Although ‘stick and ball’ games are known to have been played across the world for many centuries, the first recognised mention of a stick and ball game being known as ‘hockey’ was in England in 1773. From that time, games in England that involved a stick hitting a ‘ball’ (often a cork bung or made of india-rubber) with goals being scored were frequently known as hockey. A wide variety of rules was used, often adapted to the characteristics of the location in which the game was played.

Teddington Hockey Club, founded in 1871, developed a set of rules which evolved into the rules of the first Hockey Association (HA), formed in 1875. The second HA, formed in 1886, further developed these rules and remained the governing body in England until 1996, when it was replaced by the English Hockey Association which combined the functions of the men’s and women’s governing bodies. The rules devised by Teddington HC were therefore the inspiration for today’s game of hockey.

There were two other, different stick and ball games played before 1871, each known as ‘hockey’, which developed their own codified set of rules for games which were played in parallel with ‘Association hockey’ after 1875. One was played by Blackheath HC, which formed a ‘National Hockey Union’ in 1887, based around Bristol. That Union was dissolved in 1895, after which the Union clubs joined the second HA. The other was played by Rossall School, situated on the coast of Lancashire, where ‘Rossall Hockey’ was played on the beach next to the school in the months of January to March when the grass fields were too wet to play rugby and when the tides allowed. There were only four days per fortnight when the game could be played, a tide timetable therefore being an important factor in planning matches!

Rossall Hockey was an adaptation of the football game played in the early days of the school. This football game was an imitation of the Eton field game, introduced by a master who was an Old Etonian, and contained elements of rugby.

It is known to have been played since at least 1867, a set of rules being first produced in 1873. Light sticks and a solid, india-rubber ball were used on a pitch marked out by dragging sticks in the sand. The pitch is measured in paces and is 80 paces in length. There is a centre line and two lines each 40 paces from the centre line and there are lines six paces in from the two side lines running the length of the pitch and used as a marker when a roll-in occurs.

The ball was not allowed to be passed forward, which resulted in a game dominated by dribbling, and a goal could be scored if the ball was hit from inside a ‘striking line’, a similar concept to a ‘circle’. This was drawn with a straight line 3 yards in front of the goal and joined to the goal-line by two quarter-circles centred about the goalposts.

The game was started with a ‘bully’ in which 8 of the 11 players in each team took part. Two players, known as ‘fliers’, were stationed just outside the bully and the 11^th player was a full back. On the whistle, each team tries to wrench the ball free. Once in play, the ball is dribbled forwards towards the scoring striking line. The ball must not be pushed more than three metres in front of the hitter or dribbler failing which a foul occurs and a free hit awarded to the opponents.

Another feature drawn from the Eton field game was the scoring of a ‘rouge’, when the defending side played the ball over its back line and the attacking side was the first to touch the ball down with a stick. Four rouges were equivalent to a goal and, in the event of the number of goals being equal, the result would be determined by the number of rouges. The rouge was abolished in 1900.

Rossall School: Hockey on the Sea Shore, a colourised print from The Hockey Museum’s collection. Unknown artist, unknown date.

Some rules have changed over the years, notably the number of players which was reduced to 9 players. A selection of the rules is as follows:

The game is seen as a cross between rugby and hockey. In rules similar to rugby:

• If a player at the head of the dribble loses control of the ball and over runs it, he or she must retreat to the back and allow another member of the team to take over the control of the ball – if not taken over by the opposing team.
• The ball must always be approached from behind, failing which the player concerned will be offside.

In rules similar to hockey (or, predominantly, hockey from at least 50 years ago):

• Tackling an opponent from the side is not permitted. The defender must approach the attacker from the opposite direction to the attacker’s run.
• Free hits are awarded for fouls. All players must stand at least three metres from the ball at a free hit.
• A player cannot receive the ball with his or her back against the direction to which the team is playing.
• Turning is not allowed when dribbling with the ball.
• Players may stop the ball in mid-air with a hand but, in doing so, must not move the ball forwards.
• If the ball is hit over the sides of the pitch, the opposition rolls the ball back into play from the side line. When the roll in is taken, the rest of the teams line up horizontally across the pitch, the lines being two metres apart. The roll in must travel at least six paces (hence the markings on the pitch) and it must touch the ground before crossing these markings.
• A penalty stroke is taken from 20 paces and the attacking team can score from outside the striking line. Both teams, bar the striker and one defender, stand behind the half-way line. The one defender stands behind the goal line to try to prevent the ball crossing the line.
• Dangerous play is penalised, such as throwing a stick at another, hacking the ball maliciously or holding the stick above head height.

Association hockey was introduced at Rossall School as an organised sport at the end of the 1960s. Rossall hockey is still sometimes played today, known as ‘Roshockey’.