HISTORY BEHIND THE "STICKS"

Historical records showsthat a rough form of the game of “sticks” was played in Egypt dated 4,000 years ago and in Ethiopia around 1,000 BC. Ancient Greece cannot be left out when talking about the ‘game of sticks’ , where the game may have been called kerētízein or kerhtízein  because it was played with a horn or horn-like stick.

 Various museums offer evidence that a form of the game was played by Romans and Greeks, and by the Aztec Indians in South America several centuries before Columbus landed in the New World. So, one will be tempted to ask what at all is the ‘game of sticks’?

Hockey- as it is popularly known in the world of sports is was first used hoquet, a middle French word for a shepherd's stave. Hockey began to form clearer roots throughout England in the sixteen and seventeen hundreds. These were treacherous games that often combined an entire village versus another village and teams could often have up to a hundred players and the players often played through major injuries and endured several days of these games.

The modern game of hockey had evolved gradually from Eton University in England when they actually began to formulate rules around 1860s to govern the sport. Then the first Hockey Association and club in the history of sport were formed in 1875 which clarified more rules. These rules also made provisions for the game to accommodate eleven players aside on a field. Safety equipment such as helmets, pads, mouth pieces and protective eye shield were all introduced into the game.

The appeal for the game to appear on the international stage grew tremendously after more clubs and leagues were created which eventually paved way for the  inclusion of  hockey  in the Olympic Games,  held in London in 1908 with England, Ireland and Scotland competing separately . After having made its first appearance in the 1908 Games, hockey was subsequently dropped from the 1912 Stockholm Games, and reappeared in 1920 in Antwerp, Netherland, before being omitted again in Paris in 1924. The Paris organizers refused to include hockey on the basis that the sport had no International Federation. 

Soon after, hockey had made its first steps towards an International Federation when the Hockey Association in England and the Belgium Hockey Association agreed to mutually recognize each other to regulate international hockey relations. The French Association followed thereafter, but this was not considered sufficient.

 Following hockey's omission from the 1924 Paris Games, Paul Léautey , a Frenchman, took the initiative of advocating for the formation of a world governing body for the sport. Mr. Léautey called together representatives from seven National Federations to form the sport's international governing body. He succeeded in his venture and the same year, International Hockey Federation was (IHF) established in Paris becoming the first President of the International Hockey Federation. The six founding members, which represented both men's and women's hockey in their countries, were Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Spain and Switzerland.

The growth of the International Hockey Federation from its beginning has been very progressive with other countries also joining making 127 members. The IHF serves as the 'guardian' of the sport. It works in co-operation with both the national and continental organizations to ensure consistency and unity in hockey around the world. The IHF not only regulates the sport, but is also responsible for its development and promotion so as to guarantee a secure future for hockey.