Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

sized

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

s. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pitch, rink bandy is played on

ice hockey rink An ice hockey rink is an ice rink that is specifically designed for ice hockey, a competitive team sport. Alternatively it is used for other sports such as broomball, ringette, rinkball, and rink bandy. It is a rectangle with rounded corners a ...

s. Rink bandy originated in Sweden in the 1960s and was originally called ''hockeybockey''. With the arrival of indoor

arenas, it was a way for

players to practice on ice for a longer time of the year by making use of the new indoor facilities. Due to the fact that bandy fields are much larger than ice hockey rinks, playing surfaces for bandy were still only made outdoors in the wintertime when artificial freezing was unnecessary. The game of rink bandy uses a bandy ball and bandy sticks. The goalkeeper has no stick. A rink bandy game lasts 60 minutes but is composed of either two 30 minute halves or three 20 minute periods. Similar rules to bandy are used, but they are simplified to increase the pace of the game. Checking is prohibited, making the sport relatively safer than its relatives. Because of the smaller playing area used in rink bandy compared to its larger parent sport, there are fewer players, normally six a side. In America, the

USA Rink Bandy League Bandy in the United States is played mostly in Minnesota. Bandy is a team sport played on ice. The United States national bandy team has taken part in the Bandy World Championships since the 1985 tournament. It also plays friendlies against Can ...

, uses five players instead of the usual six because of the smaller ice hockey rinks in the USA.

Organization

Rink bandy is governed by the Federation of International Bandy. In its quest to have bandy accepted into the programme of the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

, rink bandy is an important way for the Federation of International Bandy to gain more members, thus also spreading bandy, since many countries which lack a full-size field and where the game is still new, only play rink bandy at home but still participate in the

Bandy World Championship The Bandy World Championship is a competition between bandy-playing nations' men's teams. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Bandy. It is distinct from the Bandy World Cup, a club competition, and from the Wom ...

. As artificially frozen and indoor bandy arenas have become more prevalent, the interest for rink bandy has dwindled in the main bandy-playing nations (Russia, Sweden, Finland, Norway). There are still several rink bandy tournaments in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, including the Patriarch Cup () for children at

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

's Red Square. A world cup for rink bandy clubs was held every year from 1984-1998 in Hofors, Sweden, and called

Hofors World Cup Hofors () is a locality and the seat of Hofors Municipality, Gävleborg County, Sweden with 6,681 inhabitants in 2010. Districts *Born *Böle *Bönhusberget *Centrum *Göklund *Hammaren *Lillån *Muntebo *Rönningen *Silverdal ...

. Rink bandy was included in the programme of the 2012 European Company Sports Games and a European championship existed, though there is currently no top-level international competition. However, in 2017 the Federation of International Bandy decided to hold an international tournament for developing bandy countries in Nymburk,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

and an international rink bandy club competition called Dniprobandy has been organised by the Ukrainian Bandy and Rink bandy Federation. In Germany, the national bandy championship is played under rink bandy rules.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rink Bandy Bandy Ice skating sports Team sports Ice rinks Ball games Variations of hockey Sports originating in Sweden Variations of ice hockey

Organization

See also

References

External links