Field hockey at the 1948 Summer Olympics

Field hockey
at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
Venues4
Dates31 July – 13 August 1948
No. of events1
Competitors187 from 13 nations
Teams13
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  India
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Great Britain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Netherlands

The field hockey tournament at the 1948 Summer Olympics was the sixth edition of the field hockey event at the Summer Olympics.[1]

In five Olympic hockey tournaments, there had only been two different winners, but Britain and India had never competed together at the Olympics. There was no question the UK would again be absent at their home Olympics, although there were some organizational difficulties. First of all, the four British nations were independently affiliated with the international federation FIH and were not very keen on cooperating. Also, there were no hockey grounds to train on, as these were used by cricketers during the summer. Still, they managed to put together a team, the first real British hockey team at the Olympics (the 1908 and 1920 champions had been composed entirely of English players). Their captain was the versatile Norman Borrett, a first-class cricketer and national squash champion who once qualified for Wimbledon but didn't have time to compete.

The fixtures were announced on 19 June 1948.[2] Revised fixtures were announced on 28 July.[3] Britain and India were seeded, along with Pakistan and the Netherlands. Pakistan had only separated from India the previous year and made their first Olympic appearance in London. One of the team members, Ali Iqtidar Shah Dara, had been on the golden Indian team of 1936. All four ranked teams made the semis, although the Brits were held to a goalless draw by Switzerland, and Pakistan crushed the Dutch 6–1 in their group match. The semi-finals were close, and British observers considered the Indians to be lucky to get away with a 2–1 win against the Dutch. With Britain beating Pakistan, the gold medal match would finally see India play the Britons. Completely focused on its defense, Britain was unable to keep up with the fast-paced Indians, and they lost it 4–0. The bronze went to the Netherlands, beating Pakistan 4–2 in a replay of the first 3rd place match, which had ended in a draw.[4]

Participating nations

(*) NOTE: There are only players counted, which participated in one game at least.
(H) Host

Squads

A total of 187(*) field hockey players from 13 nations competed at the London Games

Results

Group stage

The first of each group and also the second of Group C qualified for the Semi-finals.

Ticket for the 1948 Summer Olympics Hockey Match at the Empire Stadium Wembley

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  India 3 3 0 0 19 1 +18 6 Semi-finals
2  Argentina 3 1 1 1 5 12 7 3
3  Austria 3 0 2 1 2 10 8 2
4  Spain 3 0 1 2 3 6 3 1
Source: FIH
31 July 1948
India  8–0  Austria
Jansen field hockey ball ?', ?', ?', ?'
Babu field hockey ball ?', ?'
Lal field hockey ball ?'
Rodrigues field hockey ball ?'
Report
John Lyons' Sports Ground
Umpires:
Erik Husted (DEN)
René Lombaert (BEL)

2 August 1948
18:00
Argentina  3–2  Spain
Márquez field hockey ball 5', 15', 32' Report Gasset field hockey ball ?'
Pratsmasó field hockey ball ?'
Polytechnic Sports Ground
Umpires:
Chanu (FRA)
Basir Ali Sheikh (PAK)

4 August 1948
18:00
India  9–1  Argentina
Lal field hockey ball ?'
Jansen field hockey ball ?', ?'
Singh Sr. field hockey ball ?', ?', ?', ?', ?', ?'
Report Márquez field hockey ball ?'
Guinness Sports Ground
Umpires:
Abraham van Donselaar (NED)
Chanu (FRA)
4 August 1948
19:30
Austria  1–1  Spain
Holzapfel field hockey ball ?' Report Gasset field hockey ball ?'
Guinness Sports Ground
Umpires:
Rogge (NED)
Oswald Nazareth (PAK)

6 August 1948
18:00
Argentina  1–1  Austria
Scally field hockey ball 55' Report Nowak field hockey ball 15'
Polytechnic Sports Ground
Umpires:
Molhuysen (NED)
Rogge (NED)
6 August 1948
19:30
India  2–0  Spain
T. Singh field hockey ball 10'
K. Singh field hockey ball 15'
Report
Polytechnic Sports Ground
Umpires:
Abraham van Donselaar (NED)
Willy Whitelaw (GBR)

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Great Britain (H) 3 2 1 0 19 0 +19 5 Semi-finals
2   Switzerland 3 1 2 0 4 2 +2 4
3  Afghanistan 3 1 1 1 3 9 6 3
4  United States 3 0 0 3 1 16 15 0
Source: FIH
(H) Hosts

31 July 1948
Great Britain  0–0   Switzerland

3 August 1948
Afghanistan  2–0  United States

5 August 1948
Great Britain  11–0  United States

5 August 1948
Afghanistan  1–1   Switzerland
Mangal field hockey ball Report Grolimund field hockey ball 70'
Lyons Sports Ground
Umpires:
Ali Shaikh (PAK)
Husted (DEN)

7 August 1948
Switzerland  3–1  United States

7 August 1948
Great Britain  8–0  Afghanistan
Lyons Sports Ground
Umpires:
Basir Ali Shaikh (PAK)
Rogge (NED)

Group C

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Pakistan 4 4 0 0 20 3 +17 8 Semi-finals
2  Netherlands 4 3 0 1 11 8 +3 6
3  Belgium 4 2 0 2 6 8 2 4
4  France 4 0 1 3 4 9 5 1
5  Denmark 4 0 1 3 4 17 13 1
Source: FIH
31 July 1948
Denmark  2–2  France
31 July 1948
Netherlands  4–1  Belgium

2 August 1948
Netherlands  4–1  Denmark
2 August 1948
Pakistan  2–1  Belgium
Dara field hockey ball
MA Khan field hockey ball
Report H. Delaval field hockey ball 10'

3 August 1948
Pakistan  9–0  Denmark
Aziz field hockey ball 5', ?', ?', ?', ?', ?', ?', ?'
Dara field hockey ball
Report
3 August 1948
Netherlands  2–0  France

5 August 1948
Belgium  2–1  Denmark
5 August 1948
Pakistan  3–1  France
Malik field hockey ball 33'
Dara field hockey ball 38', 53'
Report Lacroix field hockey ball ?'
Lyons Sports Ground
Umpires:
Cowlishaw (GBR) and Allen (GBR)

7 August 1948
Pakistan  6–1  Netherlands
Dara field hockey ball 3', ?', ?', ?'
Hamid field hockey ball 3'
Razzaq field hockey ball
Report Kruize field hockey ball
7 August 1948
Belgium  2–1  France

Finals

Final—India v. Great Britain at the Empire Stadium, Wembley, Thursday, August 12th. India scoring their third goal.
 
Semi-finalsGold medal match
 
      
 
9 August
 
 
 India2
 
12 August
 
 Netherlands1
 
 India4
 
9 August
 
 Great Britain0
 
 Great Britain2
 
 
 Pakistan0
 
Bronze medal match
 
 
12 August / 13 August
 
 
 Netherlands (replay)1 / 4
 
 
 Pakistan1 / 1

Semi-finals

9 August 1948
Great Britain  2–0  Pakistan
White field hockey ball 55'
Adlard field hockey ball 60'
Report
Wembley Stadium
Umpires:
Jean Weymann (SUI)
Erik Husted (DEN)

9 August 1948
India  2–1  Netherlands
Jansen field hockey ball 15'
Babu field hockey ball 25'
Report Bromberg field hockey ball 60'
Wembley Stadium
Umpires:
Alec Allen (GBR)
Reginald Gyles (GBR)

Bronze medal match

12 August 1948
16:30
Netherlands  1–1 (a.e.t.)  Pakistan
Kruize field hockey ball 37' Report Hamid field hockey ball 12'
Wembley Stadium
Umpires:
Cowlishaw (GBR)
Allen (GBR)

13 August 1948
Netherlands  4–1  Pakistan
Boerstra field hockey ball 32'
Bromberg field hockey ball 38'
Kruize field hockey ball
Esser field hockey ball
Report MA Khan field hockey ball 31'
Lyons Sports Ground
Umpires:
Cowlishaw (GBR)
Allen (GBR)

Gold medal match

12 August 1948 (1948-08-12)
18:00
Great Britain  0–4  India
Report Singh Sr. field hockey ball 3', 55'
Jansen field hockey ball 10'
T. Singh field hockey ball 66'
Empire Stadium
Umpires:
Rogge (NED)
René Lombaert (BEL)

Final standings

team India
team Netherlands
RankTeam
 India
 Great Britain
 Netherlands
4 Pakistan
5 Argentina
  Switzerland
 Belgium
8 Austria
 Afghanistan
 France
11 Spain
 United States
 Denmark

Medal summary

Gold Silver Bronze
 India (IND)
Leslie Claudius
Keshav Dutt
Walter D'Souza
Lawrie Fernandes
Ranganathan Francis
Gerry Glackan
Akhtar Hussain
Patrick Jansen
Amir Kumar
Kishan Lal (c)
Leo Pinto
Jaswant Singh Rajput
Latif-ur-Rehman
Reginald Rodrigues
Balbir Singh Sr.
Randhir Singh Gentle
Grahanandan Singh
K. D. Singh (vc)
Trilochan Singh
Maxie Vaz
 Great Britain (GBR)
Robert Adlard
Norman Borrett
David Brodie
Ronald Davis
W O Greene
William Griffiths
E J E Hitchman
Frederick Lindsay
William Lindsay
John Peake
Frank Reynolds
George Sime (c)
D B Thomas
Michael Walford
P Whitbread
William White
A H Young[5]
 Netherlands (NED)
André Boerstra
Henk Bouwman
Piet Bromberg
Harry Derckx
Han Drijver
Dick Esser
Roepie Kruize
Jenne Langhout
Dick Loggere
Ton Richter
Eddy Tiel
Wim van Heel

Note: The International Olympic Committee medal database shows also only these players as medalists. They all played at least one match during the tournament. The reserve players are not listed as medalists.

See also

  • Gold (2018 film), about the Indian national hockey team at the 1948 Summer Olympics

References

  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Hockey at the 1948 London Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  2. "OLYMPIC HOCKEY FIXTURES". Malaya Tribune. 21 June 1948. p. 7.
  3. "HOCKEY DRAW". Malaya Tribune. 29 July 1948. p. 8.
  4. Mens Hockey at Sports Reference
  5. "Our Hockey Correspondent. "Hockey." Times [London, England] 7 July 1948". The Times.

51.5556°N 0.2797°W / 51.5556; -0.2797

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