The Sweden Ringette Association, () sometimes abbreviated in English as the "SRA", is the national governing body for the sport of

ringette Ringette is a winter team sport played on an ice rink using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. While the sport was originally created exclusively for female c ...

in Sweden and was founded in 1994. The SRA is responsible for the promotion of ringette on a nationwide basis and organizes the country's elite national ringette competition, the Ringette Dam-SM, which was also established in 1994. In 2003, the SRA was elected as an associate member of the

Swedish Sports Confederation The Swedish Sports Confederation (, RF) is the umbrella organisation of the Sport in Sweden, Swedish sports movement founded in 1903. Through its member organisations, it has three million members in 22,000 clubs. Its present chair, since 2024, i ...

(, RF). Ringette was introduced to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in the 1980s. Before the SRA was established, members of the Sweden ringette community helped the country become a member of the

International Ringette Federation The International Ringette Federation (IRF) is a non-profit amateur sports organization and the highest governing body for the sport of ringette. Today the member countries of the IRF Board includes four member nations: Canada, Finland, Sweden, ...

in 1986, which at the time was known as the "World Ringette Council". The SRA is also responsible for scouting ringette talent in Sweden in order to create the Sweden national ringette team who then compete at the

World Ringette Championships The World Ringette Championships (WRC) is the premier international competition in ringette and is governed by the International Ringette Federation (IRF). Unlike most international competitions, all of the WRC's elite athletes are female rather ...

(WRC). The SRA organized the WRC in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. Historically, while Team Sweden Senior has competed regularly since the 1992 World Ringette Championships, Team Sweden Junior has only competed occasionally, making their first world appearance at the

2016 World Ringette Championships The 2016 World Ringette Championships (''2016 WRC'') was an international ringette tournament and the 11th (XI) World Ringette Championships. The tournament was organized by the International Ringette Federation (IRF) and was contested in Helsin ...

. Team Sweden senior now competes in the Senior Pool, while Team Sweden Junior competes in the Junior Pool.

History

Ringette was introduced to

in the 1980s. The first ringette club was Ulriksdals SK Ringette (USK Ringette) (), formed in 1980 in

Solna Solna ( or , ), also known as Solna Municipality, is a municipality in central Stockholm County, Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna i ...

, with most Swedish ringette associations located in the surrounding Mälardalen region. There are programs of

twin town A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

s between the Sweden Ringette Association and Canadian associations for the development of the sport within the Swedish population. In Sweden more than 6,000 girls are registered to play ringette each year.

Development

Semi-professional league

Ringette Dam-SM, Sweden's elite national ringette championships, were established in 1994, the same year the Swedish Ringette Association was formed. SM stands for, "Swedish Championship", (). Several junior teams and numerous amateur teams are connected with its 7 semi-pro clubs. The league groups together seven semi-professional women's clubs: * Ulriksdals SK Ringette (established in 1980) * Kista Hockey * IFK Salem * IK Huge * * Segeltorps IF * Sollentuna HC Ulriksdals SK Ringette also competed in the

Ringette World Club Championship The Ringette World Club Championship (RWCC) was an international ringette competition organized by the International Ringette Federation (IRF). It featured the top teams from Canada's National Ringette League (NRL), Finland's (now called "SM Ringe ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Turku, Finland Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

, finishing in sixth place.

National teams

The Sweden national ringette team, "Team Sweden", first competed at the second

Helsinki, Finland Helsinki () is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipality, with million in the capital region and ...

, from March 4 to 8, at the 1992 World Ringette Championships. The team now represents the nations elite senior level in the sport and has competed in every world championship since. A junior tournament did not exist until the

2009 World Junior Ringette Championships The 2009 World Junior Ringette Championships, (''2009 WJRC'') also known as the ''U19 2009 World Championships'', was an international ringette tournament and the first World Junior Ringette Championships organized by the International Ringette ...

, but the tournament then merged with the senior tournament in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. It wasn't until the

that Team Sweden Junior made its world debut. However, Team Sweden Junior does not compete internationally on a regular basis.

References

External links

{{Women's sports