# Field hockey at the 1956 Summer Olympics

The men's field hockey tournament at the 1956 Summer Olympics was the eighth edition of the field hockey event for men at the Summer Olympics. It was contested from 23 November to 6 December, with twelve participating teams. Only men competed in field hockey at these Games.
India won the gold medal for the sixth successive Games, not allowing a single goal against in the entire tournament. Pakistan won the silver medal, and Germany won the bronze.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| India (IND) Leslie Claudius Ranganathan Francis Haripal Kaushik Amir Kumar Raghbir Lal Shankar Lakshman O. P. Malhotra Govind Perumal Amit Singh Bakshi Raghbir Singh Bhola Balbir Singh Dosanjh Hardyal Singh Garchey Randhir Singh Gentle Balkishan Singh Grewal Gurdev Singh Kullar Udham Singh Kullar Bakshish Singh Charles Stephen | Pakistan (PAK) Zakir Hussain Munir Ahmed Dar Ghulam Rasool Anwar Ahmed Khan Qazi Massarrat Hussain Noor Alam Abdul Hamid Habibur Rehman Ahmed Naseer Bunda Motiullah Latif-ur Rehman Akhtar Hussain Habib Ali Kiddie Manzoor Hussain Atif | United Team of Germany (EUA) Günther Brennecke Hugo Budinger Werner Delmes Hugo Dollheiser Eberhard Ferstl Alfred Lücker Helmut Nonn Wolfgang Nonn Heinz Radzikowski Werner Rosenbaum Günther Ullerich |

## Participating nations

Twelve teams were seeded and placed into one of three preliminary groups of four teams each. With the unbalanced seeding, the top two teams in Group C advanced to the semi-finals, but only the top team in both Groups A and B advanced.

## Results
### Preliminary round
#### Pool A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | India | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 0 | +36 | 6 | Advanced to Semi-finals |
| 2 | Singapore | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 4 | |
| 3 | Afghanistan | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 20 | −15 | 2 | |
| 4 | United States | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 27 | −25 | 0 | |
* 26 November 1956 11:30
| Singapore | 6–1 | United States |
| | Report | |
* Umpires: L. La Mothe (AUS) R. Moyse (AUS)
* 26 November 1956 14:30
| India | 14–0 | Afghanistan |
| | Report | |
* Umpires: A. Atkins (AUS) Richard Hansen (AUS)
* 28 November 1956 11:30
| Afghanistan | 0–5 | Singapore |
| | Report | Yam 8' de Rozario ?' Fernandez 20' Pennefather 25', ?' |
* Umpires: N. Symons (AUS) K. Wilson (AUS)
* 28 November 1956 14:30
| India | 16–0 | United States |
| | Report | |
* Umpires: Mahan Singh (KEN) W. Scott (NZL)
* 30 November 1956 11:30
| Singapore | 0–6 | India |
| | Report | Gentle 23' U. Singh 26', 56' H. Singh 33' Stephen 46', 59' |
* Umpires: L. La Mothe (AUS) V. Duray (MAL)
* 30 November 1956 14:30
| Afghanistan | 5–1 | United States |
| | Report | |
* Umpires: Alan Cowan (AUS) R. Moyse (AUS)

#### Pool B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Great Britain | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 6 | Advanced to Semi-finals |
| 2 | Australia (H) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 4 | |
| 3 | Malaya | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 2 | |
| 4 | Kenya | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 2 | |
* 23 November 1956 11:30
| Great Britain | 2–2 | Malaya |
| Thomas 55' Conroy 61' | Report | Lawrence 15' Aman 66' |
* Umpires: W. Scott (NZL) Gian Singh (IND)
* 23 November 1956 14:30
| Australia | 2–0 | Kenya |
| Dick 5' E. Pearce 64' | Report | |
* Umpires: Ernst-Ludwig Nack (GER) K. Hamilton (NZL)
* 24 November 1956 16:00
| Great Britain | 1–1 | Kenya |
| Conroy 5' | Report | Plenderleith 34' |
* Umpires: K. Hamilton (NZL) Harbail Singh (IND)
* 26 November 1956 16:00
| Malaya | 2–3 | Australia |
| Aman 32', 63' | Report | Spackman 12' E. Pearce 18', 51' |
* Umpires: Birendra Ghosh (IND) Gian Singh (IND)
* 28 November 1956 16:00
| Malaya | 1–1 | Kenya |
| Chua 50' | Report | Plenderleith 11' |
* Umpires: Fritz Staake (GER) Ernst-Ludwig Nack (GER)
* 29 November 1956 16:00
| Australia | 1–2 | Great Britain |
| E. Pearce 60' | Report | Forster 18', 50' |
* Umpires: Gian Singh (IND) Birendra Ghosh (IND)

##### Play–off match

* At the conclusion of the pool stage, Australia and Great Britain finished equal on points, resulting in a play–off match to determine number one position in the pool.
* 1 December 1956 14:00
| Australia | 0–1 | Great Britain |
| | Report | Conroy 55' |
* Umpires: Gian Singh (IND) Birendra Ghosh (IND)

#### Pool C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Pakistan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 5 | Advanced to Semi-finals |
| 2 | United Team of Germany | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 4 | Advanced to Semi-finals |
| 3 | New Zealand | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 10 | −2 | 2 | |
| 4 | Belgium | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 1 | |
* 23 November 1956 14:00
| Pakistan | 2–0 | Belgium |
| Hamid 14' Bunda 58' | Report | |
* Umpires: Mark Cowlishaw (GBR) James McDowell (AUS)
* 23 November 1956 14:30
| United Team of Germany | 5–4 | New Zealand |
| Dollheiser 29', 70' Rosenbaum 33' Nonn 34' Budinger 46' | Report | Armstrong 15', 21' Johansson 27', 64' |
* Umpires: Gian Singh (IND) Birendra Ghosh (IND)
* 27 November 1956 14:30
| Pakistan | 5–1 | New Zealand |
| Hamid 2', 9' Rehman 38' Bunda 41' Motiullah 56' | Report | Johansson 59' |
* Umpires: James McDowell (AUS) Alan Cowell (AUS)
* 27 November 1956 16:00
| Belgium | 0–0 | United Team of Germany |
| | Report | |
* Umpires: A. Atkins (AUS) Richard Hansen (AUS)
* 29 November 1956 14:30
| United Team of Germany | 0–0 | Pakistan |
| | Report | |
* Umpires: James McDowell (AUS) A. Atkins (AUS)
* 29 November 1956 16:00
| Belgium | 0–3 | New Zealand |
| | Report | McGregor 22' Remaining scorers unknown. |
* Umpires: Birendra Ghosh (IND) Gian Singh (IND)

## Classification round
### Ninth to twelfth place classification

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 9 | Malaya | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 | +12 | 6 |
| 10 | Kenya | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 3 | +11 | 4 |
| 11 | Afghanistan | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 1 |
| 12 | United States | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 18 | −17 | 1 |
* 1 2 Afghanistan finished above the United States after beating them in Group A.
* 3 December 1956
| Malaya | 8–0 | Afghanistan |
* Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
* 3 December 1956
| Kenya | 3–0 | United States |
* Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
* 4 December 1956
| Malaya | 3–0 | United States |
* Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
* 4 December 1956
| Kenya | 9–0 | Afghanistan |
* Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
* 6 December 1956
| Malaya | 3–2 | Kenya |
* Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
* 6 December 1956
| United States | 1–1 | Afghanistan |
* Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne

### Fifth to eighth place classification

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 5 | Australia (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 5 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 3 | +13 | 4 |
| 7 | Belgium | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 3 |
| 8 | Singapore | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 23 | −23 | 0 |
* 3 December 1956
| New Zealand | 13–0 | Singapore |
* Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
* 3 December 1956
| Belgium | 2–2 | Australia |
* Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
* 4 December 1956
| Belgium | 5–0 | Singapore |
* Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
* 4 December 1956
| Australia | 1–0 | New Zealand |
* Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
* 6 December 1956
| New Zealand | 3–2 | Belgium |
* Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
* 6 December 1956
| Australia | 5–0 | Singapore |
* Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne

## Medal round
### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| 3 December | 3 December |
| India | 1 |
| India | 1 | 6 December | 6 December |
| United Team of Germany | 0 | 6 December | 6 December |
| United Team of Germany | 0 | India | 1 |
| 3 December | 3 December | | India | 1 |
| 3 December | 3 December | Pakistan | 0 |
| Pakistan | 3 | Pakistan | 0 |
| Great Britain | 2 | | |
| Great Britain | 2 | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| | | 6 December | 6 December |
| | | United Team of Germany | 3 |
| | | Great Britain | 1 |

### Semi-finals

* 3 December 1956 14:30
| India | 1–0 | United Team of Germany |
| U. SIngh 48' | Report | |
* Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Umpires: A. Atkins (AUS) J. McDowell (AUS)
* 3 December 1956 16:00
| Pakistan | 3–2 | Great Britain |
| Atif | Report | Doughty Conroy ?' |
* Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Umpires: V. T. Duray (MAL) R. Hansen (AUS)

### Bronze medal match

* 6 December 1956
| United Team of Germany | 3–1 | Great Britain |
| Nonn 2' Budinger 24' Radzikowski 51' | Report | Conroy 16' |
* Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Umpires: Gian Singh (IND) B. N. Ghosh (IND)

### Gold medal match

* 6 December 1956
| India | 1-0 | Pakistan |
| Gentle 38' | Report | |
* Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Attendance: 10,000 Umpires: M. G. Cowlinshaw (GBR) J. McDowell (AUS)

## Final standings

* India
* Pakistan
* United Team of Germany
* Great Britain
* Australia
* New Zealand
* Belgium
* Singapore
* Malaya
* Kenya
* Afghanistan
* United States