Bandy and Ice Hockey in Norway (1888-1940)

This article details the origins and development of bandy and ice hockey in Norway between 1888 and 1940.

History
It is uncertain when bandy was played the first time in Norway. In 1888, the Christiania Football Club ordered hockey equipment from England and the game was played at Frognerkilen, but the sport soon fizzled. Tireless English bandy propagator Charles Tebbutt visited Norway during the winter of 1891-92, and tried to explain the game to the locals. He also sent some new bandy sticks to Norway. These efforts were mostly unsuccessful.

Some British played bandy games in Norway during the late 1980s, but the game only started to catch on in 1903, when matches were arranged in Christiania (today Oslo). It was during the Winter Sports Week and four Swedish teams participated - Uppsalastudenterna, Stockholms Ishockeyklubb, Göteborgs Idrottsförbund and Sjökadetterna. Among the participants were found later Kung Gustav VI and his brother Prince Wilhelm.

There were many spectators at these games, and sport aroused interest. The Kristiania Hockeyklubb was founded in 1903 as a result of exhibition tournament. Later the Akademisk Fotballklub and Skøiteklubben also created hockey programs.

In the early years, until 1907, the games were-played 11-aside. The equipment used by the various clubs varied. Some clubs used curved bandy sticks, while others had shape much like today's hockey sticks.

In 1907, two Norwegian teams faced the St. Petersburg Eislaufverein. Kristiania Hockeyklubb lost 10-2 while Christiania Skøiteklubb went down 12-0. In 1909, Leipziger SC played a three-game series against Norwegian clubs. Christiania Skøiteklub lost 17-1, Kristiania Hockeyklubb was defeated 20-4 and a combined team went down 13-2.

In 1911 the Norges Fotballforbund (the national football federation) decided to take over governance of bandy. The NFF stuff appointed a committee headed by Niels C. Hertzberg, who were joined by Halfdan Ditlev-Simonsen and Kristian Krefting. These three, who were all avid bandy followers, went wholeheartedly into developing the sport. Clubs were created in Trondheim, Arendal and Skien, and the first Norwegian Bandy Championship was staged in 1912. It was played under the Berliner Eishockey-Verband's rules. In the following years some used a mixture of these and the Nordic rules were used.

The Norges Bandyforbund was founded on October 17, 1920. Nine teams participated in the foundation: Drafn, Drammens IF, Frigg, Hasle, Kjapp-Rjukan, Mercantile, Rapp-Trondheim, Ready, and Trygg. It was called the Norges Ishockeyforbund until 1929, when the sport of "Canadian" ice hockey made its first inroads into Norway, and it was renamed the Bandyforbund.

Seven-aside bandy was played in Norway until 1929, when the 11-aside game was formally adopted. The sport was also consistently referred to as "bandy" for the first time. Up to this point, it had simply been called "ishockey". A bandy elite league (Elitelagene) was formed in lieu of the knockout championship in 1933.

The first ice games in Norway were played in 1930 and the first official game took place between SFK Trygg and Sportsklubben Rapp (4-1) on February 19, 1933. Many of the early ice hockey players had previously played bandy. The Norwegian Ice Hockey Association was founded on September 16, 1934, and the country joined the IIHF on January 20, 1935. The first ice hockey championship was also staged in 1934-35.

However, bandy still had a strong foothold in Norway, and it wasn't until after World War II that ice hockey reached the same level of popularity, especially in the countryside. Clandestine bandy championships were even staged in secluded forests during the German occupation of Norway.

Along with Russia and fellow Nordic countries Finland and Sweden, Norway is still one of the most avid bandy-playing countries, although the sport now pales in comparison to ice hockey in terms of popularity. The Norwegian Bandy Premier League is contested annually and the national bandy teams has competed in the World Bandy Championships since 1957.