Field hockey can go back 3,000 years to the Greek classical era. The origins of the game can go back to the earliest civilizations of the world, but the modern version came from the British Isles. In England during the 1800’s, the modern game of field hockey started and so did the first formal field hockey club, called the “Blackheath Football and Hockey Club’, which was formed in 1861. As field hockey spread throughout the British Empire lots of rules and concepts changed. In 1908 the sport mainstreamed because it was included in the Summer Olympics of London. The sport was actually dropped in 1924, and it also created the Federation Internationale de Hockey sur Gazon, which is the governing body for international field hockey to this day. Umpires are a big part of field hockey, if you would like to learn about them go to the next page.