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The International Hockey Journal Passion and Purity: The Story of Inter-War European Hockey Hockey in Europe developed rapidly and experienced tremendous growth during the Inter-War (1918-1939) era, becoming a popular winter pastime for individuals of all backgrounds. During the early 19th century, prior to World War I, ice hockey in Europe was predominantly an upper-class sport. Gustave Lanctot of the Oxford Canadians described European hockey of the pre-war era as a "sport of nobles at which spectators wore full evening dress and dined sumptuously at candlelit, rink-side tables; the referees wore black tie and smoking jackets", concluding that it was "certainly not a people's game" in the continent. After the war, Europe was in shambles, and hockey was mostly an afterthought until the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. Germany was banned from international play until 1926, and the hockey infrastructure in Great Britain had been eviscerated, with very little activity taking place in the country during the first half of the decade. Pre-war stalwarts Belgium, Czechoslovakia (formerly Bohemia), France, and Switzerland remained relevant, and were joined by a new European power - Sweden. The Swedes had played bandy until being introduced to hockey with a puck by American film director Raoul Le Mat in 1920. They quickly picked up the new sport and won European gold in 1921. North Americans had significant influence on the development of European hockey during the 1920s. Blake Watson both played and coached in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Czechoslovakia, and his playing style was emulated by many of the continent's rising stars. The Canadian senior teams who toured Europe and played in the World Championships and Olympics also helped popularize the sport and provided the Europeans with valuable knowledge, although they were often criticized for rough play - the European game was more graceful and skilled than violent. By the end of the decade, hockey had also spread to Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the Netherlands. It was also played briefly in Spain, starting in 1923, but soon fizzled. The hockey "boom" started in earnest around 1930, as numerous clubs began springing up across Europe and interest in the sport skyrocketed. Most hockey teams were part of a multi-sport club, which featured numerous different sections, or in some cases, a more specialized "winter sports club". Many players competed in multiple sports with their club. Numerous regional domestic competitions were played throughout the continent, especially in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, and Poland. The championships were divided by city, region, and even ethnicity - there was an ethnic German competition staged in Czechoslovakia. The teams playing in these championships all had the opportunity to advance and compete in the national championship, provided they win the regional title. In the days of closed professional leagues with fixed numbers of teams, it is a very romantic notion to envision players taking to the ice across Europe, harboring dreams of advancing to compete for national glory. Hockey in Inter-War Europe was almost entirely an amateur sport, with most players having to earn a living outside of hockey. However, this was not the case in Great Britain, where numerous large arenas opened and teams were stocked with professional players, many of whom were Canadian. The English National League was formed as a professional competition in 1935, and the Scottish National League, which had once been a fully-amateur Glasgow-based competition, soon followed suit. Britain rode a roster stocked with Canadian-trained players to a 1936 Olympic title. There were few indoor rinks in Europe during this time period, with most games being played outside on artificial (specifically designed for skating) rinks. This left the sport at the mercy of the weather in most places. The seasons were short and generally began in December, with domestic competitions commencing in earnest in January. There were numerous tournaments played over the Christmas holidays, including the famous Spengler and Tatra Cups, which are still contested to this day. The Olympics and World Championships were staged in February, with the hockey season winding down by March. A very mild winter in 1936 significantly disrupted play throughout the continent. Aside from Britain's plethora of indoor facilities, there were several in Belgium, as well as the Berliner Sportpalast in Germany, Lindarängen Isladen in Sweden, and the Palazzo del Ghiaccio in Italy. The cavernous Vélodrome d'Hiver opened in Paris in 1931, a crucial development in Inter-War French hockey; prior to then the main source of ice was outdoors in Chamonix, perched high atop the Alps. |
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