Olympic Games
At the 1908 Olympic tournament in London, the Ireland team won silver medals, losing the final to England. The teams were two of four from the Home Nations of what was then the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and their medals are credited to Great Britain. Since 1920, the United Kingdom has fielded a single Great Britain team at the Olympics.
Until 1988, the Olympic hockey tournament was by invitation only and, since the establishment of the Olympic Council of Ireland in 1922, no Irish team was invited. Players from Northern Ireland have participated on the Great Britain team, which plays only in the Olympics; otherwise, England, Scotland and Wales play separately. The IHU entered the qualifying round of the 1992 tournament, in spite of opposition from many of its Northern Irish officials.
Ireland has never qualified for the Olympic tournament. It missed out on the 2008 Olympics after losing on goal difference to Argentina and New Zealand at a qualifying event held in New Zealand. The team then lost the third-place play-off game against France.
Read more about this topic: Ireland National Field Hockey Team
Famous quotes containing the words olympic and/or games:
“Like Olympic medals and tennis trophies, all they signified was that the owner had done something of no benefit to anyone more capably than everyone else.”
—Joseph Heller (b. 1923)
“The rules of drinking games are taken more serious than the rules of war.”
—Chinese proverb.