Modern Hockey
A game called hockey was being played in English public schools in the early 19th century. Lord Lytton wrote in 1853 that On the common some young men were playing at hockey. That old-fashioned game, now very uncommon in England, except at schools…. Hockey’s popularity increased with that of other team games.
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The game had been taken to India by British servicemen, and the first clubs formed there in Calcutta in 1885. The Beighton Cup and the Aga Khan tournament had commenced within ten years. Entering the Olympic Games in 1928, India won all five of its games without conceding a goal, and went on to win in 1932 until 1956, and then in 1964 and 1980. Pakistan won in 1960, 1968, and 1984.
The International Hockey Federation has continued to grow and now consists of 112 member associations, spread around five continents.
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Excerpts from the Autobiography of Hockey Wizard Dhyan Chand
Published by Sport & Pastime, Chennai, 1952
As I was giving finishing touches to this chapter, a friend in Kolkata wrote to say that throughout my memoirs I had totally failed to mention anything about the well-known Aga Khan hockey tournament of Mumbai. I am very sorry for this omission. I have already confessed that I had to depend almost entirely on my rambling memory and the statistical data furnished by a Kolkata friend.
Of course we had heard a lot about the Aga Khan Cup. It is one of the best and most colourful tournaments in India, and attracts entries from all over the country. Somehow or the other, we could not make our way to this tournament. The reasons are as follows:
Firstly, the Aga Khan tournament takes an unusually long time to conclude. This is because, unlike Kolkata, there is only ground at the disposal of the tournament. All matches of the Aga Khan tournament are staged on the grounds of Bombay Gymkhana, Mumbai’s premier club, and they cannot possibly play more than one match a day.
Another difficulty is that the dates of the Aga Khan and the Beighton Cup tournaments invariably clash, and therefore teams and players who are keen on the Beighton Cup find it difficult to take part in the Bombay event.
Anyway, my club, the Jhansi Heroes, felt that they must make a bid once for the Aga Khan Cup. In 1939 I consented to this proposal and we entered accordingly. We met the Crown Sports Club of Bangalore on April 10 and beat them handsomely by three clear goals.
In the next match, the famous Bhopal Wanderers, a state side to be more precise and having the status of a provincial team, eliminated us from the tournament by five clear goals.
Ismailimail 