1956 Summer Olympics / Hockey

Olympic hockey tournament 1956
Men's
Number of nations	12
Olympic champion	India
venue	Melbourne
Stadion	Olympic Hockey Field Melbourne Cricket Ground
opening	November 23, 1956
Endgame	December 6, 1956
← 1952 1960 →

At the XVI. At the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne , a competition in hockey (men) was held. The games took place on the hockey field in Olympia Park with 1,048 seats and 20,000 standing places, the semi-finals and the medal games in the main Olympic stadium, the Melbourne Cricket Ground .

Tournament mode

Originally 13 nations had registered, but the Netherlands boycotted the Games in Melbourne and canceled at short notice. For the first time at an Olympic hockey tournament were Australia, Kenya, Malaya (which went up in Malaysia in 1963 ), New Zealand and Singapore.

The 12 participants played in 3 groups (in brackets the ranking on which the group classification was based):

• Group A: India (1), Singapore (10), Afghanistan (11), USA (12)
• Group B: Great Britain (2), Australia (7), Malaya (8), Kenya (9)
• Group C: Pakistan (3), Germany (4), Belgium (5), New Zealand (6)

The first in group A and B, as well as the first and second in group C qualified for the semi-finals, so group C was filled with more people.

The winners of the semi-finals played for gold, the losers for bronze. The other placements were played out in two groups for places 5-8 and 9-12. These games are not listed in the official IOC report, as in previous reports.

German team

The then divided Germany competed with a joint Olympic team for the first time , so the German Hockey Association (DHB) of the Federal Republic and the Hockey Section of the GDR had to agree on the hockey team. Both associations agreed on July 7, 1956 in East Berlin to propose the DHB team. The final communique reads:

“The current situation of German hockey was discussed in a factual and friendly discussion. Those involved proceeded from the decision of the two German National Olympic Committees of March 18, 1956, which states that when sending an all-German team to Melbourne, the principle of performance and the prospect of winning a medal should be observed in the foreground. Despite certain concerns expressed by the representatives of the Hockey Section of the German Democratic Republic with regard to the difficult task of the German hockey selection as a result of the grouping of the Olympic tournament, there are definitely chances of winning a medal. "

Winning the bronze medal should fulfill these hopes.

Group A

India won all three group games without conceding goals and advanced to the semi-finals.
November 26th	11:30	Singapore - USA	6: 1 (3: 1)
November 26th	14:30	India - Afghanistan	14: 0 (3: 0)
November 28th	11:30	Singapore - Afghanistan	5: 0 (4: 0)
	14:30	India - USA	16: 0 (6: 0)
30th of November	11:30	India - Singapore	6: 0 (3: 0)
	14:30	Afghanistan - USA	5: 1 (2: 1)

Table group A
space	team	Games	Gates	Points
1.	India	3	36: 0	6th
2.	Singapore	3	11: 7	4th
3.	Afghanistan	3	5:20	2
4th	United States	3	2:27	0

Group B

In order to determine the winner of Group B, a playoff was scheduled. This shows that only the points counted for the table order!
November 23	11:30	Great Britain - Malaya	2: 2 (1: 1)
	14:30	Australia - Kenya	2: 0 (1: 0)
November 24th	16:00	Great Britain - Kenya	1: 1 (1: 1)
November 26th	16:00	Australia - Malaya	3: 2 (2: 1)
November 28th	16:00	Malaya - Kenya	1: 1 (0: 1)
30th of November	16:00	Great Britain - Australia	2: 1 (1: 0)
December 1	14:00	Great Britain - Australia	1: 0 (0: 0)	for 1st place B

Table group B
space	team	Games	Gates	Points
1.	Great Britain	3	5: 4	4th
	Australia	3	6: 4	4th
3.	Malaya	3	5: 6	2
	Kenya	3	2: 4	2

Group C

Pakistan and Germany qualified for the semi-finals.
November 23	16:00	Pakistan - Belgium	2: 0 (1: 0)
November 24th	14:30	Germany - New Zealand	5: 4 (3: 3)
November 27th	14:30	Pakistan - New Zealand	5: 1 (2: 0)
	16:00	Germany - Belgium	0: 0 (0: 0)
November 29th	14:30	Germany - Pakistan	0: 0 (0: 0)
	16:00	New Zealand - Belgium	3: 0 (1: 0)

Table group C
space	team	Games	Gates	Points
1.	Pakistan	3	7: 1	5
2.	Germany	3	5: 4	4th
3.	New Zealand	3	8:10	2
4th	Belgium	3	0: 5	1

Rank 9 - 12

The third and fourth groups in groups A and B played for places 9 to 12. It is not known which criteria the USA used to rank ahead of Afghanistan in the final ranking.
3rd of December		Kenya - USA	3-0
		Malaya - Afghanistan	8-0
December 5th		Malaya - USA	3-0
		Kenya - Afghanistan	9-0
6th of December		Malaya - Kenya	3: 2
		USA - Afghanistan	1: 1

Table placement 9 - 12
space	team	Games	Gates	Points
1.	Malaya	3	14: 2	6th
2.	Kenya	3	14: 3	4th
3.	United States	3	1: 7	1
	Afghanistan	3	1:18	1

Rank 5 - 8

In this group, the two runners-up in group A and B, as well as the third and fourth in group C, played for places 5 to 8.
3rd of December		New Zealand - Singapore	13: 0
		Australia - Belgium	2: 2
December 4th		Australia - New Zealand	1-0
		Belgium - Singapore	5-0
6th of December		Australia - Singapore	5-0
		New Zealand - Belgium	3: 2

Table placement 5 - 8
space	team	Games	Gates	Points
1.	Australia	3	8: 2	5
2.	New Zealand	3	16: 3	4th
3.	Belgium	3	9: 5	3
4th	Singapore	3	0:23	0

final

The medals were determined in the KO system.
3rd of December	14:30	India - Germany	1: 0 (0: 0)	Semifinals
	16:00	Pakistan - Great Britain	3: 2 (3: 1)	Semifinals
6th of December	14:30	Germany - Great Britain	3: 1 (2: 1)	3rd place match
	16:00	India - Pakistan	1: 0 (0: 0)	Endgame

Ranking list
space	team
1.	India
2.	Pakistan
3.	Germany
4th	Great Britain
5.	Australia
6th	New Zealand
7th	Belgium
8th.	Singapore
9.	Malaya
10.	Kenya
11.	United States
12.	Afghanistan

Medalist

			4th
India	Pakistan	Germany	Great Britain
Leslie Claudius Ranganandhan Francis Haripal Kaushik Amir Kumar Raghbir Lal Shankar Laxman Govind Perumal Amit Singh Bakshish Singh Balbir Singh Balkishan Singh Gurdev Singh Hardayal Singh Udham Singh Raghbir Singh Bhola Randhir Singh Gentle Charles Stephen	Abdul Hamid Nasir Ahmad Anwar Ahmad Khan Hussein Akhtar Noor Alam Manzoor Hussain Atif Naseer Bunda Munir Ahmad Dar Zakir Hussain Hussain Mussarat Ghulam Rasul Habibur Rehman Latifur Rehman Mutih Ullah	Günther Brennecke Hugo Budinger Werner Delmes Hugo Dollheiser Eberhard Ferstl Alfred Lücker Franz Nikodem Helmut Nonn Wolfgang Nonn Hans Plaß Heinz Radzikowski Harry Reuff Werner Rosenbaum Karl-Heinz "Zam" Schmidt Günther Ullerich	David Douglas Archer Denys John Carnill John Ashley Cockett John Valentine Conroy Geoffrey Michael Cutter Colin Henry Dale Francis Howard Davis Michael Owen Doughty Neil Millward Forster Stephen Henry Johnson Anthony John Robinson Frederick Hugh Scott John Anthony Strover David Frederick Thomas

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Official IOC Report 1956 (PDF; 34.1 MB) pp. 42, 78
2. ^ Official IOC Report 1956 (PDF; 34.1 MB) Hockey, p. 501
3. ↑ Official IOC Report 1956 (PDF; 34.1 MB) p. 500 ff.
4. ↑ Official IOC Report 1956 (PDF; 34.1 MB), mentioned on p. 504
5. ^ FIH Homepage Olympic Games 1956
6. ^ Communique from the meeting of the Hockey Section - DHB on July 7, 1956 in Berlin

Web links

• Official IOC Report 1956 (PDF; 34.1 MB)
• FIH Homepage Olympic Games
• hockey.de Olympic Games