page_title: Bandy
section_title: Countries
hierarchical_section_title: Bandy / Countries
caption_attribution_description: Norwegian national bandy championship final of 1947 between Frigg Oslo FK and Mjøndalen IF at Bislett in Oslo, Norway
context_page_description: Bandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.
  The sport is considered a form of hockey and has a common background with ice hockey and field hockey. Bandy has also been influenced by the rules of association football: both games are normally played in halves of 45 minutes, there are 11 players on each team, and the fields in both games are about the same size. Bandy is played, like ice hockey, on ice but players use bowed sticks and a small ball, as in field hockey.
  A 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. Traditional eleven-a-side bandy and rink bandy are recognized by the International Olympic Committee. More informal varieties also exist, like seven-a-side bandy with normally sized goal cages but without corner strokes. Those rules were applied at Davos Cup in 2016.
  Rink bandy has in turn led to the creation of the sport rinkball.
context_section_description: China
  The China Bandy Federation was set up in 2014 and China has since then participated in a number of world championship tournaments, with men's, women's and youth teams. China Bandy is mainly financed by private resources. The development of the sport in China is supported by the Harbin Sport University.
  England
  The first recorded games of bandy on ice took place in The Fens during the great frost of 1813–1814, although it is probable that the game had been played there in the previous century. Bury Fen Bandy Club from Bluntisham-cum-Earith, near St Ives, was the most successful team, remaining unbeaten until the winter of 1890–1891. Charles G Tebbutt of the Bury Fen bandy club was responsible for the first published rules of bandy in 1882, and also for introducing the game into the Netherlands and Sweden, as well as elsewhere in England where it became popular with cricket, rowing and hockey clubs. Tebbutt's home-made bandy stick can be seen in the Norris Museum in St Ives.
  The first Ice Hockey Varsity Matches between Oxford University and Cambridge University were played to bandy rules, even if it was called hockey on ice at the time.
  England won the European Bandy Championships in 1913, but that turned out to be the grand finale, and bandy is now virtually unknown in England. In March 2004, Norwegian ex-player Edgar Malman invited two big clubs to play a rink bandy exhibition game in Streatham, London. Russian
  Champions and World Cup Winner Vodnik met Swedish Champions Edsbyns IF in a match that ended 10–10. In 2010 England became a Federation of International Bandy member. The federation is based in Cambridgeshire, the historical heartland.
  The England Bandy Federation, now the Great Britain Bandy Federation, was set up on 2 January 2017 at a meeting held in the historic old skaters public house, the Lamb and Flag in Welney in Norfolk, England, replacing the Bandy Federation of England which was founded in 2010. President is Rev Lyn Gibb-de Swarte of Littleport and past resident of Streatham in south west London, where she was chair of the Streatham ice speed club, ice hockey club and of the association of ice clubs. Vice Presidents; Simon Seager and Les Mead. Chair is Andrew Hutchinson. Treasurer is Tammy Nichol Twallin . General Secretary, Fixtures and Minutes Secretary, Cathy Gibb-de Swarte. Participation Officer, Anders Gidrup. Recruitment UK is Oscar Gillingham Aukner. They are all busy promoting the sport for all and will be instituting rink bandy around the country. The president is the project director of the Littleport Ice Stadium Project and plans are already drawn for a 400 metres indoor speed skating oval and an inner ice pad 100 × 60 metres bandy pitch. In September 2017, the federation decided to widen its territory to all of the United Kingdom and changed its name to Great Britain Bandy Federation. Great Britain entered a national team in the 2019 World Championships Group B in January and undefeated up to the final, won the silver medal in their final match against Estonia.
  Estonia
  Bandy was played in Estonia in the 1910s to 1930s and the country had a national championship for some years. The national team played friendlies against Finland in the 1920s and '30s. The sport was played sporadically during Soviet occupation 1944–1991. It has since then become more organised again, partly through exchange with Finnish clubs and enthusiasts. As of 2018, Estonia takes part in both the men's and the Women's Bandy World Championship.
  Finland
  Bandy was introduced to Finland from Russia in the 1890s. Finland has been playing bandy friendlies against Sweden and Estonia since its independence in 1917.
  The first Finnish national championships were held in 1908 and was the first national Finnish championship held in any team sport. National champions have been named every year except for three years in the first half of the 20th Century when Finland was at war. The top national league is called Bandyliiga and is semi-professional. The best players often go fully professional by being recruited by clubs in Swede
caption: Mjøndalen IF beating Frigg Oslo 3–1 in the national bandy final of 1947
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