# 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.
In five Olympic hockey tournaments, there had only been two different winners, but Britain and India had never competed together at the Olympics. 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 were not 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.
The fixtures were announced on 19 June 1948. Revised fixtures were announced on 28 July. 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, who had been on the golden Indian team of 1936, captained the Pakistan team in that country's inaugural appearance at the Olympics. 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 lost the final 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 1–1 draw.

## Participating nations

* Afghanistan (14)
* Argentina (12)
* Austria (12)
* Belgium (13)
* Denmark (16)
* France (14)
* Great Britain (12) (H)
* India (20)
* Netherlands (12)
* Pakistan (19)
* Spain (14)
* Switzerland (15)
* United States (14)
(*) 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 top team from each group and also the second-placed team of Group C qualified for the semi-finals.

#### 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 | |
* 31 July 1948
| India | 8–0 | Austria |
| Jansen ?', ?', ?', ?' Singh Babu ?', ?' Lal ?' Rodrigues ?' | Report | |
* John Lyons' Sports Ground Umpires: Erik Husted (DEN) René Lombaert (BEL)
* 2 August 1948 18:00
| Argentina | 3–2 | Spain |
| Márquez 5', 15', 32' | Report | Gasset ?' Pratsmasó ?' |
* Polytechnic Sports Ground Umpires: Chanu (FRA) Basir Ali Sheikh (PAK)
* 4 August 1948 18:00
| India | 9–1 | Argentina |
| Lal ?' Jansen ?', ?' Balbir Singh Sr. ?', ?', ?', ?', ?', ?' | Report | Márquez ?' |
* Guinness Sports Ground Umpires: Abraham van Donselaar (NED) Chanu (FRA)
* 4 August 1948 19:30
| Austria | 1–1 | Spain |
| Holzapfel ?' | Report | Gasset ?' |
* Guinness Sports Ground Umpires: Rogge (NED) Oswald Nazareth (PAK)
* 6 August 1948 18:00
| Argentina | 1–1 | Austria |
| Scally 55' | Report | Nowak 15' |
* Polytechnic Sports Ground Umpires: Molhuysen (NED) Rogge (NED)
* 6 August 1948 19:30
| India | 2–0 | Spain |
| Trilochan Singh 10' Singh Babu 15' | Report | |
* Polytechnic Sports Ground Umpires: Abraham van Donselaar (NED) Willy Whitelaw (GBR)

#### 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 | |
* 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 |
| Mangal | Report | Grolimund 70' |
* Lyons Sports Ground Umpires: Ali Shaikh (PAK) Husted (DEN)
* 7 August 1948
| Switzerland | 3–1 | United States |
* 7 August 1948
| Great Britain | 8–0 | Afghanistan |
* Lyons Sports Ground Umpires: Basir Ali Shaikh (PAK) Rogge (NED)

#### 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 | Semi-finals |
| 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 | |
* 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 |
| Dara MA Khan | Report | H. Delaval 10' |
* 3 August 1948
| Pakistan | 9–0 | Denmark |
| Aziz 5', ?', ?', ?', ?', ?', ?', ?' Dara | Report | |
* 3 August 1948
| Netherlands | 2–0 | France |
* 5 August 1948
| Belgium | 2–1 | Denmark |
* 5 August 1948
| Pakistan | 3–1 | France |
| Malik 33' Dara 38', 53' | Report | Lacroix ?' |
* Lyons Sports Ground Umpires: Cowlishaw (GBR) and Allen (GBR)
* 7 August 1948
| Pakistan | 6–1 | Netherlands |
| Dara 3', ?', ?', ?' Hamid 3' Razzaq | Report | Kruize |
* 7 August 1948
| Belgium | 2–1 | France |

## Medal round
### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Gold medal match | Gold medal match |
| 9 August | 9 August |
| India | 2 |
| India | 2 | 12 August | 12 August |
| Netherlands | 1 | 12 August | 12 August |
| Netherlands | 1 | India | 4 |
| 9 August | 9 August | | India | 4 |
| 9 August | 9 August | Great Britain | 0 |
| Great Britain | 2 | Great Britain | 0 |
| Pakistan | 0 | | |
| Pakistan | 0 | Bronze medal match | Bronze medal match |
| | | 12 August / 13 August | 12 August / 13 August |
| | | Netherlands (replay) | 1 / 4 |
| | | Pakistan | 1 / 1 |

### Semi-finals

* 9 August 1948
| Great Britain | 2–0 | Pakistan |
| White 55' Adlard 60' | Report | |
* Wembley Stadium Umpires: Jean Weymann (SUI) Erik Husted (DEN)
* 9 August 1948
| India | 2–1 | Netherlands |
| Jansen 15' Babu 25' | Report | Bromberg 60' |
* Wembley Stadium Umpires: Alec Allen (GBR) Reginald Gyles (GBR)

### Bronze medal match

* 12 August 1948 16:30
| Netherlands | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | Pakistan |
| Kruize 37' | Report | Hamid 12' |
* Wembley Stadium Umpires: Cowlishaw (GBR) Allen (GBR)
* 13 August 1948
| Netherlands | 4–1 | Pakistan |
| Boerstra 32' Bromberg 38' Kruize Esser | Report | MA Khan 31' |
* Lyons Sports Ground Umpires: Cowlishaw (GBR) Allen (GBR)

### Gold medal match

* 12 August 1948 (1948-08-12) 18:00
| Great Britain | 0–4 | India |
| | Report | Singh Sr. 3', 55' Jansen 10' T. Singh 66' |
* Empire Stadium Umpires: Rogge (NED) René Lombaert (BEL)

## Final standings

| Rank | Team |
| | India |
| | Great Britain |
| | Netherlands |
| 4 | Pakistan |
| 5 | Argentina |
| 5 | Switzerland |
| 5 | Belgium |
| 8 | Austria |
| 8 | Afghanistan |
| 8 | France |
| 11 | Spain |
| 11 | United States |
| 11 | 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 | Great Britain (GBR)Robert Adlard Norman Borrett David Brodie Ronald Davis W O Greene William Griffiths Edgar Hitchman Frederick Lindsay William Lindsay John Peake Frank Reynolds George Sime (c) David Brynmor Thomas Michael Walford Peter Whitbread William White A H Young | 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.