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Floorball is an indoors team sport played with plastic sticks where the aim is to put a light ball into the other team's goal. The game is most popular in Sweden, Finland and Switzerland, and is also played in several other countries, such as Norway and Czech Republic. It is gaining popularity in many other places as well, including some countries outside of Europe such as Singapore, Japan and Taiwan.
Floorball is played in a court by six players per side. The objective of the game is to score goals by playing a plastic ball into the opponent's goal net, which is placed at the opposite end of the rink. The players may control and redirect the ball using a stick with a blade that is often curved at one end. Players may not use any part of their bodies, save their feet, subject to further restrictions.
A floorball team consist of 5 field players and one goalkeeper, whose primary job is to stop the ball from entering the net, and who is permitted unique gear towards that end. The goalkeeper is not permitted a stick. The playing field is 40 x 20 metres and enclosed by a board with rounded corners (50 cm tall). The goal cages are 160 x 115 cm and 65 cm deep. The sticks are made of plastic or carbon and a bit over 1 metre long. The shaft is no longer than 95 cm and a blade of a different kind of plastic is attached to its end. The ball is made of plastic, is 72 mm in diameter, has a maximum weight of 23 grams, and has 26 holes in it.
A world championship tournament is played every two years. The current reigning world champions are Switzerland (women, 2005) and Sweden (men, 2004) (Floorball World Championships).
The game
The dimensions of a floorball rink
Floorball as a game comes from northern Europe. It is similar to Bandy, a kind of sport considered the predecessor of ice hockey. Floorball is sometimes likened to ice hockey without the ice skates, but there are considerable differences in the rules. In Switzerland, floorball is commonly considered to be a kind of hockey.
Floorball is a fast and dynamic sport with much of the time played near the goals. The mixture of endurance, power and precision make floorball a popular game in schools.
In Switzerland floorball is not only played on the original rink, but also on a smaller court measuring 24 x 14 m. In the smaller court a team consists of three field players and one goalie. The rules do not differ, with some adjustions for the smaller rink. In the initial years of floorball, the goalkeeper was permitted to use a special kind of stick, but today no stick is used.
On the original field, the game is played by five field players and one goalie on each side. The team consists of a larger number of players which can be substituted at any time. A floorball game is usually played over 3 periods of 20 minutes. Time is stopped in the case of time penalties, goals and timeouts. There is a break of ten minutes between the thirds. If the game is part of a tournament, the time is shortened to 2 x 20 minutes and the break to 5 minutes. In both cases, the last three minutes the clock is only running when the balls is in play. Each team is allowed a timeout of 30 seconds. There are two referees in charge of each game, both of which have the same authority.
A floorball. This is a precision type ball, characterized by 1516 tiny dimples that reduce air resistance, as well as friction on the floor.
The stick used in floorball is exactly regulated. The shaft may be at most 95 cm long, and the whole stick must not weigh more than 350 grams. Its material is plastic and it is hollow. Generally lighter sticks are preferred. The ball is made of white plastic and hollow. It has a diameter of 72 mm and weighs between 20 and 23 grams. There are 26 holes, each of which measuring 11 mm. The goals are 160 cm wide and 115 cm high; their depth is 65 cm.
The goalie wears special equipment. His trousers are long and padded. The shirt is padded and might be long. The goalie is allowed to wear gloves (though not commonly used), but a mitt is not permitted. The goalie wears a helmet to protect his face. All the equipment worn by the goalie has the purpose to protect the goalkeeper and must not augment the area as covered by the goalie without the protective wear. The goalie does not have a stick. The field players on the other hand only wear shorts, a shirt, socks and indoor sport shoes. They are allowed shin guards.
Compared to ice hockey floorball does not permit the use of the body as much. No checks are allowed, nor is pushing, blocking etc. Such rules help a dynamic game which emphasizes tactics.
A free hit is the standard position after a foul. There are time penalties of two and five minutes for harder fouls; ten minutes are reserved for unsportsmanlike behaviour. For extreme cases there are match penalties (red card).
History
There are a great number of people that think they have invented floorball. It is commonly considered that the roots of floorball go back to the 1950s in the USA. At the time young people played indoors with plastic sticks and a plastic puck. The game was called floor hockey and the first tournament was organized in 1976 in Michigan.
When floor hockey reached Europe the puck was soon dropped in favour of a light plastic ball. The new sport with the name floorball was first played in Sweden in the early 1970s. It soon gained popularity at schools and in leisure clubs. At that time, the goals were much smaller, but there was no goal keeper.
Floorball soon caught on and in the late 1970s the sport spread across Europe. In the early 1980s many national associations were founded. This created the structures that enabled the young sport to grow faster. At the time of writing (2004) only four countries dominate the international game: Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Czech Republic. The gap to other countries, however, is narrowing year by year.
National associations
The following list shows the year in which a national association was founded.
- 1981 Sweden
- 1983 Japan
- 1985 Finland and Switzerland
- 1986 the International Floorball Federation (IFF) was founded
- 1989 Denmark, and Hungary
- 1991 Norway
- 1992 Russia, Czech Republic, and Germany
- 1993 USA, Estonia, and Latvia
- 1995 Poland, Belgium, Singapore, and Great Britain
- 1996 Austria and Australia
- 1999 Netherlands, Brazil, Slovakia
- 2001 Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Canada, and New Zealand
- 2002 Malaysia, India, and Georgia
- 2003 France
- 2004 Pakistan
- 2005 Korea, Ukraine, Liechtenstein, and Iceland
The International Federation
The International Floorball Federation (IFF) was founded in 1986 in Sweden. Founding nations were Sweden, Finland and Switzerland. In 1994 the first European championship for men took place in Zurich. The following year the first European championship for women was organized. The first world championship for men took place in 1996 in Sweden. The following year the first world championship for women was organized. Since then the world championships for men and women take place in alternating years. As of 2005 there are 36 member countries in the IFF, with over 3,900 clubs and 230,000 registerd players. There is organized floorball in some countries that are not IFF members.
The IFF gained full membership of the GAISF (General Association of International Sports Federations) in 2004. Every year the European Cup is organized. World Championships take place every other year, with even years for men, and odd years for women.
Championships
World championships are played in alternate years
Women's world champions
Men's world champions
- 1996 — Sweden, held in Sweden
- 1998 — Sweden, held in the Czech Republic
- 2000 — Sweden, held in Norway
- 2002 — Sweden, held in Finland
- 2004 — Sweden, held in Switzerland
European championship
Before playing world championships, the European champtionship was held twice. In 1994 Sweden's men were crowned Euopean champions in Finland; in 1995 Finland's men and Sweden's women were victorious in Switzerland.
European Cup
The European Cup is organized every year in order to establish the best team in Europe. The championship was adjusted to the sports year which runs across two calendar years in 2000.
The women's champions so far:
- 1993 VK Rasket, Sweden (held in Helsinki, Finland)
- 1994 Sjöstad IF, Sweden (held in Chur, Switzerland)
- 1995 Sjöstad IF, Sweden (held in Karlstad, Sweden)
- 1996 Högdalens AIS, Sweden (held in Stockholm, Sweden)
- 1997 Högdalens AIS, Sweden (held in Stockholm, Sweden)
- 1998 Högdalens AIS, Sweden (held in Helsinki & Vantaa, Finland)
- 1999 Tapanilan Erä, Finland (held in Bern & Winterthur, Switzerland)
- 2000-2001 Balrog IK, Sweden (held in Gothenburg, Sweden)
- 2001-2002 Balrog IK, Sweden (held in [[Botkyrka & Solna, Sweden)
- 2002-2003 Balrog IK, Sweden (held in [[Prague & Liberec, Czech Republic)
- 2003-2004 SC Classic, Finland (held in Weissenfels, Merseburg & Hohenmölsen, Germany)
- 2004-2005 Red Ants Rychenberg, Switzerland (held in Zurich & Adliswil, Switzerland)
The men's champions so far:
- 1993 Balrog IK, Sweden (held in Stockholm, Sweden)
- 1994 Balrog IK, Sweden (held in Chur, Switzerland)
- 1995 Kista IBK, Sweden (held in Karlstad, Sweden)
- 1996 Balrog IK, Sweden (held in Stockholm, Sweden)
- 1997 Fornudden IB, Sweden (held in Stockholm, Sweden)
- 1998 Warbergs IC-85, Sweden (held in Helsinki, Finland)
- 1999 Warbergs IC-85, Sweden (held in Bern, [[Sarnen & [[Zuchwil, Switzerland)
- 2000-2001 Helsingfors IFK, Finland (held in Gothenburg, Sweden)
- 2001-2002 Haninge IBK, Sweden (held in Solna & Botkyrka, Sweden)
- 2002-2003 Haninge IBK, Sweden (held in Prague, Czech Republic)
- 2003-2004 Pixbo Wallenstam IBK, Sweden (held in Weissenfels, Hohenmölsen, Germany)
- 2004-2005 SV Wiler-Ersigen, Switzerland (held in Zurich & Adliswil, Switzerland)
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