Extract from letter in Hockey World, 2 February 1931.

Miss Charlotte Mumford, a member of the Friends and Temperance Missionary Society, wrote:

"I am a missionary who has laboured amongst the Samoyedes of Northern Siberia, a barbarous people who, in a time of dearth, eat their young, and, in a time of insobriety (unfortunately not infrequent), butcher their grandparents.

These unpleasant although deluded savages, often play a game with sticks and balls upon the ice packs north of the Bering Straits. I may say it is their one and only non-blood thirsty form of enjoyment.

I am presently on furlough but, when I return from the frozen wastes, I shall feel that I have brought the knowledge of their redeeming feature to their English brothers in the world's oldest and greatest game".

This week's hockey fact on The Hockey Museum (THM) website has generated a lot of interest world wide.

We are encouraged by the number of views, particularly the high numbers from Germany, and we feel the story behind the fact deserves more detail.

We have chosen two versions of the report from our archives: one from our THM colleague Patrick Rowley who reported the incident the following day and a translation from a German magazine.

Dil Bahra

India Awarded Match As Japan Stage Walk-Out
Patrick Rowley

"Mexico City, 21 October. India won their sixth match of the Olympic hockey tournament against Japan by five goals to nil without actually scoring a goal.

"They were awarded the match by the technical delegates of the International Hockey Federation after the most amazing incident in the history of Olympic hockey. The Japanese team walked off the field before the final whistle and refused to return.
"With 15 minutes to go, the British umpire Archie Young awarded a penalty stroke against the Japanese. Inamur Rehman, who had replaced Inder at inside left, was breaking into the circle when there was a clash of sticks as he went to pass the Japanese back, Katsuhiro Yuzaki.

"The umpire decided that Inam had been fouled and presumed that a certain goal had been prevented. He, therefore, awarded the most drastic penalty.

"The Japanese did not first realize what decision the umpires had made. They thought the whistle had gone for a foul against their player. When the truth quickly became apparent, they surrounded the umpire, protesting and indicated the nature of the foul committed not by their player but by Inam.

"The umpire stuck firmly to his decision indicating a second time that he had awarded the penalty-stroke.

"With that several of the Japanese players threw down their sticks in disgust. In great anger, their captain led the team off the field.

"The jury of appeal chairman, Mr Stewart McIldowie of South Africa ordered the Japanese manager to get his team on the field within 30 seconds but because they were so upset there was never any chance that they would return. When the whistle went for the game to resume, the Indians were still on the field watching incredulously. At least three minutes had elapsed. The Japanese did not reappear and the umpire blew his whistle again indicating that the game was over.

"In my opinion the umpire made a bad mistake. When going through, Inam put his stick between that of Yuzaki and the ball thus committing a foul. When Yuzaki's stick hit that of Inam he was doing no more than showing the foul.

"The umpire made another mistake. If Yuzaki had fouled, it did not warrant a penalty-stroke. It should have been a penalty-corner for there was no reason to assume that Inam would have scored.

"I am sure any other umpire in this tournament would have awarded a penalty-corner for such an offence.

"The Japanese, it was revealed afterwards, were strongly favoured to win the fair-play trophy which was being awarded at this Olympics tournament for the first time. The reason they were so incensed is that they had played their hearts out in preventing India from scoring. Their goalkeeper, Matsumoto, had performed miracles but suddenly all their efforts were thrown away by what they considered to be a ridiculous decision by the umpire.

"But don't let me sound as if I am condoning the Japanese action. Far from it. Any umpire can make a mistake. He is only human. But to walk off the field is the height of unsportsmanship and Japan are very lucky to be allowed to play in this tournament."

The Scandal Of Mexico City

(translated from a German hockey report)

"It happened on Sunday 20 October 1968 at 1.05pm local time on pitch 2 of the Olympic Hockey Stadium, Magdalena Mixhuca.

"55 minutes and 30 seconds into an extremely important game for the seven times Olympic champions, India v. Japan, the score was still 0-0 and, in view of the brave defensive performance of the speedy Japanese, the overall opinion in the stands was that the brave, little men around the cat-like goalkeeper Norihiko Matiumoto could have kept their goal intact for the remaining quarter of an hour against the desperate Indians.

"The Umpire, Mr Archibald Young, had blown his whistle and the Scottish referee made one of his many inexplicable - to players and spectators - decisions, pointing to the penalty spot to the horror of all.

"In the stands the same amazement was writ large on the faces of those at the jury table and in the seats reserved for the FIH officials.

"India's right winger Balbir Singh, the second of that name in the team, stepped up to take the penalty which could mean relief to his over nervous troops. But Balbir Singh never got to take the penalty stroke.

"The Japanese who at first had not realised what was happening, then surrounded the umpire in justifiable protest and when this did not bear fruit did the worst they could have done in such a situation. Captain Tsureya Yuzaki, the elder brother of the player who had committed the foul, threw his stick onto the grass in a rage and left the pitch in the direction of the players' bench. The rest of his eleven followed him immediately."

The Hockey Museum is now receiving material and collections almost every week and they are far from all being about international players and great feats.

A recent addition is about (George) Herbert Morton, who was a tireless worker for hockey in the early years of the last century. Without people like Herbert Morton hockey would not have developed into the sport it is today. Illness cut short his playing career so he turned to umpiring and administration. He was treasurer of both Cheshire and the North and clearly helped to organise events whenever called upon. With the whistle he achieved distinction, umpiring the North and Cheshire many times as well as eleven international matches.

If you know of any material relating to the history of hockey do please contact us.

Mike Smith, March 2012

The Hockey Museum Moves To Woking: A Most Appropriate New Home, But Why?

The leafy Surrey town of Woking did not exist until the middle of the nineteenth century. The railway arrived in 1838 in the middle of the woods; not even a cottage in sight. At Woking Junction the railway turned left to Portsmouth via Guildford or went straight on to Southampton via Winchester. And so the town developed nestled between the Basingstoke Canal (that had passed through some 50 years before) and the railway. Being less than an hour from central London (and less than half an hour today) the area was ideally located.

This location was noted by Dr Leicher, a Victorian educationist who wanted to extend higher education to the increasing number of students coming to Britain from the East. In the 1870s he picked on Woking and set up a College for Oriental students. To achieve his aim of offering 'higher education', the degrees were granted through the University of the Punjab in Lahore, India. It is this association with the Punjab in the then India, that the thread of appropriateness for the Hockey Museum lies.

At that time, the late nineteenth century, northern India was heavily garrisoned by the British Army. We were fighting the first or second Afghan war, I cannot remember which, but you would have thought that we might have learned our lesson! A number of cities in the Punjab had sizeable garrisons, or cantonments as they are called. When they were not away fighting, the soldiers needed occupying and sport was a popular answer. However, for sport you need equipment and the supply line back to Britain was a long one; about six months.

In those days most of the world's sports equipment came from Britain but it didn't take the Indians long to spot an opportunity. In particular this happened in the city of Sialkot, about one hundred miles from Lahore and renowned for furniture production and woodwork. The skilled woodworkers started by repairing the rackets and bats and sticks for the British military, but it was not long before they started manufacturing. They may not have had access to the British ash and willow timber, but local wood was sufficient to keep the troops playing their sport. In the case of hockey though, the local wood was mulberry and in fact it turned out to be more suitable than the English ash. It was harder and when bent it retained its shape much better. So for the next few decades production of Indian hockey sticks grew, so that after WW2 and to this day, the majority of the world's hockey sticks came from the Punjab, together with a lot of other equipment to support our sport.

So, Woking has had an association with the Punjab in its early days and that is retained through its association with The Hockey Museum where many of its exhibits were made in the Punjab.

Mike Smith, February 2012

In December we had the sad news of the death of Barbara Miroy, the widow of Nevill.

Between them they did an incredible amount for hockey in many different ways, right through the second half of the 20^th century. Nevill wrote The History of Hockey and founded Hockey Digest after the demise of Hockey News. Much information and many records might have been lost had it not been for their commitment and enthusiasm in that period. Barbara and Nevill were also responsible for running the Folkestone Festival – arguably the top hockey festival in the world at the time – and the London Fixture Conference and Bureau. Where would club hockey in the South East have been, before the days of full scale league hockey, had it not been for the ability to ring Barbara and find a fixture?

They devoted their lives to hockey and happily their records and hockey collection have been given to The Hockey Museum.

Much more will be written about Barbara and Nevill when the collection is archived. This will take time but the achievements of Barbara and Nevill will live on in the archives.

We are grateful to their executors for ensuring that the Miroy Collection came to the Museum.

Mike Smith, February 2012

At The Hockey Museum we have numerous hockey magazines and the earliest edition of a hockey magazine we have in our archives is the magazine Hockey, published on Friday, 15 December 1893.

Hockey, is described as "a weekly review of the game, which is published every Friday morning in time for the early mails, can be had at bookstalls in all parts of the country and any newsagent in Great Britain". Priced at two pence, this twelve page publication contains match reports, notes, "Rules of the Hockey Association" and "Rules of the Game of Hockey". Later editions included biographies and portraits of hockey celebrities, group portraits of hockey teams and club histories. This issue also contains a list of clubs affiliated to The Hockey Association.

They are listed in alphabetical order as: Addiscombe HC; Benson HC; Bromley HC; Cambridge University HC; Central Croydon HC; Chippenham HC; Croydon HC; Denmark Hill HC; Ealing HC; East Sheen HC; Grecian HC; Hampstead HC; Hampton Wick HC; Ilford HC; Kensington Park HC; Kidderminster HC; Leicester HC; Mitcham HC; Molesey HC; Pinner HC; Putney HC; Queen's College, Oxford; Rovers HC; Rugby HC; Shooters Hill HC; Southgate HC; Staines HC; Surbiton HC; Teddington HC; Thames Ditton HC; Trinity Colledge, Cambridge; Westgate HC; West Gloucester HC; West Kent HC; Weston (Bath) HC; Willesden HC; Wimbledon HC; Winchester Bandy and Hockey Club.

Dil Bahra, February 2012

This article appeared in Hockey Sport, June 1998. Fourteen years later, we do have The Hockey Museum.

Dil Bahra, January 2012

Woking is set to shine the spotlight on more than a century of hockey heritage with the launch of a national museum for the sport.

With help from The Lightbox gallery and museum, a specialist venue in Butts Road has opened this month as the new home for an archive charting the 125-year history of hockey, with books, photographs and clothing among the items on display.

A four-year project to bring the collection to Surrey was organised by Hockey Archives, a group of enthusiasts led by Mike Smith, director of Maybury-based company Mercian Sports.

Mr Smith explained: "This is a great opportunity to demonstrate the popularity of hockey as a national sport, and we are hugely grateful to The Lightbox for their help and guidance in bringing the collection together.

"We are very much in the early stages of the project at the moment, but eventually aim to offer exhibitions for the public, along with organising a special display for the London Olympics."

Formerly housed at the National Hockey Stadium in Milton Keynes, the collection was retained by Hockey Archives before Woking Borough Council stepped in to show its support in 2011, with The Lightbox making the site available at a peppercorn rent.

Efforts are now under way to secure the future of the museum through gaining trust status.

Mr Smith added: "It is extremely important to preserve the archive as a way of highlighting the deep-rooted history of the sport in England, and hopefully this will inspire a future generation of participants."

He formed a group with like-minded colleagues David Wareham, Patrick Rowley and Dil Bahra with the shared objective of working to preserve hockey's rich heritage.

When the two groups met four years ago, they decided to form the Hockey Archives, which was later expanded to include Katie Dodd, a former England international, and Ian Wilson, the treasurer of England Hockey.

Mr Wilson was responsible for preserving the hockey memorabilia which existed when the national stadium at Milton Keynes was sold, setting up an England Hockey Archive Steering Group and playing a major role in ensuring hockey literature was found a home at Bath University.

The original article can be viewed by clicking here.

John Ellul, January 2012