Field hockey at the 1948 Summer Olympics

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

Field hockey
at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
Venues4
Dates31 July – 13 August
No. of events1
Competitors187 from 13 nations
Teams13
Medalists
 India
 Great Britain
 Netherlands

In five Olympic hockey tournaments, there had only been two different winners, but Britain and India had never competed together at the Olympics. In fact, the two nations had never played each other, the British fearing embarrassment as their (former) colony was considered the better team. 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 weren't 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.

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.[2]

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:
31 July 1948
India  8–0  Austria

2 August 1948
Spain  2–3  Argentina

4 August 1948
Spain  1–1  Austria
4 August 1948
India  9–1  Argentina

6 August 1948
India  2–0  Spain
6 August 1948
Austria  1–1  Argentina

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:
(H) Host.
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

7 August 1948
Switzerland   3–1  United States
7 August 1948
Great Britain  8–0  Afghanistan

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:
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

3 August 1948
Pakistan  9–0  Denmark
3 August 1948
Netherlands  2–0  France

5 August 1948
Belgium  2–1  Denmark
5 August 1948
Pakistan  3–1  France

7 August 1948
Pakistan  6–1  Netherlands
7 August 1948
Belgium  2–1  France

First to fourth place classification

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

9 August 1948
India  2–1  Netherlands

Bronze medal match

12 August 1948
16:30
Netherlands  1–1 (a.e.t.)  Pakistan

13 August 1948
Netherlands  4–1  Pakistan

Gold medal match

12 August 1948 (1948-08-12)
18:00
India  4-0  Great Britain
Report
Wembley Stadium
Umpires:
Rogge (NED)
Lombaert (BEL)

Final Standings

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
Jaswant Rai
 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 [3]
 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.

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. Mens Hockey at Sports Reference
  3. "Our Hockey Correspondent. "Hockey." Times [London, England] 7 July 1948". The Times Digital Archive.

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