Hockey, Men

Very little is known about the 1920 Olympic field hockey tournament. There were only four nations competing in hockey at Antwerp. Great Britain won the tournament, being unbeaten and unchallenged in the round robin event. At the time, Britain was the preeminent nation in international hockey. Despite playing but two matches, Britain outscored her opponents by 17-2.

Great Britain was led by Stanley Shoveller, the island nation’s greatest ever center-forward, who captained the English side from 1910-1921. In the match against Belgium, Shoveller scored 6 goals. Shoveller had also played for the English team that had won the 1908 hockey gold medal. He was the only player who competed in hockey at both the 1908 and 1920 Olympic Games.

One of the British players, Rex Crummack, was far better known as a golfer. He played in the British Amateur Championship in 1909 and continued through 1946, the only player to have competed before World War I and after World War II. Another, Jack MacBryan, was a well known cricketer, being named in 1925 as one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year.