Early Russian Bandy and Ice Hockey

This page details the early developments of bandy and ice hockey in Russia.

History

Legend has it that medieval Russian monks played a sport somewhat akin to bandy. As the rivers next to their monasteries froze, they supposedly ventured onto the ice with sticks and a ball. It is said that bandy later became popular among the Russian nobility in early 1700s, with the royal court of Peter the Great playing "hockey in skates' on the frozen-over Neva River in Saint Petersburg.^[1] Peter himself was also said to be a great enthusiast of the game.^[2] The Russians supposedly utilized sticks made out of juniper wood.^[3]

Later on Czar Alexander was especially fond of bandy/hockey. Influenced by the British he did play the game with sticks and rubber balls in the 1860s. Soon after British entrepreneurs brought bandy with them to Moscow and St. Petersburg. It was a noble game and the entire Royal family were aficionados when it came to skating and bandy. The first public skating rink opened in 1865 at the Yusupov Garden, serving as the home of the first St. Petersburg Skating Club. Bandy games were played on the rink until one of the noble men nearly lost an eye during a game, and the activities were subsequently banned for over 25 years. The Royalties played at the Winter Palace grounds, located between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square.

Although Czar Alexander's son Nicholas II was also a keen bandy enthusiast, it wasn't until the late 1890s that the game was introduced to a wider audience. Soon St. Petersburg emerged as a hot spot for "bandy hockey". They had frequent exchanges with Vyborg (Finland) and other countries. The first game played using official rules was on March 8, 1898 between local St. Petersburg men. They played seven aside, "Black team" against the "White team". It is said that they played nine period like games. The black team won five "games" and the white four. A year later, both the world figure skating champion (Lebedev) and the World speed-skating champion (Pashin) were part of a team that played a game against Scottish cotton mill workers (in St. Petersburg). On March 21, 1899, the Vyborg Sport Club defeated St. Petersburg Eislaufverein 5-4.

The Eislaufverein team of St. Petersburg was one of the best in Europe at the time. They were great skaters. Unfortunately many of the players were killed in the revolution later on. By 1900 there were eight active clubs in St. Petersburg, playing friendly matches against one another. In 1902 the first team was established in Moscow .

In 1903 there was a tournament played in St. Petersburg in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the city, which was attended by St. Petersburg's "Yusupov Garden" (the winner in this competition) and "Sport", as well as Moscow's "British sports club." The first St. Petersburg city championship was played in 1905 and the St. Petersburg Hockey League was established a year later.

In 1907 "Yusupov Garden" made its first full international tour, playing on the road against teams from Sweden, Norway and Germany , and in the course of this tour, took part in the first international tournament attended by a Russian team: beating in Stockholm with a score of 7: 3 "Officers Club" and with the score 4: 2 command "IFC" and bringing in a draw (4: 4) game with the club "Uppsala", "Yusupov Garden" won the King of Sweden Cup.

By 1908, there were already more than a dozen hockey teams in Moscow. Regular tournaments were contested between the teams in in Moscow and St. Petersburg (Petrograd, Leningrad), which continued intermittently until 1941 (the last game was played Jan. 22, 1941) began the same year: up to 1923 the twice-a-year games were dominated by St. Petersburg (Petrograd), in the period from 1923 to 1931 games were held with varying degrees of success, and in 1931 the Moscow team won all the games.

In 1910 the cities of St. Petersburg and Helsingfors (Helsinki) behalf of the Russian Empire participated, together with Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany, participated in the creation of the "Northern Alliance Bandy Federation".

A year later, the St. Petersburg Hockey League on behalf of Russia joined the IIHF (founded in 1908), which was responsible for governing the sport known as "ice hockey" or "Canadian hockey." The game with a puck did not catch on Russia and the country later withdrew rom the federation.

In 1912 the Moscow Hockey League was established and the same year regular championships began in Moscow. "SCS" - "Sokolniki Sports Club" dominated the early years of the competition.

In February 1914 the Russian Hockey Union, which united 34 clubs from 6 cities, was established. By this time there were leagues in place in Riga and Revel (Tallinn). Tournaments were held in Novgorod and Vladivostok ("AI Egon Cup"). In 1915, the first women's tournament was held in Russia. It was also decided to hold the first All-Russian Championship in the 1914-15, at however these plans were interrupted by World War I.

Official regional tournaments were not held in those days. Clubs from the suburbs of Moscow and Petrograd were admitted to the city tournament in both capitals. Representatives of the neighboring provinces of Moscow met regularly with the Muscovites and Novgorodians and repeatedly played with the Petrograders. In January 1917, there was a friendly match teams between teams from Kazan and Samara. Little is known about the competitions played during the Civil War. Only the magazine "Russian sport" reported matches in Petrograd (1918), Moscow and Saratov (1919).

The first RSFSR Championship was held in 1922. It was attended by Moscow (winning the tournament),Tver, Saratov, Nikolayev and Kharkov (curiously, Nikolaev and Kharkov where located in Ukraine). Hockey with a puck had previously been played in Kharkov with the first matches taking place in 1912 and 1913. In 1924, city championships were held in Arkhangelsk, Nikolaev and for the first time with the participation of five teams in Novonikolaevsk. The creation of the provincial, regional and city councils of Physical Culture in 1924 contributed to the wider dissemination of hockey. In 1925 the first competitions in Perm, Serpukhov, Smolensk, Sychovka (Smolensk Province.) and Drigo were organized. For the first time since 1917 play resumed in Kazan. In 1926, the first competition was held in Petrozavodsk and in 1927 in Kremenchug. An Ural Championship was held in 1927 and 1928.

On February 13, 1927, an RSFSR representative team played a Swedish side in Leningrad, which it defeated with a 11:0 (five goals were scored by Muscovite Vladimir Mikhailov), despite the fact that the game was conducted by "Scandinavian" rules , which were somewhat different from the Russian rules of the time.

Championships in provinces, territories and regions in the second half of the 1920s and the early 1930s were difficult to arrange both for financial reasons and because of the fact that the subjects of the Russian Federation at that time were very large. From 1925-1930 the Siberian region covered the whole of Eastern and Western Siberia. Founded in 1929, the Moscow region then included almost the entire territory of modern Ryazan and Tula regions, and partly the Vladimir, Kaluga and Tver regions. In this regard, the teams close to major cities participated in the championships of these cities. So, for example, Moscow's championship featured teams from Bolshevo, Lyubertsy, Mytishchi, and Reutov.

In 1928 the first championship of the USSR was staged, which was attended by the national teams of the Union republics, Moscow and Leningrad (the latter became the first champion of the USSR). The Soviet national bandy team was formed the same year, which debuted in February in Norway at the International Workers Olympiad, then played friendlies in Norway and Finland.

The first official regional tournament was held in 1928 among the teams of Siberian region . The following year, a similar competition was held in Khabarovsk. In 1933, the the championship of the Moscow Region was held for the first time. A significant downsizing of the RSFSR in 1935-1938, made it possible to hold championships in more territories and regions.

In the 1930s, bandy continued to develop actively. In 1935, there were city championships played in Voronezh, Dnepropetrovsk, Minsk, Rostov-on-Don, and Stalingrad . In 1931, the first championship was played in Vitebsk, in 1934 the first tournament in Ulyanovsk took place, and in 1938 - in Salekhard and Frunze. By the end of the 1930s, bandy had been cultivated in almost all regions of the country, where it is allowed to climatic conditions, and virtually all of them held city championships. In Ukraine and Belarus Republic Championships were started.

In 1936 the first USSR Bandy Club Championship was staged, and the first champion of the country was Dynamo Moscow . The second championship was not played until 1950, but since then the USSR Championship (now Championship of Russia) in bandy has been held annually. From 1937-1941, 1945-1954 and in 1983 the USSR Cup in bandy was played.

After the end of World War I the city, regional and republic competitions gradually resumed. The Moscow region championship was restarted in 1946 and the Kiev, Minsk and Kharkov were staged a year later. In 1948, the championship of Alma-Ata was held, which was supplemented by the Cup of the Kazakh SSR. Bandy competitions were also played in Latvia (mainly in Riga) and Estonia (mostly in Tallinn). Some bandy began to be played in Armenia in 1949. A local Yerevan Championship was held and the game was also played in Leninakan (today Gyumri). This lasted until the late 1950s when the weather conditions permitted. In 1949, the championships were played in Artemovsk, Zhitomir, Rostov-on-Don, Smolensk, Sumy, and Taganrog.

Ice hockey began making inroads into the Soviet Union during the 1930s and the first Soviet Championship in ice hockey was staged in 1946. The Soviet Union soon became a world hockey power. Meanwhile on the bandy front, in 1955 the Soviet Union, along with Norway, Sweden and Finland, codified the rules of bandy, which was the final step in the divergence of the sport and ice hockey.

Despite the development of hockey in the 1950s, Russian hockey (bandy) remained popular. In the city and regional competitions, more teams participated than in ice hockey. However, during the 1960s, the number of teams playing at the "local level" decreased significantly. Nevertheless, urban and regional competitions in the 1960s-1980s still took place in most regions of the RSFSR. In the other Soviet republics hockey became more popular and only in Kazakhstan, were there municipal and regional competitions and a Republican championship held annually until 1991. In the 1980s bandy championships were played in the Belarusian, Ukrainian and Kyrgyz SSRs, but their level was low. Bandy practically ceased in Latvia and Estonia, and the warming of the climate made it impossible to play in the the Astrakhan, Volgograd, and Rostov regions.

After 1991 urban and regional competitions were no longer held in some regions. In 1997 the last championship of St. Petersburg was staged, and this soon happened in Moscow, Samara, and some other regions as well. At the same time, thanks to the support of local authorities enthusiasts in Moscow, Yekaterinburg and several other Russian regions, regional competitions are still held. Bandy is still very popular in Russia today, but ice hockey has more of a following nationally.

Results

Ural Championship winners

1927: Sverdlovsk
1928: Sverdlovsk
1935: Sverdlovsk

Sverdlovsk Regional Championship winners (pre-1950)

1936: Uralmash (Sverdlovsk)
1937: unknown
1938: unknown
1939: Dynamo (Sverdlovsk)
1940: Uralmash (Sverdlovsk)
1941-1946: not played
1947: Metallurg (Nizhny Tagil)
1948: Metallurg (Nizhny Tagil)
1949: NTRP (Pervouralsk)
1950: Metallurg (Revda)

Moscow Championship winners (pre-1950)

1933: Tula
1934: unknown (championship contested by teams from engineering plants)
1935: unknown (championship contested by trade union teams)
1936: Yagoda TK Bolshev
1937: Yagoda TK Bolshev
1938:"Sniper" Krasnogorsk
1939:"Azot" Elektrostal
1940:"Metalist" Bolshevo
1946:"Selmash" Lyubertsy
1947:"Tractor" Lyubertsy
1948:"Tractor" Lyubertsy
1949:"Zenith" Kaliningrad
1950:"Chemist" Nut-Zuevo

Soviet Cup winners (pre-1950)

1937: Dynamo Moscow
1938: Dynamo Moscow
1939: CDKA Moscow
1940: Dynamo Moscow
1941: Dynamo Moscow
1945: CDKA Moscow
1946: CDKA Moscow
1947: Dynamo Moscow
1948: Dynamo Moscow
1949: Dynamo Moscow
1950: Dynamo Moscow

1936 Soviet Bandy Premier League


Pl.	Group A	1	2	3	4	5	6	W	T	L	Goals	Pts
1	Dynamo Moscow		0:2	4:0	2:1	2:1	5:2	4	0	1	13-6	13
2	Dynamo Leningrad	2:0		0:0	3:1	3:1	0:2	3	1	1	8-4	12
3	Red Dawn Leningrad	0:4	0:0		3:0	2:1	2:1	3	1	1	7-6	12
4	Petrel Moscow	1:2	1:3	0:3		4:3	2:1	2	0	3	8-12	9
5	CDKA Moscow	1:2	1:3	1:2	3:4		4:2	1	0	4	10-13	7
6	Spartacus Leningrad	2:5	2:0	1:2	1:2	2:4		1	0	4	8-13	7
Pl.	Group B	1	2	3	4	5	6	W	T	L	GP	Pts
1	Yagoda TK Bolshev		0:1	1:0	2:0	4:2	2:0	4	0	1	9-3	13
2	Plant them. Stalin Moscow	1:0		0:0	0:0	1:1	4:0	2	3	0	6-1	12
3	Lokomotiv Moscow	0:1	0:0		2:0	4:1	2:0	3	1	1	8-2	12
4	Spartak Moscow	0:2	0:0	0:2		2:2	4:1	1	2	2	6-7	9
5	Кirov Leningrad	2:4	1:1	1:4	2:2		2:4	0	2	3	8-15	7
6	Krylya Sovetov Moscow	0:2	0:4	0:2	1:4	4:2		1	0	4	5-14	7

Placement games

1st place: "Dynamo" (Moscow) - Yagoda TK Bolshev - 3:1
3rd place: "Dynamo" (Leningrad) - Plant them. Stalin - 3:0
5th place: "Red Dawn" - "Locomotive" - 2:0
7th place: "Spartak" (Moscow) - " Petrel " - 3:1
9th place: CDKA - Kirov - 3:1
11th: "Spartak" (Leningrad) - "Krylya Sovetov" - 4:3

Photographs

A Russian bandy team circa 1898.
Neva (England) vs. Narva (Russia) on February 28, 1910.
The teams of Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1912. They met for a Challenge Cup, won by St. Petersburg.
The teams of Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1913.
Action shot from a 1913 game.
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Action shot from a 1914 game.
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The St. Petersburger Eislaufverein club in 1913-14.