Bandy Federation of England

Bandy Federation of England is the present governing body of the sport of bandy in England. It is based in Bury, Cambridgeshire.[1]

Although the Bandy Federation of England was just formed and joined the Federation of International Bandy in 2010, bandy has a proud history in England. England is seen as one of the sport's birthplaces, beside Russia (where a similar game developed simultaneously, but modern bandy is based more on the English rules). The first English governing body for bandy, the National Bandy Association, was founded in 1891.[2][3] The first rules were written down by Charles Goodman Tebbutt in 1882.[4]

The match which later has been dubbed the original bandy match, was a match held at The Crystal Palace in London in 1875. However, at the time, the game was called "hockey on the ice",[5] probably as it was considered an ice variant of field hockey. The first international match took place in 1891 between the English Bury Fen Bandy Club and Haarlemsche Hockey & Bandy Club (the present HC Bloemendaal) from the Netherlands. The same year, the National Bandy Association was started in England.[5] England national bandy team won the 1913 European Bandy Championships in Davos, Switzerland, where national teams from eight countries played.[6][7] Following the outbreak of the First World War, the interest for bandy vanished in England and the National Bandy Association was discontinued.

Almost a hundred years later, bandy was reintroduced to England. England now has both a men's national team and a women's national team, which hopefully will compete in the future World Championships.

References

  1. ↑ "Members". Federation of International Bandy. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Bandyhistoria 1875-1919". Swedish Bandy Association. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "About ABA/History". American Bandy Association. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  4. ↑ Helen Burchell (February 21, 2006). "A handy Bandy guide...". BBC. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Svenska Bandyförbundet, bandyhistoria 1875-1919
  6. ↑ "Bandy: A concise history of the extreme sport". Russia Beyond the Headlines. 14 February 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  7. ↑ Bandy World Map – England Retrieved 2 February 2014.