks, 2 fullbacks, and 1 goalkeeper, but this formation may be altered. The players also often switch positions during a match according to immediate needs. A match is divided into two halves of 35 minutes each. Teams change goals at the end of the first half.

A match is started, and restarted after halftime and after each goal, at midfield, through a procedure called a pass-back. All players other than the striker take up their positions in their own half of the field. No member of the team without possession may be within 5 yd (4.57 m) of the ball. In the pass-back the ball is hit or pushed by the striker but must not cross the centerline into the defending half of the field until another player (of either team) touches it. Regular play then begins. After certain stoppages of play the game is restarted by a bully. For this, one player from each team stands opposite the opponent. The players tap the ground three times and the opponent's stick three times, alternately, before hitting the ball, which is set between them. Other players must be at least 5 yd (4.57 m) from the ball.

The object in field hockey is to pass the ball in order to gain ground and advantage as a prelude to scoring a goal. For a goal to be scored, the whole ball must pass over the goal line, between the goalposts, and under the crossbar. The ball must also have been hit by, or have glanced off, the stick of an attacking (offensive) player in the striking circle, a zone in front of the goal that is roughly a semicircle with a radius of 16 yd (14.63 m), flattened at the top by a line parallel to the goal line. Games ending in a tie are left undecided.

III HISTORY
Forms of hockey, perhaps one of the earliest stick-and-ball games, were played by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, and Arabs. Hurling, a sport similar to hockey, is known to have been played during the 1st millennium BC in Ireland, and similar sports were adopted by other Europeans in the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century). In pre-Columbian times (before the 16th century) Native South Americans also played similar sports. The name hockey, thought to have been adapted by the English from the French word hoquet (shepherd's crook), was first given to the sport in the 18th century, but was not in common usage until the 19th century.

It is likely that a sport resembling modern field hockey was played in public schools in England early in the 19th century. By the 1880s the sport's popularity was becoming established, and women had begun to play. The first women's hockey club was founded in London in 1887. In 1924 the Fйdйration Internationale de Hockey (FIH, International Federation of Hockey) was founded as the governing body over the men's game, and in 1927 the International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations was established to govern the women's game. In 1982 the men's and women's games were united under the auspices of the FIH, which is located in Brussels, Belgium. By the 1990s the FIH had more than 100 member nations. The United States Field Hockey Association, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, governs the sport in the United States.

Men's field hockey became part of the Olympic Games in 1908. Teams from India and Pakistan have dominated Olympic field hockey competition, but teams from New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands have also had success. Women's field hockey was first played as an official Olympic sport in 1980. The first Olympic women's competition was won by the team from Zimbabwe, but since then teams from the Netherlands, Australia, and Spain have also won at the Olympics. Other international field hockey competitions include the World Cup, the European Cup, the Manning Cup (between Australia and New Zealand), the East Africa championships, and tournaments held as part of the Asian Games and the Pan American Games.

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