Brief History

- Field hockey had its origins over 4000 years ago in Egypt

- Modern day game grew from hockey being played in English public schools in early 19th century

- 1st male club was established in 1849 in Blackheath which is in the southeastern part of London

- However, the rules of today  were formed at Teddington Hockey Club.  Introduced the shooting circle and changed the ball to a sphere from a rubber cube

- 1887 marked beginning of a new era.  This was the year Molesey Ladies Hockey Club was formed.  Prior to this, some British universities had some women field hockey teams.

Basic Rules

- The field is 100 yards long by 60 yards wide.  Can only score a goal if the shot is taken inside of the shooting circle.  Can only use the flat side of the stick.  Corners happen when a foul is committed inside of the circle

- 11 players on the field, including a goalie

Masculine Sport Turned Feminine?

Male Participation in the United States?

- Even though in the United States field hockey is played by a majority of women, there are some men who play the sport

- The United States does have a national men's team for field hockey.  However, since there is not professional league for men's field hockey, the team is not that experienced.  Also, the women's team is more popular than the men's team.

- Due to Title IX, a team cannot discriminate against any sex, and therefore has to give each person a chance who wants to try out for a team.  There are instances of males playing field hockey at the high school level and on club teams at colleges

- Example- at Ithaca College, junior Alick Gordon played goalie on an all female club team.  He had played roller hockey prior to getting involved with field hockey

- In the picture above, junior Alick Gordon guards the goal against the opposing team

Criticisms of Men Playing vs. Women

- Men playing verse women could possibly make the game more aggressive and violent

- This could also cause women to have a low sense of confidence in their abilities because they are intimidated by the men

- All throughout the world, except the United States, field hockey is a male dominated sport

- In 1901, Constance Applebee, an English gym teacher, brought field hockey to the United States when she came to do a seminar at Harvard

- She held the first hockey exhibition in the United States behind Harvard's gymnasium

-  Field hockey had once been considered too dangerous for females to play.  However, this perception quickly changed because it was now considered the "only team sport considered proper for women to play"

- Grew in popularity for females because there were few sports where women could actively be competitive

- The sport did not become popular amongst the men because they had other sports they were occupied with.  Football and baseball seemed more masculine and interesting than the sport of field hockey

- The popularity for field hockey grew at a fast rate and ended up with the United States forming a women's national team which competed in the 1984 Olympic games in LA, where they received the bronze medal

- In the picture above, male field hockey game in being played on a sand pitch

- In the picture above, fans attend the championship game of two male teams near the city of Amsterdam

- In this picture, a group of female defenders await to defend against a corner

In this picture, the Ursinus College Field Hockey team takes a picture with a female Dutch team on our tour of Holland, Germany and Belgium