To put the Federation of International Bandy into the big perspective of bandy, we need to take you into a journey that started in a tomb that was built at Beni Hasan, the ancient Egyptian cemetery. It is located in the Nile Valley, approximately 20 kilometers south of the Minya City in the region known as Middle Egypt. The distance to Cairo up north is about 200 kilometers

Some traces and remains showing the existence of the ancestors of our players today are mainly to be found in Iran (ex-Persia), Egypt and Greece. As long as 2 000 B.C. the tomb was built at Beni Hasan. On the wall of this tomb there is a drawing picturing two players with sticks starting a game with a ball. The first historical signs of our sport are then carried on land and a long time would elapse before taking advance of the ice.

Also, the Greeks gave us evidence of our sport. A more recent fresco from about 500 B.C. shows six players in what is the same movement of starting a game. After that, it is remarkable, that the next known picture of a bent stick game does not appear until about year 1200 in the Canterbury Cathedral.

1891

THE MODERN FORM OF BANDY WAS CREATED IN ENGLAND

As organized sport, bandy first appeared in England. National Bandy Association was the first English governing body for the team winter sport of bandy, and actually the first bandy governing body anywhere in the world. The association was founded in 1891.

The first general rules were written down by Charles Goodman Tebbutt in Bury Fen Bandy Club in 1882 and by the corresponding body in USSR. The first international bandy match took place in 1891 between Bury Fen Bandy Club from England and the Haarlemsche Hockey & Bandy Club from the Netherlands. The Dutch club, which after a couple of club fusions, now is named HC Bloemendaal. Bloemendaal developed into an extremely successful club even in modern times.

Bandy was a popular sport in England until the first World War, and the England national bandy team won the 1913 European Bandy Championships, but then the English lost interest in the sport and the National Bandy Association was discontinued. Bandy got official status in Russia in 1898, in Norway 1903, in Sweden 1907, in Finland 1908 and started developing widely in Europe after that.

1908

THE LIGUE INTERNATIONAL DE HOCKEY SUR GLACE WAS FOUNDED

On 15 May 1908 at 34 Rue de Provence in Paris, France the organization was born. This was at a time when bandy and ice hockey were seen as variants of the same game. The founders of the federation were representatives from Belgium, France, Great Britain, Switzerland and Bohemia (now Czech Republic

 1910

THE NORTHERN BANDY UNION WAS FOUNDED

It is naturally that this process finished with successful foundation in 1910 of Northern Bandy Union including Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and Russia. Later joined Belgium, Italy, Holland, France, Switzerland and England.

1940

THE NORDIC COUNTRIES SET UP COMMON RULES

As ice hockey became an Olympic sport while bandy did not, bandy only survived in some of the Nordic countries and the Soviet Union. LIHG is now the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). In the 1940s, the Nordic countries Finland, Norway and Sweden set up a joint rules committee.

1952

BANDY DURING THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN OSLO

The background for the Winter Games in Oslo 1952 was quite peculiar. It was not an expressed wish from the various Norwegian winter sports federations to arrange these Games, but it was purely a political idea from the beginning and through to the final decision!

The idea came up during tragic circumstances in a Nazi-concentration camp called Sachsenhausen in Germany during World War II where several Norwegian politicians had been incarcerated because of their opposition to Nazi-Germany’s occupation of Norway.  Amongst them were a future Prime Minister of Norway, a future Deputy Mayor of Oslo, a future Cabinet member and an already known architect.

Right after the war ended in 1945 these people came back to Norway and almost immediately decided to try to get the Winter Olympics 1952 to Oslo and started to promote the idea in the political system. The 1948 Games was excluded for financial reasons after the war.  In August 1946 Oslo’s politicians decided to apply to the IOC to get the games in 1952.  The application was supported by Mr. Thomas Fearnley, then a Norwegian Board Member in IOC. As the story goes, the political process and the decision were without any real debates, but perhaps the most unusual part of it was that the application to the IOC was sent without much interest having been shown by the Norwegian winter sports’ federations.  And it was decided that, if Oslo got the Games, the architect from the Nazi-concentration camp’s idea sessions should get the job of designing the various arenas.  And so, it happened!

At the time the IOC required that a sport that wanted to participate in the Olympics had an international federation behind it. Bandy did not have that until the International Bandy Federation, IBF, was established in 1955. However, an international bandy rules committee was put together in 1949 by Sweden, Finland and Norway. An exception for not having a federation were a few bandy games in 1928 in the first Winter Spartakiade ever which took place in Oslo between socialist teams from Norway, Sweden and Soviet.

Oslo was awarded the Games

At the IOC Congress in Stockholm in 1947, the Organization for the 1952 Olympics was established under the chairmanship of Mr. Olaf Ditlev-Simonsen, who had replaced Mr. Fearnley as the Norwegian delegate to the IOC. Mr. Ditlev-Simonsen was amongst a lot of things, a former bandy player with several Norwegian championships and national team appearances in his CV. It is undoubtedly due to his efforts, possibly in good cooperation with the IOC’s Chairman Mr. Sigfrid Edström from Sweden, that bandy was elected to be a Demonstration Sport in the 1952 Olympics, for the first and so far, only time on senior level (later Youth Olympics 2016 Lillehammer/Gjøvik and Lausanne 2020).

The Games were opened on Friday, 15 February, 1952, at the then famous speed-skating arena Bislett by Mr. Ditlev-Simonsen and HRH Princess Ragnhild, a substitute for her grandfather King Haakon VII and her father Crown Prince Olav who were in London for the funeral of King George VI.

The bandy demonstration games were to be played in three games between Norway, Sweden and Finland. Soviet, which had at the time participated in some sporting events abroad, had been invited to participate in the bandy demonstration games, but did not for administrative reasons. An interesting explanation has come from a Russian historian, Sergey Shapovalov:

“Soviet athletes had been preparing for the Oslo Olympic Games because Stalin had made a political decision to firmly and clearly get out of sports isolation. The participation later in 1952 in the Summer Olympics in Helsinki confirms this. However, the Soviet sports officials forgot to apply for participation in the Oslo games in time. At that time, the Russians did not have any experience in protocol matters, but they took a lesson and did it in time for the Summer Games”.                                               

The Olympic Bandy Demonstration Tournament in 1952

Although not part of the ordinary Olympic Games, was listed in the official Olympic Program alongside the other events:

Norway met Finland in the first game on Wednesday 20 February at Dælenengen Arena in Oslo. In the middle of the day around 500 people attended, amongst them the IOC Vice chairman Mr. Avery Brundage. After 13 minutes Norway had scored 2 goals, and it took the Finns 35 minutes to hit the goal’s net. However, they followed up with an equalizer three minutes later and added a third goal in the second half to win 3-2.

 Norway met Sweden already the day after in the same arena. After that game the headline in the biggest Norwegian daily read “Norwegian bandy’s greatest day”, as they defeated the more famous Swedes 2-1. Norway’s first win in history over Sweden. 3000 people were in the audience, and with the Swedish Prince Bertil in one of the VIP-chairs. The spectators, among them many Swedes, asked themselves after the first half whether the Norwegians could keep up the good play in the second half.  They did!

 Sweden and Finland played on Saturday, 23 February, the last and decisive game of the Olympic Demonstration Bandy Tournament in Bislett Stadium in the city center, with around 1500 people in the stands. To win the tournament, the Swedes had to beat the Finns with at least two goals. Sweden scored four goals, Finland none.

 The bandy demonstration games got relatively good coverage in the newspapers, especially in the Oslo papers, although the competition for the newspapers’ space and the journalists’ time were of course tremendous from the ordinary Olympic events.  Anyway, the biggest Norwegian daily, Aftenposten, nominated an All Star Team after the games as follows:

1954

THE BREAKTHROUGH FOR MODERN INTERNATIONAL BANDY

In the early 1950s, the Soviet Union decided to break out of its isolation in international sport and started a friendly exchange with the Nordic countries. Previous futile efforts to get into contact with the Soviet bandy stimulated the head troika of the Swedish Bandy Association Gunnar Galin, Börje Tegfors and Lage Gadde to strike out new paths to gain a hearing from the Sports Committee in Moscow.

Gunnar Galin:
–We interested the Finnish Football Association which also administered the bandy sport in influencing through their soccer channels the plans for a meeting with the Russian Bandy Board.  John Gustafsson, the Finnish Secretary General, started lobbying the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki at the same time as Borje Tegfors, the Swedish Secretary, tackled the Soviet Embassy in Stockholm.

–Both reported that our views had been met with sympathy and we thought that we were in a fair way to get a bandy federation. After a visit to Finland John (Gustafsson) and I had agreed to arrange a meeting in Helsinki for this purpose. About at the same time the Soviet Union invited all the bandy nations‘ teams plus leaders to Moscow. The invitation was very generous, free train return tickets and free board and lodging. We were promised to get an opportunity of demonstrating our game and the Russians theirs at the Dynamo Stadium. The games were equal in many respects.

–At the small social gathering after the matches we were not surprised that the Russian chief delegate Juri Basjanov knew our rules in detail. He frankly declared that the Soviet Union was prepared to accept the Scandinavian game provided that a border was added to the rules. We thought that this was a modest request and accepted without any hesitation, concludes Gunnar Galin.

The leaders of these four nations then spoke of forming a Federation and a preparatory meeting was held in Helsinki on 4-5 September 1954. The idea to set up an international federation was proposed by Soviet but was considered too pretentiously by the rest of the delegates at this time. One pursued a wait-and-see policy.

At the following meeting the question of a federation was taken up again. Soviet persisted and Sweden, avoiding complicating the issue, voted for a federation. This was the prelude to establish the International Bandy Federation (IBF).

1955

FINALLY – THE BIRTH OF THE INTERNATIONAL BANDY FEDERATION!

The time was 10.20 on 12 February 1955 – The birth of the International Bandy Federation. The place was Hotel Malmen in Stockholm. Extracts from the minutes kept at the International Bandy Conference in Stockholm.

The conference delegates

Jens Raanaas, Eigil Sorlie and Kaare Nordby from The Norwegian Bandy Association. Leo Suurla, John Gustafsson, A. Ljungkvist and S. Salo from The Finnish Ball Association, Michail Kanunnikov, Juri Basjanov and Michail Koslov from the Soviet Union, Gunnar Galin and Borje Tegfors from the Swedish Bandy Association. Markus Aure, Finland, acted as an interpreter. Signatories for the founding document were L.I. Suurla, Finland, Jens Raanaas, Norway, Michail Kanunnikov, Soviet Union and Gunnar Galin, Sweden.

§ 4 The establishment of an International Bandy Federation

It was decided unanimously to establish an International Bandy Federation. The decision was confirmed by the chairman at 10.20. A document confirming this decision was to be signed on February 14, 1955.

§ 5 The name and the charter of the Federation

It was decided that the name of the new Federation would be The International Bandy Federation (IBF), translated to the respective language of the participating countries.

Gunnar Galin was elected to be the first President, and he chose his own Swedish Federation Secretary, Börje Tegfors, as Secretary. At the initial Congress, common rules were accepted and already at the Moscow tournament, the Russians insured that the Nordic countries gave approval to the boards on the sides of the ice that they had already adopted. And so, it was. At the same time, the Russians accepted the somewhat more flexible Swedish bandy sticks. When FIB was formed in 1955, it introduced the same rules for bandy all over the world, with minor differences in the various member nations.

Also, on the agenda stood a proposal to institute a Championship competition. And we are many bandy lovers that appreciate that proposal.

1957

THE FIRST WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT!

The first ever World Championship bandy match was played Thursday, 28 February 1957, at Helsinki Olympic Stadium. It was an encounter between historical antagonists Finland and Sweden, and it was a dramatic and uncertain battle. The Swedes held the lead twice in the half snow-covered arena, but the Finns succeeded in turning the ride for a 4-3 victory.

It began in an alarming fashion for Sweden with Finland taking a sudden 1-0 lead in the 3rd minute on a goal by Tauno Timoska. The opening ceremony had just concluded with the three parading teams and Björneborg dignataries marching ahead of the entry of President Urho Kekkonen.

After the three National flags were raised to the cop of the Olympic masts, play could begin. It was dreary and cold, but the intense play brought warmth. There were hard confrontations and even a little bloodshed. The Finnish opening goal was surprising, but the lead in the 28th minute, followed by an equalizer by Alpo Aho before Leif Fredblad put Sweden ahead 3-2 on a successful solo rush up the ice, despite persistent defensive attention. The referee had blown the whistle just before but still approved the goal.

Sweden held the half-time lead, but it was already tied again after only one minute had elapsed in the second half on a goal by Alpo Aho after the Swedish defense made a serious mistake. Finland scored the match-winning goal in the 14th minute, an unbelievable direct shot by Tauno Timoska. He was so overjoyed chat he threw his bandy stick 50 meters up into the air. The Russian referee hastened over and warned the Finn for his outbreak of emotion. But Timoska responded by hugging the referee and sharing his happiness.

The Finnish victory was a triumph for better skating ability, better shooting and greater intensity. This being what the Finns call “sisu.” It was hard and heated, and the control of the Finns was better. This was the first victory for Finland on home ice in 16 years against Sweden.

-Bandy played as it was here, was the worst I have been a part of, said a sore and aching Leif Fredblad.

RECORD ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC STADIUM

Following their loss to Finland, Sweden played a superb match against the Russians and should have won after the splendid play by goalkeeper Yngve Palmqvist. Sweden led both 1-0 after a goal by Gucko Jansson and 2-0 by Olle Saaw and thereafter had a shot striking me post by fullback Torvald Akerlof.

But then the Russians woke up with cannon shooting Papugin making the score 2-1 and brilliant Atamanytjev equalizing the score one minute before the end of the match on a free stroke with a missed hand save.

The Russians turned it up to full force in a dazzling final match where the Finns were totally outclassed. 6-1 final result. There was Finnish record attendance at Olympic Stadium with 14,369 paid, and they got to experience the most phenomenal bandy ever to behold. It was the Soviets first of 11 World Championship gold in a row.

1960

Photographer Georg Lundqvist at the right spot at the right time...

It happened on 3 January 1960 after 8 minutes in the first half in Svartbergsviken at lake Storsjön in Gästrikland, Sweden. Forsbacka IK met Köpings IS in the North 1st Division. Forsbacka got a corner, the Köping players lined up in their own goal cage – when suddenly the ice broke. Nine players from Köping and two from Forsbacka ended up in the cold water.

Spectators described it as a thunder when the ice cracked. Köping’s goalkeeper Karl-Gunnar Ståhle, sank with the entire goal cage over himself. He luckily got help and managed to get out of the icy water.

Many years after the accident the goalkeeper Karl-Gunnar Ståhle have said “I was lucky to survive. But I never panicked. Not even when I got stuck in the drop net inside the goal. I heard how Bissen Larsson, our centre-half, shouted: -Dive, KG! Dive! I was lucky to dive in the right direction. If I had dived in the other direction, I would have ended up under the ice”.

Photographer Lundqvist didn’t just get a couple of fantastic photos. He helped pull goalkeeper Ståhle out of the water as well. Goalkeeper Ståhle again: “- At the same time as he helped pull me up with his left fist, he took pictures with his right, and the pictures ended up in the American Life”.

The bandy match was replayed on 23 January. Forsbacka won, 6-1, and came fifth in the series. Köping came tenth and last. The swimming goal keeper Ståhle had a true comment “We were too good for second division – and too bad for first division”.

1974

THE WORLD CUP STARTED WITH “DAF-CUPEN” IN LJUSDAL

It started on a train in Märsta, north of Stockholm…

The goal was a first meeting with the Swedish Bandy Associations PR committee. Björn Swartswe was a newly elected member. On the trip from Hälsingland in the northern part to Stockholm, he felt he might have to have something to bring to his first meeting. As he looked out over the forests outside the train, he thought of an event in fiery-cross orienteering “Tiomila” that has become very popular in Sweden. The competition is ongoing during the weekend with most of the stages thru the nights. He remembered the well-known sports commentator Sven “Plex” Pettersson’s whispered live reports on the radio out in the forest. The competition is still a popular event. If you can organize orienteering in the middle of the night, you must be able to play bandy around the clock too! That was the things that was ongoing in the head of Mr. Swartswe on that train. The idea that became a long-term success was born in Björn’s head.

The idea came as a shock to several of the committee members in Stockholm and they probably considered the man from the north to be quite crazy. But Björn had formed ideas in the past that reshaped sports. Such as badminton, which developed from the school’s gymnasium into one of the biggest sports in the district. The first international competition north of the Dalälven was organized in Ljusdal. He touched field hockey as well, which gave Ljusdal bronze in the Swedish Champions League quite quickly. Björn was also team manager when Ljusdals BK became Swedish champions in bandy in 1975. As a player, he also won a gold with Edsbyn.

At that meeting in Stockholm, he managed to bring the committee along, of course. He selected a unique prize, a car, and the first tournament was named the DAF Cup. 16 teams participated and Sandvikens AIK won historic first tournament after a final victory against Brobergs IF on a penalty shootout.

Many doubted Björn’s idea of playing bandy at night. He was even crazier when he also applied for a patent on the event. He was of course rejected, but he won the attention and that was his only intention. As a profession, Björn had worked both at the Police and as a school counselor, so it was not surprising that he got a lot of ideas.

The unusual day and night tournament became a big event in Ljusdal for 25 years. But the climate and warmer autumns moved the event indoors in Sandviken 2009. And that is a later story and the decision to move the World Cup from Ljusdal has never been a decision that has been supported by Björn Swartswe. “We only had a few games that was cancelled due to bad ice, but all the happenings around the event will never be able to continue when you play indoors.” And he was right about that, it became another type of tournament without carousels, pole vaults and other activities for the audience.

For thousands of bandy lovers, players, coaches, media workers and officials the years in Ljusdal are memories for life.

1979

FIB IS OFFICIALLY BASED IN SWEDEN

FIB decides to officially have it’s base in Sweden and is therefore subject to Swedish law.

2001

THE REBIRTH OF THE FEDERATION OF INTERNATIONAL BANDY – FIB

The federation was named the International Bandy Federation (IBF) between 1957 and 2001. The current name was adopted at a request from the International Olympic Committee when the IOC made bandy a “recognized sport”, since the acronym IBF at the time was already in use by the International Badminton Federation. But at the congress in Budapest in 2001 the International Bandy Federation changed the name to Federation of International Bandy – FIB.

2006, the International Badminton Federation changed names to Badminton World Federation (BWF). In 2004, FIB was fully accepted by IOC. FIB is a member of Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations as well as Global Association of International Sports Federations.

2003

THE WOMEN’S WORLD CUP FOR CLUB TEAMS STARTS

The international bandy world develops a lot when in 2003 the Women’s World Cup started and the tournaments were in some way completed when World Championships for Men and Women and World Cup for Men and Women are finally organized.

2004

THE WOMEN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STARTED

The very first international championship for women! The tournament was decided in Lappeenranta (Villmanstrand), Finland. Five nations were represented in this historic tournament. The home nation Finland and Russia, Sweden, Norway and the USA.

Sweden was completely superior to the other nations, won all matches and what was even more impressive, the team did not concede a single goal in the entire tournament. Four wins and 28-0 in goal difference! Great!

2009

THE WORLD CUP MOVED TO SANDVIKEN AND THE NEW INDOORS ARENA

Due to warmer weather in the fall in Sweden it became difficult to have good conditions outdoors. That’s why the tournament moved to Göransson Arena in Sandviken, Sweden. It was arranged 15-18 October and was won by Hammarby IF, Sweden, who beat HK Zorkij, Russia 6-2 in the final game.

Sandviken was awarded the responsibility to organize the World Cup in 2009 and 2010. Through a collaboration between FIB, Ljusdal and Sandviken, a solution was found. The plan was to move the tournament back to Ljusdal after two years as Ljusdals BK hoped that an indoor arena would be built by then so that the tournament could move back. The relatively mild weather in Sweden in October has led the FIB to demand that the World Cup should be played indoors to guarantee good ice. And the bandyfans in Ljusdal still waits for that indoor arena…

2018

BANDY A LITTLE CLOSER TO THE OLYMPICS

The sport of bandy participated in the Chinese capital Beijing during the “Beijing Winter Expo” fair.  Beside the fair, the delegates from FIB participated in many meetings with decision makers in the Olympic Games in general and the Olympics in China 2022 in particular. The goal is to be included as additional sport in the future.

FIB was represented by President Boris Skrynnik, Secretary General Secretary Bo Nyman and Knut Sørensen,  FIB Olympic Committee. Knut is the man behind the great investigation of the position of bandy among all winter sports. Various criteria have been used to compare the sports, such as number of performers, audience sizes, etc. Bandy is ranked second next to ice hockey when all criteria are combined. An important ingredient at all meetings conducted in Beijing was therefore to present Knut Sørensen’s survey showing the breadth of bandy in relation to almost all other winter sports. For example, FIB had 27 member nations in 2018. The result was presented to the Organization Committee for Olympics 2022 and the China Olympic Committee among others. Bandy is well worth a place among the sports in the Olympic Games. Our delegation therefore held a number of meetings with the Olympic committees, China’s Political Sports Board and the Organization Committee for the Olympics in 2022. Bandy also showed up with a stand at the Beijing Winter Expo Fair. Among other things, visitors were able to watch bandy on a small flared ice surface with Chinese bandy players.

TWO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ALSO VISITED CHINA IN 2018

The 2018 women’s tournament was played in China for the first time, when it was hosted in Chengde. Also World Championship Men Group B was played in China 2018. The city of Harbin hosted that tournament. The men’s World Championship Group A was hosted in Russian city Khabarovsk.

2019

BANDY IN WINTER UNIVERSIADE IN KRASNOYARSK

When Krasnoyarsk 2019 organizers said, “Welcome to real winter” there was a meaning behind that motto. Situated in the heart of Siberia, it is a place with great snow, chilly temperatures, and deep sporting roots. The weather was favorable over the event’s 11 days, making for excellent competition.

As the capital of the Krasnoyarsk territory in Russia, the city was ideally suited to cement its position as a top-level winter sports venue. The city along the Yenisei River began its work to host the 2019 Winter Universiade when FISU attributed the event to Krasnoyarsk on 9 November 2013. Fitting the FISU motto of “today’s stars, tomorrow’s leaders,” Krasnoyarsk not only showed itself as a world sporting city, but also an academic hub with more than 120 thousand university students at nine institutions of higher education, including the State University of Siberia.

Krasnoyarsk was not new to the game of staging winter sports competitions having been a regular host to national competitions in alpine skiing, bandy, biathlon, snowboarding and freestyle skiing. For the first time as part of the Winter Universiade, bandy, known as “Russian hockey,” in the host country, appeared on the competition program. Russia’s gold medal in men’s bandy was but one of the 41 gold medals the country won in Krasnoyarsk. The Russians would go on to win 111 overall medals, pacing it well ahead of the Republic of Korea which finished second both in gold medals with six, and overall medals with 14.

Key Facts
68 Countries participating – 1,692 Athletes participating – 11 Sports

2024

THE NUMBER OF NATIONAL MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS INCREASING TO 28

The number of national member associations have grown considerably in the last decades. From 4 national members upon formation in 1955, to the 28 that are FIB National Member Associations 2024. Italy is member number 28 as elected at the Congress in June 2024 at Arlanda, Stockholm, Sweden.

NATIONAL MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS IN 5 CONTINENTS

AFRICA
Somalia

ASIA
Afghanistan, Armenia, India, China, Japan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

EUROPE
Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden and Ukraine.

NORTH AMERICA
Canada and USA

SOUTH AMERICA
Colombia

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   FIB PRESIDENTS THRU HISTORY

1955-1963 Gunnar Galin, Sweden
1963-1967 Allan Ljungqvist, Finland
1967-1971 Arne Argus, Sweden
1971-1978 Grigory Granaturov, USSR
1978-1983 Pontus Widén, Sweden
1983-1991 Grigory Granaturov, USSR
1991-1993 Carl Fogelberg, Finland
1993-1997 Staffan Söderlund, Sweden
1997-2005 Albert Pomortsev, Russia
2005-2006 Seppo Vaihela, Sweden
2006-2022 Boris Skrynnik, Russia
2022-2024 Stein Pedersen, Norway
2024-          Henrik Nilsson, Sweden

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FIB GENERAL SECRETARIES THRU HISTORY

From the formation of FIB in 1955, the title of the operative role in office was Secretary under the President. At the 1971 congress, the presidency was moved for the first time from Sweden to USSR. That led to the introduction of the title General Secretary.

1955-1963 Börje Tegfors, Sweden
1963-1967 John Gustafsson, Finland
1967-1971 Pontus Widén, Sweden
1971-1978 Victor Khotochkin, USSR
1978-1981 Walter Jagbrant, Sweden
1981-1989 Staffan Söderlund, Sweden
1989-1997 Arne Giving, Norway
1997-1999 Seppo Vaihela, Sweden
1999-2003 Arne Giving, Norway
2003-2006 Rolf Käck, Sweden
2006-2022 Bo Nyman, Sweden
2022-          Attila Adamfi, Hungary

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A DEAR CHILD HAS MANY NAMES

The sport’s Eng­lish name comes from the verb “to bandy”, “to strike back and forth”). It is  orig­i­nally re­ferred to a sev­en­teenth-cen­tury Irish game sim­i­lar to field hockey. The curved stick was also called a “bandy”. The et­y­mo­log­i­cal con­nec­tion to the sim­i­larly named Welsh hockey game of bando is not clear. An old name for bandy is hockey on the ice. In the first rule books from Eng­land, the sport is lit­er­ally called “bandy or hockey on the ice”. Since the early twen­ti­eth cen­tury, the term bandy is usu­ally pre­ferred to pre­vent con­fu­sion with ice hockey.

The sport is known as bandy in many lan­guages, with a few ex­cep­tions. In Rus­sia, bandy is called “Russ­ian hockey” or more fre­quently, and of­fi­cially, “hockey with a ball” while ice hockey is called “hockey with a puck” or more fre­quently just “hockey”.

If the con­text makes it clear that bandy is the sub­ject, it as well can be called just “hockey”. In Be­laru­sian, Ukrain­ian and Bul­gar­ian it is also called “hockey with a ball”. In Slo­vak “bandy hockey” is the name. In Ar­men­ian, Kazakhstan, Kyr­gyzstan, Mon­golia and Uzbekistan bandy is known as “ball hockey”. In Finnish the two sports are dis­tin­guished as “ice ball” and “ice puck”, as well as in Hun­gar­ian. Although in Hun­gar­ian it is more often called “bandy” nowa­days. In Es­ton­ian bandy is also called “ice ball”. In Man­darin Chi­nese it is “bandy ball”. In Scottish Gaelic the name is “ice shinty”. In old times shinty or shin­ney were also sometimes used in Eng­lish for bandy. Be­cause of its sim­i­lar­i­ties with as­so­ci­a­tion foot­ball, bandy is also nick­named “win­ter foot­ball”.