A Uni Watch Look at 2024 Olympic Field Hockey

[Editor’s Note: As part of Uni Watch’s continuing Olympic uniform reviews, today we have an entry from our own Jamie Rathjen, who’ll be doing a deep dive into a sport that doesn’t receive much coverage here: Field Hockey. Enjoy! — PH]

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A Uni Watch Look at 2024 Olympic Field Hockey
by Jamie Rathjen

A total of 15 countries are represented in the two 12-team Olympic field hockey tournaments. Like some of the other team sports, they’re organized into two groups of six, from which the top four in each advance to the quarterfinals.

This piece will be different from the last time I did it because I don’t have to explain why the US women’s team didn’t qualify. They made it to Paris by putting in four honestly unbelievable performances at a January qualifying tournament in Ranchi, India. The hosts, New Zealand, and Italy were beaten in the group stage without conceding a goal, and then a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback against Japan for a 2-1 semifinal win sealed qualification before the US were kept thoroughly at arm’s length in a 2-0 victory for Germany in the final. (Japan were the third team to qualify from this tournament by beating India in the third-place game.)

I thought the US was capable of finishing fourth in their group, so the results were a tiny bit disappointing with only a draw against Spain followed by a final-day win against South Africa with both teams already eliminated. The US ended with four points, fifth in the group and ninth overall, and I was happy they were back. As you may have been able to tell from other Uni Watch Olympic pieces, those of us who are fans of lesser-followed sports get excited when they’re in the spotlight.

The tournaments used the Stade Yves-du-Manoir, which is normally used by the men’s soccer team Racing Club de France and was the former home of the much more prominent Racing 92 (descended from Racing Club de France) men’s rugby union team. It’s one of the few venues remaining from the 1924 Summer Games, where it was the main stadium.

The men’s tournament saw what was claimed to be the first game — maybe at Olympic level, maybe at international level, not sure — with male and female umpires working together.

The Netherlands made both finals, beating Germany yesterday for their first men’s gold since Sydney and playing China in the women’s today. Let’s look at what they and their competitors wore.

Argentina (M, W)

 

Argentina had their familiar white and sky blue striped shirts, except they wore sky blue shorts and socks for the women’s team or white shorts and socks for the the men’s team, despite often wearing black below the waist. The women’s second shirt has a blue-to-black gradient, but not as heavy as some of the other teams. The men’s team seems to have flipped the design around, so the top part is black.

Australia (M, W)

I am a really big fan of Australian teams using Indigenous artwork in their uniforms, and that’s what the entire Olympic program is doing this time. (The field hockey teams also have their own Aboriginal flag-colored design outside the Olympics.) The artwork is not as prominent as in other sports as it’s only down the sides of the shirts. The second-choice design was reversed mono-green or green/yellow/green.

Belgium (M, W)

The thing here is those sweepy lines on the lower front, which are black on red or red-black on white. As far as I can tell everybody on the entire Belgian delegation is wearing them on their uniforms, polo shirts, or whatever else. The number font is also a little stencil-y. The men’s team were the defending gold medalists but were upset in the quarterfinals by Spain.

China (W)

Relative surprise women’s finalists after finishing fourth in their group, China have reversed red-with-yellow and yellow-with-red versions of the same design. The only additions are accents down the sides and in a rough apron shape down the front, like the Capitals.

France (M, W)

The hosts are not a power in the sport, unlike Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands to the east-northeast. Their automatic qualification was contingent on both teams being ranked in the top 25 in the world, which they achieved. The two combined for one point, a men’s draw with Spain.

The blue shirts are patterned off of the rest of the Olympic team with a blue to white gradient that does not extend to the sides, which looks really weird. It’s mostly solid-colored below that. The second white shirt and shorts aren’t that much more conventional, with blue accents on the right side and red on the left that match the flag when viewed from the front but flip it around from behind.

Germany (M, W)

Germany perpetually look like a no-frills version of their soccer counterparts: white and black with not much else to look at besides ads, none of which they have here. There are some minor flag accents. They continued to wear their normal crest of the country’s coat of arms, which throughout the Olympics — since I watched a lot of it on German-speaking TV — seems to be an alternative to the German team’s logo. They also even have their normal number and NOB font, having basically just removed their ads. As you can see in both pictures, they are also among the teams that regularly wear rainbow captain’s armbands or sock-bands (the latter often happens with sleeveless shirts).

Great Britain (M, W)

Unlike other sports, the British national teams coexist with those for England, Scotland, and Wales and qualified in their own rights. I do really like the font on these shirts, although it seems like all the Adidas teams at these tournaments got the same one at least for the country-name-on-front. But both teams have odd not-quite-side-stripes on both of their shirts, which are a little more visible on the men’s shirts. The women’s team wore a mono-red combo instead of red/blue/blue.

India (M)

India normally wears a faux-Devanagari “India” script. Here it’s just a block font. They’ve gone with contrasting raglan sleeves in blue-on-white and white-on-blue designs that are not exact opposites of each other and is certainly a new look to me. The white second shirt also has a bit of a pattern going on with its different blue swirly lines, and the orange socks it was worn with are a really good idea to add a bit of color.

Ireland (M)

It’s pretty simple green/white/green and white/green/white here, with an additional green shoulder yoke on the white shirt. It looks like the green shorts are darker than the green on the white shirt, almost like they were supposed to be worn with the green shirt which they do match. But the accents on the sides do use the lighter shade.

Japan (W)

Japan always goes heavy on the cherry blossoms, as that’s their nickname. The first choice is mono-pinkish-red and the second choice is white/blue/blue, which is the shirt that actually includes pink cherry blossoms. But while the shirts and shorts both have their own patterns — an especially wild one I can’t quite describe on the blue shorts — the socks don’t, which looks a little off.

Netherlands (M, W)

The Dutch just released new kits not that long ago, and they’re wearing them here with the differences of a “Netherlands” script across the front and the Olympic team crest. I’m not sure these kits had actually been worn before this tournament. The font is a lot better than what Adidas has come up with for soccer, and the shade of orange used is perfect. The second kit is white/sky blue/white and only features orange accents.

New Zealand (M)

A lot of New Zealand teams go mono-white and mono-black, and that’s what we get here, complete with an Arial-looking number font. The men’s team usually goes sleeveless but is not so this time because they have a different outfitter in New Balance.

South Africa (M, W)

SA stepped way back from the protea-based design used in Tokyo, instead going the same route as a lot of the other teams. Solid colors, country name on front, nothing much else to see. I do like the green/green/gold combo because it (a) is proven to be good as it’s Uni Watch colors and (b) isn’t mono. This is a sport where I like dark/dark/light combos a lot because it tends to make the socks pop.

Spain (M, W)

The two red and white shirts both have a pretty unusual flag-colored stripe going straight down the center front. The men’s team adds polo collars. The crest of the Spanish Olympic logo even makes it into the middle of the shirts, not on the upper left as is usual.

United States (W)

The US wore their normal kits — made by Osaka, so the swoosh isn’t all-pervading — with a red-to-blue gradient and the “USA” Olympic text logo on the front. A flag replaces the normal crest. Usually blue is second choice, but here the third white option in this set appeared for I think the first time for the senior women’s team in the last group game against South Africa. It isn’t normally used much except as a shirt for goalies.