Indoor field hockey is an indoor variant of "traditional" outdoor field hockey. It is not to be confused with other indoor hockey variants such as rink hockey or floorball.
Indoor field hockey is commonly called indoor hockey in the countries where rink hockey is not played. It is traditionally and mainly played as a pastime by outdoor field hockey players during the off-season, when the outdoor pitches are frozen, or alternatively conditions are too hot for outdoor play. Indoor field hockey is played in regular national and international championships. The first Indoor Field Hockey World Cup was organized in 2003. It included countries which do not compete at the highest level of the outdoor game.
Indoor field hockey differs from its outdoor parent in several ways:
The small field and sideboards make indoor field hockey a quick, technical and physical game. Some of the original rules eventually influenced outdoor hockey, such as unrestricted substitution. It is often an ideal game for field hockey players to develop vision on and off the ball, developing a better understanding of tactics and set plays.
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Indoor hockey developed in Germany during the 1950s, quickly spreading to other European nations. Belgium was one of the countries to adopt the field hockey variant, and in 1966 Rene Frank, a native of Belgium, who was later to become President of the FIH, persuaded the German Hockey Associations to give responsibility over the rules of Indoor Hockey to the FIH. This led to the FIH recognising indoor hockey in its constitution in 1968.[1]
Whereas in many countries field hockey is played all year long, in Germany and Austria the hockey season is divided evenly into a field hockey half in summer and an indoor hockey season in Winter. There has been criticism that this impairs these countries' chances in international field hockey competition, but on the other hand the north European climate favours indoor hockey in Winter, as outdoor pitches may be unplayable due to snow and ice. In Germany's case one could argue that it complements and enhances skills of their players with the German Women winning gold in Athens Olympics and German Men winning the 2006 Field Hockey World Cup, the 2007 indoor hockey world cup and gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In Germany indoor hockey is quite popular with many players, as due to the smaller fields and the use of side-boards the game-play is much faster. It is also both technically and physically very demanding.
The first FIH sanctioned tournament matches of Indoor Hockey were played in 1972.
The first Indoor World Cup was held in Leipzig, Germany in 2003, where the home nation won both the men's and women's gold medals. Eurosports television ratings for the recent Indoor Hockey World Cup, held in Leipzig, Germany, have shown the event to garner large audiences. A total of 20 million viewers watched 13 hours broadcast on Eurosport, with ten matches aired live. Peak viewing audience reached 889,000 viewers during the opening Poland vs.USA match, with the average live viewing figure for the whole tournament at 601,000. Germany and Poland, Eurosport’s two strongest markets, showed particular interest, with more than 4 million different viewers tuning in from Germany, and more than 1.5 million watching from Poland. The average audience, calculated across several of Eurosport’s key territories, showed a strong bias towards young males according to Eurosport’s research. Arnaud Simon, Eurosport's Program Director commented: 'The first Indoor World Cup was a very exciting event, well suited for television and with good production standards. These characteristics were rewarded with very strong ratings, particularly considering that many of the matches were aired at off-peak viewing times.'
Els van Breda Vriesman, the President of the International Hockey Federation, added: 'The figures speak for themselves, proving not only that hockey has mass appeal on television, but also that the target audience presents a very attractive commercial proposition for potential sponsors and advertisers.'
Germany defended their titles in Vienna, Austria in February 2007. The German men were successful, although the women were beaten in the semi-final by Spain, who went on to lose the final against the Netherlands.
The European championship, both men's and women's, was first held in 1974.
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