Field hockey

Field hockey, or simply hockey in Asia, Europe and Oceania, is a fast-paced team sport in which two teams of eleven players (ten field players and one goalkeeper) use curved sticks to maneuver a small, hard hockey ball towards the rival team's shooting circle and then into the goal. The team with the most goals at the end of play wins the match.

Matches are played on grass, watered turf, or artificial turf, although grass has become increasingly rare as a playing surface. Indoor hockey is usually played on a synthetic hard court or hardwood sports flooring, and beach field hockey is played on sand.

The stick has evolved significantly over the game's history in its composition and shape. Wooden sticks, though once standard, have become increasingly uncommon as technological advancements have made synthetic materials cheaper. Today, sticks are typically made of a combination of carbon fibre, fibreglass, and aramid, in varying proportions. At the elite level, sticks with a very high carbon content are near universally preferred. The stick has two sides; one rounded and one flat; only the flat face of the stick is allowed to progress the ball. If the ball is "played" with the rounded part of the stick (i.e., stopped or hit), it will result in a penalty, though accidental touches are not an offence as long as they do not materially affect play. Goalkeepers often have a different design of stick; they also cannot play the ball with the round side of their stick. Goalkeepers are allowed to touch the ball with any part of their body when inside their shooting circle. No other player is allowed to touch the ball except with their stick, though a player's hand is considered part of the stick if holding the stick.

The modern game was developed at public schools in 19th-century England and it is now played globally. The governing body is the International Hockey Federation (FIH), called the Fédération Internationale de Hockey in French. Men and women are represented internationally in competitions including the Olympic Games, World Cup, FIH Pro League, Junior World Cup and in past also World League, Champions Trophy. Many countries run extensive junior, senior, and masters club competitions. The FIH is also responsible for organizing the Hockey Rules Board and developing the sport's rules.

The sport is known simply as hockey in many countries. In Sweden and Finland, the term landhockey and maahockey respectively are used, translating to "ground" hockey in opposition to the more standard ice hockey variant. A popular variant is indoor field hockey, which differs in a number of respects while embodying the primary principles of hockey.

According to the International Hockey Federation (FIH), "the roots of hockey are buried deep in antiquity". There are historical records which suggest early forms of hockey were played in Egypt and Persia c. 2000 BC, and in Ethiopia c. 1000 BC. Later evidence suggest that the ancient Greeks, Romans and Aztecs all played hockey-like games. In Ancient Egypt, there is a depiction of two figures playing with sticks and ball in the Beni Hasan tomb of Khety, an administrator of Dynasty XI.

In Ancient Greece, there is a similar image dated c. 510 BC, which may have been called Κερητίζειν (kerētízein) because it was played with a horn (κέρας, kéras in Ancient Greek) and a ball. Researchers disagree over how to interpret this image. It could have been a team or one-on-one activity (the depiction shows two active players, and other figures who may be team-mates awaiting a face-off, or non-players waiting for their turn at play). Billiards historians Stein and Rubino believe it was among the games ancestral to lawn-and-field games like hockey and ground billiards, and near-identical depictions appear in later European illuminated manuscripts and other works of the 14th through 17th centuries, showing contemporary courtly and clerical life.

In East Asia, a similar game was entertained, using a carved wooden stick and ball, before 300 BC. In Inner Mongolia, China, the Daur people have for about 1,000 years been playing beikou, a game with some similarities to field hockey. A similar field hockey or ground billiards variant, called suigan, was played in China during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644, post-dating the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty). A game similar to field hockey was played in the 17th century in Punjab state in India under name khido khundi (khido refers to the woolen ball, and khundi to the stick). In South America, most specifically in Chile, the local natives of the 16th century used to play a game called chueca,^{[what language is this?]} which also shares common elements with hockey.