Indoor Hockey
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Indoor hockey is an indoor variant of
field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...
. It is similar to the outdoor game in that two teams compete to move a hard ball into the goal of the opposing side using
hockey stick A hockey stick is a piece of sports equipment used by the players in all the forms of hockey to move the ball or puck (as appropriate to the type of hockey) either to push, pull, hit, strike, flick, steer, launch or stop the ball/ puck during pla ...
s. Indoor hockey is played on a smaller area and between smaller teams than field hockey and the sidelines are replaced by solid barriers from which the ball rebounds and remains in play. It is traditionally and mainly played as a pastime by outdoor field hockey players during the off-season or when conditions are unsuitable for outdoor play. Indoor hockey is played in regular national and international championships. The first Indoor Hockey World Cup was organized in 2003. It included countries which do not compete at the highest level of the outdoor game.


Rules

Indoor hockey differs from its outdoor parent in several ways: * The pitch is smaller than the outdoor pitch. An indoor pitch is 18m to 22m wide by 36m to 44m long (similar to a
handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
or
futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...
pitch), divided by a center line. The shooting circle is a semicircle measured out 9m from each goal post. Side-boards mark the sidelines, helping to keep the ball on the pitch and allowing players to play against it. When the ball goes over the endline, the defensive team will restart play regardless of which team played the ball last. The pitch is made of wood or synthetic material. The board surface facing the playing surface is angled slightly to encourage ball to bounce down not up. * The goals are smaller than in field hockey: 2m high by 3m wide and a minimum of 1m deep. (This is the same size as handball goals as early indoor hockey used existing handball courts) * A team consists of six players on the pitch, one of whom is a
goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
, with a maximum 12 players on a team. * Internationally the game is divided into two 20-minute halves. (In the German indoor league, they play 30 minute halves with the ability to call time outs as in
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
.) Halftime break is 15 minutes. In case of a regulation tie teams play up to two 5-minute golden-goal overtimes; otherwise, the game will be decided by penalty strokes (5 rounds for each team followed by sudden-death rounds in case of ties thereafter). * The players may not hit the ball, but only push it or deflect it, and may not raise the ball except in the shooting circle, with the purpose of scoring a goal. * The balls and the sticks are similar, but players prefer lighter sticks than for the outdoor game.


History

Indoor hockey developed in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
during the 1950s, quickly spreading to other
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an nations.
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
was one of the countries to adopt the field hockey variant, and in 1966
René Frank René ('' born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminin ...
, a native of Belgium, who was later to become President of the FIH, persuaded the German Hockey Associations to give responsibility over the rules of Indoor Hockey to the FIH. This led to the FIH recognising indoor hockey in its constitution in 1968.FIH - A History of the Rules of Indoor Hockey
Whereas in many countries field hockey is played all year long, in Germany, The Netherlands and Austria the hockey season is divided evenly into a field hockey half in summer and an indoor hockey season in winter. The first FIH sanctioned tournament matches of Indoor Hockey were played in 1972.


World Cup

The
International Hockey Federation The Fédération Internationale de Hockey (English: International Hockey Federation), commonly known by the acronym and initialism, acronym FIH, is the international governing body of field hockey and indoor field hockey. Its headquarters are i ...
organizes the
Indoor Hockey World Cup Indoor Hockey World Cup may refer to: *Men's Indoor Hockey World Cup *Women's Indoor Hockey World Cup The Women's Indoor Hockey World Cup is an international indoor field hockey competition organised by the International Hockey Federation, Interna ...
. The first Indoor World Cup was held in
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in 2003, where the home nation won both the men's and women's gold medals.
Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...
television ratings for the recent Indoor Hockey World Cup, held in Leipzig, Germany, have shown the event to garner large audiences. A total of 20 million viewers watched 13 hours broadcast on Eurosport, with ten matches aired live. Peak viewing audience reached 889,000 viewers during the opening Poland vs. USA match, with the average live viewing figure for the whole tournament at 601,000. Germany and Poland, Eurosport's two strongest markets, showed particular interest, with more than 4 million different viewers tuning in from Germany, and more than 1.5 million watching from Poland. The average audience, calculated across several of Eurosport's key territories, showed a strong bias towards young males according to Eurosport's research. Arnaud Simon, Eurosport's Program Director commented: 'The first Indoor World Cup was a very exciting event, well suited for television and with good production standards. These characteristics were rewarded with very strong ratings, particularly considering that many of the matches were aired at off-peak viewing times.' Els van Breda Vriesman, the President of the International Hockey Federation, added: 'The figures speak for themselves, proving not only that hockey has mass appeal on television, but also that the target audience presents a very attractive commercial proposition for potential sponsors and advertisers.' Germany defended their titles in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
,
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
in February 2007. The German men were successful, although the women were beaten in the semi-final by Spain, who went on to lose the final against the Netherlands.


See also

*European Championship: The European championship, both men's and women's, was first held in 1974. *
Indoor Hockey World Cup Indoor Hockey World Cup may refer to: *Men's Indoor Hockey World Cup *Women's Indoor Hockey World Cup The Women's Indoor Hockey World Cup is an international indoor field hockey competition organised by the International Hockey Federation, Interna ...


Notes


External links


The FIH
{{Team Sport Stick sports Team sports Ball games Variations of field hockey