HOCKEY GAME

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 129, 5 June 1929, Page 9

HOCKEY GAME

PLAYED BY CREEKS

ALSO BY ROMANS AOT> BED INDIANS ;

Football .is undoubtedly-New Zealand's rational game, but during the last quarter of a century "hockey," our great, .winter stick game, has claimed au increasing number of adherents of Tioth sexes, writes A. Murdoch m "National Education,?' the official organ of the N.Z.E.L So marked has been the progress, 'ana so keen the interest displayed, that Dominion hockey now stands on a high plane. The maintenance of this standaiUis the concern of all. true'hockey enthusiasts, so that every endeavour suoulcl be made to popularise this pastime in the cradle of all games, the school. b '

Ongm.—According to E. A. Thomson, a recognised authority, hockey emanated from Persia, where no doubt it way played in a crude form thousands of years agoV The Greeks, too, at the. old Olympic and Isthmian Games played a-"type of ball-game. Colouris given to this statement from the strong .material evidence secured at Athens in 1922, when an interesting bas-relief taken from the wall built by Themistocles (514-449 BC) was unearthed. The illustration showed srs youths taking ..part in a game. Hooked sticks, turned downwards, were being used, anl the "bully" appeared to be a feature., :'..■■

When the Boma'na invaded Britain m 55 B.C. the soldiers played •& stick arid ball game which ■later developed/.:-in character into a regular game. >•? S _It.is difficnltta understand ho-Wthe North American Indians gained a knowledge of this game of Asiatic ongm, unless it is as some anthropologists suggest that'in remote ages Asia and North America- were united. ■■■•■■" Early records show that hockey of a primitive character was played in Ireland under the name of " hurley,'? m Scotland as "shinty," and in England and Wales as '■> bandy. " One can imagine the desperate nature of some: of these games; The popularity of the game m England was such that until 1784 .it was illegal to play hockey because it interfered with archery' and war training. ■ ■ ■■'■ : Students ofjanguage and playing enthusiasts will find interest in the origin of the word <fhockey." There againl the researches of E. A. Thomson clearly show that the twelfth century clubball was called ','hookie" or "hackie." This at a later date developed into' "hockie" or "hockey." , To quote his opinion still further, "hookie" emanated from the shape of the club, hooked or crooked. "Hackie," no doubt, owed its origin to the fact that it was common to hack or strike at a player's feet or shins.