Like Cricket “Field Hockey” is a team sport. It is the field sport with third largest number of participants after soccer (football) and cricket. Its official and common name is simply “Hockey”. The name “Field Hockey” is used in those countries where the word “Hockey” is used for some other games like ice hockey or street hockey.
In this game a team of players attempt to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking the ball with hockey sticks into the opposing team’s goal. It has several regular international tournaments for both men and women such as:
- Olympic Games.
- The Commonwealth Games.
- Continental Games tournaments like Asian Games.
- The Quadrennial Hockey World Cups.
- Annual Champions Trophies.
- Azlan Shan Cup.
- World Cups for juniors.
There are also extensive club completions for junior and senior players in many countries, but in club hockey only a few no. of players play as full-time professionals. Hockey is a game played internationally by both males and females but in many countries like United States it is predominantly played by females.
The international hockey federation (FIH) is the name who governs Hockey and organises the hockey World Cup Tournaments. The hockey rules Board produces rules for the game under the guidelines of FIH.
Major Field Hockey Links:
- HI (Governing organisation of Hockey in India) Official Website: http://www.hockeyindia.org/
- Internation Hockey Federation Official Website: http://www.fih.ch
- Everything about Indian Hockey: http://indiahockey.net/