The following article was written and researched by former trustee of The Hockey Museum Dil Bahra for fieldhockey.com. It is reproduced here for posterity.

Dil is author of the website sikhsinhockey.com which highlights the contribution and achievements of Sikh hockey athletes.

The names of Sikh players are emphasised in bold throughout the article.

 

 

Great Britain vs India at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 1967.

 

Lord’s Cricket Ground, referred to by many as the ‘home of cricket’, is the most revered cricketing arena in the world.

The hockey family is no stranger to Lord’s. In 1967, 12 of the 30 games in the 12 Nations Pre-Olympic Hockey Tournament in London were held on the hallowed turf.

This tournament was billed as the first big international hockey event in England since the London 1948 Olympic Games. Twelve teams, each preparing for the Mexico 1968 Olympic Games were invited with matches scheduled at Lord’s and the Oval.

 

A visual representation of the pitch markings at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 1967.

 

The opening match of this six-day tournament was held at Lord’s between Great Britain and India on Monday 16 October 1967. Two pitches were laid at Lord’s. The other match, scheduled at the same time, was between Spain and German Democratic Republic (GDR).

India were the reigning Olympic champions, having won the Gold at Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games. They were also reigning Asian Champions, having won the Gold in Bangkok in December 1966.

The Duchess of Kent was presented to both teams before the start of the match. Gurbux Singh, the Indian captain, had the pleasure of introducing his team, which included seven Sikh players to the Duchess.

 

 

Great Britain vs India at Lord’s Cricket Ground in 1967.

 

 

Timothy Lawson from Tulse Hill gave Great Britain the lead after 16 minutes, thus becoming the first man to score an international goal at Lord’s. Jeremy Barham of Dulwich increased the lead to put Britain 2 – 0 up at half time.

 

Sikhs score goals in the first international at Lord’s

Inder Singh, India’s inside left scored within three minutes of the start of the second half and minutes later Harbinder Singh, India’s Tokyo gold-medallist centre forward levelled the scores. Victor John Peter scored the winning goal for India.

This was, however, not the first international goal scored by a Sikh in England. This honour went to Balbir Singh Dosanjh (senior) who scored the first of his six goals in the match against Argentina at the Guinness Sports Ground at Park Royal on 4 August 1948 during the London 1948 Olympic Games.

Great Britain team: David Austin Savage (Oxton); David Prosser (Old Kingstonians) (captain); Richard Oliver (Hounslow); Geoffrey Nott (Tulse Hill); Tony Ekins (Southgate); Peter Wilson (Oxford City); Michael Crowe (Tulse Hill); Timothy Lawson (Tulse Hill); Malcolm Read (Dulwich); Charlie Donald (ICI Grangemouth); Jeremy Barham (Dulwich).

India team: Shankar Laxman (Services); Gurbux Singh (Bengal) (captain); Vinod Kumar (Punjab); R H B Krishnamoorthy; Jagjit Singh (Punjab); Harmik Singh (Punjab); Balbir Singh (Railways); Victor John Peter (Services); Harbinder Singh (Railways); Inder Singh (Railways); Joginder Singh (Railways).

The 30-match programme of the 12 Nations six-day tournament format was that each country plays five matches each. This meant that not all the countries played each other. A total of 12 matches were played at Lord’s. India played three of her five matches at Lord’s.

India played France on 17 October 1967 at Richmond Hockey Club. Balbir Singh scored India’s goal in the 1 – 1 draw.

The following day, 18 October 1967, India beat Spain 2 – 1 at the Oval Cricket Ground. Inder Singh and Victor John Peter scored India’s goals.

India returned to Lord’s for the match against Australia on 19 October. India had played all their matches with the same 11 players.

 

Harbinder Singh scored three goals at Lord’s.

 

David Wiggins reported in The Times on India’s two goals as follows:

“The first goal was engineered by Joginder and scored by Harbinder from Inder’s pass from a beautifully judged overhead scoop. Eight minutes after half time Harbinder collected a superbly judged pass from Balbir, he ran half the length of the field, fainting, swerving and dummying his way past a cluster of defenders to put India 2 goals up.”

India’s last match of the tournament was against Pakistan on Saturday 21 October 1967. A crowd of 14,000 which was the biggest at any hockey match in England since the final of the London 1948 Olympic Games at Wembley. This match, which was televised live in the sub-continent, was the eighth meeting between the two giants of hockey – India having won three, drawn two and lost two. Their last encounter was at the Asian Games Final in Bangkok on 19 December 1966 which India won 1 – 0.

 

India vs Pakistan match at Lord’s in 1967.

 

The match proved to be a classic with the crowds cheering every move.

When Pakistan scored the only goal of the match, the pitch was invaded by the excited Pakistan fans. The pitch was invaded again at the final whistle.

A short two minutes British Pathé clip of the match can be viewed below.