Great Britain Bandy Association
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The Great Britain Bandy Association (GBBA) is the governing body of the sport of bandy in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. It is based in
The Fens The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...
part of
Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...
, East Anglia. Formerly, the federation was named Bandy Federation of England. After some years with less activity, the federation was restarted and given the name England Bandy Federation in January 2017. In September 2017 the present name was adopted, as the federation widened its scope to all of the UK. The men's Great Britain national bandy team made its debut at the
2019 Bandy World Championship 2019 Bandy World Championship was held in Vänersborg, Sweden, between men's national teams among bandy playing nations. It was the XXXIXth Bandy World Championship. Host selection The tournament was supposed to be held in Irkutsk in Russia. How ...
. A
Great Britain women's national bandy team Great Britain women's national bandy team represents the United Kingdom in the sport of bandy. It is controlled by the Great Britain Bandy Association. The team made its international debut at the 2022 Women's Bandy World Championship, finishing ...
has also been formed and made its international debut in 2022 at the 2022 Women's Bandy World Championship. The Association has the purpose to have a full-size indoor
bandy field A bandy field or bandy rink is a large ice rink used for playing the team winter sport of bandy. Being about the size of a football pitch, it is substantially larger than an ice hockey rink. History Originally, bandy was played on naturally froze ...
in the Littleport Ice Stadium, which is yet to be funded (2018). Apart from that,
rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pitc ...
will be arranged where there are no full-size bandy rinks.


Organisation

President is Rev Lyn Gibb-de Swarte of Littleport and a past resident of Streatham in southwest London, where she was chair of the Streatham ice speed club, ice hockey club and of the association of ice clubs. Vice Presidents; Simon Seager and Les Mead. The chair is Andrew Hutchinson. The treasurer is Tammy Nichol Twallin. General Secretary, Fixtures and Minutes Secretary, Cathy Gibb-de Swarte. Participation Officer, Anders Gidrup. Recruitment UK is Oscar Gillingham Aukner. They are all busy promoting the sport for all and will be instituting rink bandy around the country. The president is the project director of the Littleport Ice Stadium Project and plans are already drawn for a 400 metres indoor
speed skating oval A speed skating rink (or speed skating oval) is an ice rink in which a speed skating competition is held. The rink A standard long track speed skating track is, according to the regulations of the International Skating Union (ISU), a double-laned t ...
and an inner ice pad 100 × 60 metres bandy pitch.


History of bandy in England

Bandy has a proud history in Britain. England is seen as one of the sport's birthplaces, together with
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
where a similar games developed simultaneously. Games which can be seen as bandy were played in
the Fens The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...
in the 19th Century. The first English governing body for bandy, the National Bandy Association, was founded in 1891. The first rules were written down by
Charles Goodman Tebbutt Charles Goodman Tebbutt (1860–1944) was an English speed skater and bandy player from Bluntisham, England, in the Fens of Cambridgeshire where Fen skating was a popular winter activity in the nineteenth century. He also wrote articles and b ...
in 1882. Some English sports clubs had both football and bandy on their programme in the 19th Century, playing bandy when there was snow and ice in the winter time, for instance Nottingham Forest F.C. The match which was later dubbed the original bandy match, was held at
the Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around th ...
in London in 1875. However, at the time, the game was called "hockey on the ice",Svenska Bandyförbundet, bandyhistoria 1875-1919
probably as it was considered an ice variant of field hockey. The first international match took place in 1891 between the English Bury Fen Bandy Club and Haarlemsche Hockey & Bandy Club, the present HC Bloemendaal from the Netherlands. The same year, the National Bandy Association was started in England. England national bandy team won the 1913 European Bandy Championships in Davos, Switzerland, where national teams from eight countries played. Following the outbreak of the First World War, the interest for bandy vanished in England and the National Bandy Association was discontinued. There is now a renewed interest in the sport steered by the new Great Britain Bandy Federation. The president of
the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...
, the
Prince William William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was educa ...
, enthusiastically took part in a bandy event in Stockholm in January 2018.


External links


Great Britain Bandy Federation

Great Britain Bandy Federation
on
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References

{{National members of the Federation of International Bandy Federation of International Bandy members Bandy governing bodies Bandy Bandy in the United Kingdom Bandy in England