Kannur district is known as the cradle of hockey in Kerala. During the period of foreign rule, hockey was popular in Thalassery and Kannur centuries ago. But in the 1972 Munich Olympics, hockey got a big growth in Kannur through Manuel Fredericks, a native of Kannur Barnassery, who won a bronze medal in hockey. Similarly in 1975 at the Thalassery Stadium After the organized national hockey tournament, hockey became popular among students and youth.
Thousands flocked to the Thalassery Stadium at that time to watch the exhibition match between the Indian team and the Rest of India team, who had won the 1975 World Cup hockey title. That too by taking tickets from the queue! This happened half a century ago. Since then, two South Indian Championship matches and many state matches have been held at Thalassery and Kannur.
In 1996 and 2004, South Zone matches were organized in Thalassery. The contribution of Kannur district to university-state-teams is immense. The number of people who came up from Kannur district to the state sub-junior - junior - senior teams will be about 100. Those who played only in the state senior team will be more than 40. The goalkeeper of the Indian team who won gold in the Asian Junior Hockey Championship held in Malaysia in 2000. Kannur district is also the training ground of NIAS.
Additionally, we actively support and show appreciation for people with multicultural backgrounds, gender differences, and various life experiences to embrace unification and opportunity within the hockey community while strengthening our commitment to connect with all audiences.
