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.

Field hockey at the Games of the XVI Olympiad
Medal winners
Venues	Melbourne Cricket Ground Olympic Park Stadium
Dates	23 November – 6 December 1956
Teams	12
Medalists
India  Pakistan  United Team of Germany
← 1952 1960 →

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.^[1]

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.

Group A  India  Singapore  Afghanistan  United States

Group B  Great Britain  Australia  Malaya  Kenya

Group C  Pakistan  Germany  Belgium  New Zealand

Squads

Main article: Field hockey at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads

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

Source: LA84 Foundation
Rules for classification: 1) points.

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)

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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)

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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

Source: LA84 Foundation
Rules for classification: 1) points.
(H) Hosts

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)

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24 November 1956 16:00 Great Britain  1–1  Kenya Conroy  5' Report Plenderleith  34' Umpires: K. Hamilton (NZL) Harbail Singh (IND)

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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)

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28 November 1956 16:00 Malaya  1–1  Kenya Chua  50' Report Plenderleith  11' Umpires: Fritz Staake (GER) Ernst-Ludwig Nack (GER)

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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
3	New Zealand	3	1	0	2	8	10	−2	2
4	Belgium	3	0	1	2	0	5	−5	1

Source: LA84 Foundation
Rules for classification: 1) points.

23 November 1956 14:00 Pakistan  2–0  Belgium Hamid  14' Bunda  58' Report Umpires: Mark Cowlishaw (GBR) James McDowell (AUS)

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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)

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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)

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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[a]	3	0	1	2	1	7	−6	1
12	United States[a]	3	0	1	2	1	18	−17	1

Source: Sports Reference
Notes:

1. 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

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4 December 1956 Malaya  3–0  United States Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne

4 December 1956 Kenya  9–0  Afghanistan Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne

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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

Source: Sports Reference
(H) Hosts

3 December 1956 New Zealand  13–0  Singapore Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne

3 December 1956 Belgium  2–2  Australia Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne

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4 December 1956 Belgium  5–0  Singapore Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne

4 December 1956 Australia  1–0  New Zealand Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne

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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				Gold medal match
	3 December
	India	1
					6 December
	United Team of Germany	0
					India	1
	3 December
					Pakistan	0
	Pakistan	3
	Great Britain	2
					Bronze medal match
					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)

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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

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