At the same time as modern ice hockey rules were formalized in British North America (present-day Canada), bandy rules were formulated in Europe. While modern ice hockey was created in Canada, a game more similar to bandy was played initially, after British soldiers introduced the game in the late 19th century. Historical relationship with association football and ice hockey Īs a precursor to ice hockey bandy has influenced its development and history – mainly in European and former Soviet countries.
The highest altitude where bandy has been played is in the capital of the Tajik autonomous province of Gorno-Badakhshan, Khorugh. In modern times, Russia has held a top position in the bandy area, both as a founding nation of the International Federation in 1955 and fielding the most successful team in the World Championships (when counting the previous Soviet Union team and Russia together). A European championship was held in 1913 with eight countries participating. Bandy was played at the Nordic Games in Stockholm and Kristiania (present day Oslo) in 1901, 1903, and 1905 and between Swedish, Finnish and Russian teams at similar games in Helsinki in 1907. The first national bandy league was started in Sweden in 1902.
An 1899 photo of two players demonstrating the game shows the sticks being held single-handed. One such stick, now in the Museum of Cambridge, has a length of rope twisted round the handle to rescue any player who might fall through the ice. However, at the time, the game was called "hockey on the ice", probably as it was considered an ice variant of field hockey.Īn early maker of Bandysticks was the firm of Gray's, Cambridge.
The match later dubbed "the original bandy match", was actually held in 1875 at The Crystal Palace in London. The same year, the National Bandy Association was established in England as a governing body for the sport. The first international match took place in 1891 between Bury Fen and the then Haarlemsche Hockey & Bandy Club from the Netherlands (a club which after a couple of club fusions now is named HC Bloemendaal). Members of the Bury Fen Bandy Club published rules of the game in 1882, and introduced it into other countries. Large expanses of ice would form on the flooded meadows or shallow washes in cold winters, and fen skating has been a tradition dating back to at least medieval times. īandy being played by women on the Peblinge Søen in Denmark - 1917Įnglish bandy developed as a winter sport in the Fens of East Anglia. However, compared with the seven Winter Olympic sports, bandy's popularity among other winter sports across the globe is considered by the International Olympic Committee to have a, "gap between popularity and participation and global audiences", which is a roadblock to future Olympic inclusion. The FIB has also stated that the sport ranks as the number two winter sport in terms of tickets sold per day of competitions at the men's world bandy championship. Bandy is also the predecessor of floorball, which was invented when people started playing with plastic bandy-shaped sticks and lightweight balls when running on the floors of indoor gym halls.Īccording to the Federation of International Bandy (FIB), based on the number of participating athletes, bandy is the world's second-most participated winter sport after ice hockey, but it is unclear how many are male participants and how many are female. Rink bandy has in turn led to the creation of the sport rinkball. Those rules were applied at Davos Cup in 2016. More informal varieties also exist, like seven-a-side bandy with normally sized goal cages but without corner strokes. Traditional eleven-a-side bandy and rink bandy are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Ī variant of bandy, rink bandy, is played to the same rules but on a field the size of an ice hockey rink, with ice hockey goal cages and with six players on each team, or five in USA Rink Bandy League.
Shouldering is allowed in checking situations and body contact therefore does occur, but body checking and fighting are illegal. It is played on ice like ice hockey, but like field hockey, players use bowed sticks and a small ball. Like football, the game is normally played in halves of 45 minutes each, there are eleven players on each team, and the bandy field is about the same size as a football pitch. The sport is considered a form of hockey and has a common background with association football, ice hockey and field hockey. This ball-sport is one of the fastest team sports on ice and also belongs to a small group of four ice skating team sports, irrespective of their associated variants, which now includes ice hockey, ringette, and rinkball. Bandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.