Britain

Britain is the home and cradle of the modern game of hockey. The first hockey club to be founded was the Blackheath Club, formed in 1861 in London. Ten years later, the Teddington Hockey Club of London introduced standardized rules, the hockey circle and umpires. In 1886, the Hockey Association was formed in England. Great Britain joined the International Hockey Federation in 1947.
The first ever hockey international was played between England and Ireland in 1895. In the game played at Richmond, Surrey, England beat Ireland by five goals to nil.
The longest-standing continuous hockey fixture in Britain is probably the annual Oxford-Cambridge varsity match. The first men's match took place in Oxford in 1890, with Oxford winning that match. The first women's match was held at Wimbledon Common in 1894. The 100th edition of the Oxford-Cambridge men's varsity match took place on March 7, 2000, at Milton Keynes. Oxford won the centenary match 2-1. History buffs will remember that the first Indian team to win the Olympic Gold (1928 - Amsterdam) was captained by Oxford blue Jaipal Singh, who joined the team from England.
Prior to the legendary Dhyan Chand, the world of hockey was delighted by the dazzling stickwork of Stanley Shoveller (1882-1959). Stanley played as a centre-forward for the English team which won gold medals at 1908 London Olympics and the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. On both occasions, Stanley was the top scorer. Shoveller was a giant by any standards, and the game's first star.
Sean Kerly, the star centre-forward of Britain, first hit the headlines when he scored seven goals in seven matches at the Los Angeles Olympics, where Britain ended up with the bronze. Four years later, at the Seoul Olympics, Sean Kerly scored a hat-trick against the fancied Australians in the semi-finals, and Britain went on to win the Olympic Gold after a gap of 68 years.
The youngest hockey gold medallist in the Olympics is Russel Garcia. He was 18 years and 3 months old when Britain won the gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
When Britain beat India 2-1 in the 1985 Champions Trophy in Perth, that was the first ever win by Britain over India. In 21 earlier matches between the two teams, starting with the 1948 Olympic hockey final in London, India had won 19 games while drawing 2.
The first time that Pakistan participated in the Olympics, in London in 1948, Britain beat Pakistan 2-0 in the semi-finals. The next time that Pakistan participated in the Olympics, in Helsinki in 1952, Britain yet again beat Pakistan 2-1 in the bronze medal playoff game. Thus the Pakistani hockey team had to come back empty-handed from its first two Olympics thanks to Britain.
The sequel to the above took nearly half a century in the making. In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Pakistan administered Britain's worst-ever Olympic loss, when they routed Britain 8-1.

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