Newsgroups: rec.sport.hockey Path: elvis.clinet.fi!news.eunet.fi!news.funet.fi!sunic!pipex!uknet!festival!hwcs!steve From: steve@cee.hw.ac.uk (Steven Salvini) Subject: History of Hockey in Great Britain Message-ID: <1993Aug4.153558.9801@cee.hw.ac.uk> Summary: Hx GB (ice!) hockey Keywords: Great Britain - a Pool A Ice Hockey Nation! Sender: news@cee.hw.ac.uk (News Administrator) Organization: Dept of Computing & Electrical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1993 15:35:58 GMT Lines: 584 Hi - I'm just hacking out a history of UK (ice!) hockey for the uk-hockey mailing list FAQ list and I thought it might be nice to ask a wider audience for comments. Comment away, please! Steve aka uk-hockey-request ! ---:<---:<---:<---:<---:<---:<--- CUT HERE ---:<---:<---:<---:<---:<---:<---:<-- History of Hockey in Great Britain EARLY HISTORY 500BC - The origins of hockey go back to the ancient Greeks who played a variation of field hockey. 1143 - The first mention of skating appears with reports of Vikings tying bones to the underside of their boots. 1180 - Reports of skating on the Fens in England. 1500s - Early version of ice hockey played in Holland - called 'kalv'. 1600 - Skates with metal blades from Holland. 1642 - The Edinburgh Skating Club formed, GB's oldest skating organisation. 1772 - 'The Art of Skating' by Robert Jones published. 1876 - First artificial rinks opened in London - the first being The Glaciarium in Chelsea. THE FIRST GAME EVER 1867 or 1879 ? - first ice hockey game played. Two towns claim to have been the birthplace of hockey, Kingston, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. The claim of the latter is based on a McGill student organising a field hockey game played on ice in December 1879. Kingston, on the other hand, point to 1867 when the Royal Canadian Rifles played a game on the ice of Kingston Harbour and then in 1870 the (British) 60th. Rifles doing the same. 1880 - the first ice hockey club formed, the McGill University Hockey Club. 1885 - McGill student introduces ice hockey to Ottawa. - Cambridge University beat Oxford University 6-0 at St. Moritz, the first game played outside of Canada, however, it is hard to determine whether the game was truly ice hockey as hockey, bandy & shinty are all very much interchangeable at this stage. 1888 - In Canada a number of additional teams have now formed including Ottawa Rebels, Montreal Victorians & Quebec Crystals. Ottawa Rebels formed by the Hon. Arthur Stanley, son of Lord Stanley of Preston then Governor-General of Canada. 1890 - Hon. Arthur Stanley founded the Ottawa Hockey Association. 1893 - Hon. Arthur Stanley & his brothers persuade their father to present the Stanley Cup for competition. FIRST GAME IN THE UK 1895 - On their return to Britain, the Stanley sons continue to encourage the spread of ice hockey. With the lake at Buckingham Palace frozen, a Palace team including the Prince of Wales (later George V) plays the Stanley team comprising Lord Stanley and four more Stanley brothers - the Palace loses! :-) 1896-97 - Lord Stanley plus five brothers plays a team from the Niagara rink. Princes Skating Club forms a hockey club and play their first match in February. 1899 - Princes Club lose to Brighton at the circular (!) Brighton rink. FIRST LEAGUE IN THE UK 1903-04 - First English Ice Hockey league season - Cambridge win with 14 points from Princes Club with 12 - other teams involved were Hendon Argylls, Hendon Amateur Skating Club & London Canadians (the latter lost to the touring Canadian Rugby Football team in an exhibition hockey game!) 1904 - Princes playing as England win the international bandy tournament at Davos IIHF FORMED - FIRST INTERNATIONAL MATCHES PLAYED 1908 - England are founder members with France, Belgium, Bohemia and Switzerland of the Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace (LIHG), now the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). - Princes, playing as England, beat Germany & France to win the first indoor International Ice Hockey Tournament in Berlin. They then win the international ice hockey championship at Chamonix. FISRTRST PRE-WAR BOOM 1910 - Manchester Ice Palace opens and is the first to use the phrase 'the fastest game on earth' in its advertisements. First European Championships at Les Avants near Montreux in Switzerland contested by England (represented by Princes Club), Germany, Belgium and Switzerland (plus the Oxford Canadians whose games were excluded from the championship proper). England beat the Swiss & Germans and draw with Belgium to become first ever European Champions. (Tommy Sopwith, of Sopwith Camel fame, played in goals). In the first ever home international, England beat Scotland 11-1. 1910-11 - Manchester beat Princes 5-3 and Scotland beat Princes 8-3 at the original Crossmyloof rink in Glasgow complete with bandstand raised on pillars in centre of the rink! 1913 - British Ice Hockey Association founded. POST-WAR COLLAPSE 1918 - After the war, ice hockey goes through one of its many barren spells. 1921 - Sweden beat Czechoslovakia to win the European Championship - these were the only two teams involved! 1923 - BIHA revived after being disbanded during the First World War. 1923 - Only Manchester ice rink staging hockey in England. Padding at this time consists of soccer shinguards, stout gloves and plenty of embrocation! 1924 - Winter Olympics at Chamonix, Switzerland, see GB finish 3rd. behind Canada and USA - Toronto Comets playing as Canada beat GB 19-2. (N.B. this was the highest score against the Canadians in the competition and also the second lowest for them!) 1924/5/6 - London Lions formed but play most of their games in Switzerland. OUT OF THE DOLDRUMS 1926 - The Ice Club at Westminster, London, opens. - Montreal Victorias (first Canadian team to visit the UK) beat England 14-1 though England later beat Belgium 3-1. Many new rinks begin to open at this time but none have much accommodation for spectators. 1928 - GB finish 4th. in the Olympics. 1928 - Scottish Ice Rink Company formed - they rebuild Crossmyloof in Glasgow (omitting the bandstand!) 1929 - SIHA formed - founder clubs are Glasgow Canadians, Bearsden, Bridge of Weir, Doonside, Achtungs, Queens, Dennistoun, Kelvingrove, Glasgow Skating Club & Scottish Corinthians. FIRST SEASON IN SCOTLAND 1929-30 - First real season in Scotland although all games are played at Crossmyloof - Glasgow Mohawks win the Scottish League but lose to London Lions in the British Championship game. PRE-WAR BOOM II 1930s - The English National League is second only to the NHL (which at this time has only 7 teams). 1930 - Britain enter the first World Championships in Chamonix. 1932 - James Robertson Justice (of the 'Doctor' films fame (?)) gives up his career as a goalie and turns to refereeing - one of the highlights of his career is to send off the Austrian international net-minder! 1934 - Wembley (capacity 10,000) opens and acts as home to London Lions and Wembley Canadians (Clarence 'Sonny' Rost in defence). 1934-35 - Streatham Redskins win championship - second team is Richmond Hawks 1935-36 - Earls Court opens (capacity 7,000) and is home to Earls Court Rangers and Kensington Corinthians. Brighton rink (capacity 3,000) opens, home of Brighton Tigers. "BRITISH ICE HOCKEY'S FINEST HOUR" :-) 1936 - Feb 15th - at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, GB draw 0-0 with USA (outdoor) after three periods of overtime. Canada then beat USA thus GB become first team to win the 'Triple Crown' - the World Championship, the European Championship & the Winter Olympics Gold - "British Ice Hockey's Finest Hour" :-) Britain play under the 'shrewd but controversial guidance of BIHA secretary, John F. 'Bunny' Ahearne. 1935-36 - Scottish league down to 5 clubs - Kelvingrove, Glasgow Lions, Glasgow Mustangs, Glasgow University & Glasgow Mohawks - renamed the Scottish National League - won by Glasgow Mohawks. 1936 - packed houses in Scotland - 5 team league but really just a Glasgow City League! Scotland draw 1-1 with England to give them their first ever point in a home international match, the previous four games all going the way of England. 1936-37 - Harringay Arena opens and hosts Harringay Racers and Harringay Greyhounds (N.B. the names were chosen as the Arena was owned by the Greyhound Racing Association - just as well there wasn't a third team! The name "Racers" was later taken up by the Edinburgh based team, not for any high-minded reason but because their management bought up the strips when Harringay Racers were disbanded!) There are now 11 clubs in the English league with the addition of the Francais Volants (who play as Southampton Vikings) and SC Rapide de Paris (who play as Manchester Rapids) after a disagreement between these two teams and the French national association - none of the players involved are French nationals but all are actually French-Canadians. (N.B. at this time imports get to Europe not by plane but by working their passage on cattle-boats!) Montreal Canadiens play Detroit Redwings at Empress Hall. In the 30's more than 30 players left the English National League to play in the NHL. 1937 - Central Scotland Ice Rink with seating for 2,500 opened at Perth - Perth Panthers formed under the direction of Les Lovell. - Britain retain their European crown as the World and European Championships are held in London for the first time. 1938 - March, 11th. - Scottish League select draw 1-1 with the touring Sudbury Wolves of Canada, the reigning World Champions. - Britain gain their fourth European title in Prague, Czechoslovakia. 1938-39 - Scottish league now truly national - Glasgow Mohawks, Kelvingrove, Perth Panthers, Dundee Tigers, Falkirk Lions and Fife Flyers - maximum of 6 Canadians per team in teams of between 8 & 11. In England the game is also thriving with Harringay, Earls Court and Wembley especially all capable of holding large crowds. Scottish All Stars lose 1-9 to London (& Brighton) Select. THE WAR YEARS 1939-45 - Scotland reduced to 6 rinks and 50 players. 1939 - Murrayfield ice rink built and immediately requisitioned for war use. 1940 - March - Alderman 'Icy' Smith opens a rink at Durham, actually a marquee! Smith is often to be heard ordering the referees, for example, "Referee, send off that number 3!" POST-WAR RECOVERY At end of war teams playing out of Falkirk, Dundee, Kirkaldy, Ayr, Paisley, Perth and Dunfermline in Scotland using roughly 70 Canadians. 1946-47 - Scottish National League revived - continues to be dominated by East of Scotland clubs (after being won by Perth Panthers in 1937-38 & Dundee Tigers in 1938-39) 1947-48 Scottish League split into East & West sections, Dundee Tigers winning the former and Paisley Pirates the latter. 1948 - GB finish 6th. out of 9 participating teams in the Olympics but using a team comprising mainly British-born players for once and with 3 returnees from the team of 1936! 1948-49 - Scottish League back to a single division. 1949 - Murrayfield rink finally "de-requisitioned". 1950 - May 29th. - Scotland beat England 4-1 in the first ever junior home international. - Britain are second in the European Championships in London with a team comprising only British-trained players. 1950-51 - East coast clubs domination of the Scottish League finally broken by Paisley Pirates. 1952-53 - Hockey finally begins at Murrayfield where the local team is known as the Edinburgh Royals and is managed by Alex Archer, ex-winger with the Wembley Lions. 1953-54 - Nottingham Panthers beat Streatham Redskins to win the English championship while in Scotland Falkirk Lions beat Perth Panthers after Paisley win the Scottish League. In Scotland this is the last season of the Scottish National League which is won by Paisley Pirates - the league is to remain dormant for 27 years! THE FIRST BRITISH LEAGUE In England there are 5 senior clubs, Nottingham Panthers, Streatham Redskins, Harringay Racers, Wembley Lions & Brighton Tigers and in Scotland there are 7 teams - all agree to form a British League for season 1954-55. (Red Imrie debuts for Falkirk at the age of 16) GB do not play in the world championships. 1955-56 - British League declines to only Harringay Racers, Wembley Lions, Brighton Tigers, Nottingham Panthers and Paisley Mohawks. Regular visits in the 50's by teams from USA, USSR, Czechoslovakia & Sweden. March 1956 - first ever televised game shows Wembley Lions beating Nottingham Panthers at Nottingham with Alan Weeks commentating. 1957 - Brighton Tigers beat USSR 6-3 !!! 1958-59 - Full USSR side return for full tour as warm-up for World Championships. They lose to Wembley Lions 2-5 the day after they arrived (not surprisingly in the days when they had no jet travel!). They avenged their defeat the previous year at the hands of Brighton Tigers, winning 6-3 then beat Paisley Pirates 8-2, Edinburgh Royals 10-3, lowly Nottingham Panthers only 4-3, and in the final game they avenge their only defeat with a 2-0 win over the Wembley Lions. 1960 - End of British League's 6 year existence. British League Roll of Honour: 54-55 Wembley Lions 55-56 Nottingham Panthers 56-57 Wembley Lions 57-58 Brighton Tigers 58-59 Paisley Mohawks 59-60 Streatham Redskins BACK INTO DECLINE 1960-66 - No serious hockey in England although the GB side never finish out of the top ten in the world and only lose Pool A status in 1963! Hockey kept alive in GB by Scotland and the North East of England in the Northern League. 1961 - Britain return to the World Championships after a seven year absence and finish second in Group B in Switzerland. - to achieve a better balance in the teams, clubs are restricted to a maximum of 4 ex-British League players which leads to the break-up of the previously all-conquering Edinburgh Royals. 1962 - A NATO ban on East German sports teams in retaliation for the building of the Berlin Wall causes the withdrawal of USSR & Czechoslovakia and GB are promoted to Pool A where they finish last - currently GB's last competition at Pool A level. 1966-67 - Northern League (NL) formed by Scottish and North East clubs - as well as the league there is also the (Northern) Autumn Cup competition. 1965-80 - Winning the 'Icy' Smith Cup is the equivalent of winning the British Championship today. 1966-82 - Generally agreed that the best team in Britain is Murrayfield Racers who win the Northern League 7 times (1966-82), the 'Icy' Smith Cup 8 times (1965-80) & the Autumn Cup 6 times with the team nearest to them being Fife Flyers with 2 wins in each of the first two competitions and 4 in the Autumn Cup. In the NL, Racers & Flyers are joined by Glasgow Dynamos, Whitley Warriors and Durham Wasps as "ever-presents". 1966 - World Championships - GB finish bottom in Pool B in Yugoslavia - this is to be GB's last entry for five years. 1969 - Northern League experiments with the two strongest clubs, Murrayfield and Whitley agreeing to split their squads into two teams each to try to reduce their dominance of the league - Murrayfield ice the Murrayfield Racers and the Edinburgh Royals, Whitley the Whitley Warriors and the Whitley Bay Bandits. Meanwhile Glasgow are ordered to release two players to Paisley Mohawks to try to avoid the latter's demise. 1970 - SL has 5 teams playing out of 3 rinks - NL has 6 teams out of 6 rinks after Paisley fold during the close season and it is agreed that Murrayfield and Whitley should abandon the experiment of playing two squads each. 1970-71 - The Southern League (SL) is formed. 1972 - Games are played with a running clock for the first two periods at some rinks due to the three-day-week during Mr. Heath's battle with the miners. 1971 - GB now in Pool C of the World Championships (held in Holland) and finish above last (4th. out of 8) for the first of only two times in the 70's. 1973-74 - London Lions are formed by the Detroit Redwings organisation - they are a fully professional side and play 71 matches out of their base at Wembley. To find suitable opposition, they travel to play in Sweden, Finland, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, West Germany, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia as well as playing against teams in the UK. This attempt to bring NHL-style hockey to Europe proves to be ahead of its time and the idea is dropped at the end of the season. SIGNS OF RECOVERY IN THE SOUTH 1974 - SL now has two divisions with 11 teams playing out of 7 rinks. 1976 - SL now has 22 teams playing out of 12 rinks - NL has 15 teams out of 8 rinks. 1976-77 - Fife Flyers have a clean sweep in NL competitions winning the 'Icy' Smith Cup, the Northern League, the (Northern) Autumn Cup and the (Northern) Spring Cup. This is only the third time this has been done and follows Paisley Mohawks in 1967-68 and Murrayfield Racers in 1970-71. 1978 - Crowtree (Sunderland) opens. 1979 - Ice hockey begins to emerge from its latest period of inactivity - Tom Stewart sponsors international challenge matches at Dundee - GB finish sixth out of 8 in Barcelona, Spain, in Pool C. 1980 - English Womens League founded. 1981 - GB play in Pool C in China, finishing last, and bow out of international competition until 1989. THE MODERN ERA... 1981-82 - The English and Scottish National Leagues are revived (21 years since the collapse of the British League and more than 25 years since the previous national leagues.) - This is widely regarded as the start of the "modern era" of British ice hockey. - Dundee Rockets win the Scottish National League from Murrayfield Racers in second place - having just been revived, this competition goes back on ice with the entry of Heineken as sponsor. - The top four teams in Britain meet at Streatham to contest the British Championship, Dundee Rockets, Murrayfield Racers, Streatham Redskins and Blackpool Seagulls - Dundee beat Streatham 3-2 in the final. - The first, post 1960, paid imports are introduced to the league by Tom Stewart at Dundee who has persuaded the Dundee rink to stage hockey once again after a 6 year break. 1982 - 30 clubs affiliated to the BIHA with 80 teams having 2,000 players. - Heineken become involved in British hockey sponsorship and the game begins to take off as money reaches parts that other beers failed to reach! - The British league is to be revived but regionalised to reduce costs. The teams involved are as follows -> First Division, Group A - Ayr, Dundee, Fife, Glasgow, Murrayfield Group B - Cleveland, Durham, Whitley, Nottingham, Streatham Group C - Altrincham, Blackpool, Crowtree, Richmond, Southampton Second Division, North - Bradford, Deeside, Grimsby, Sheffield South - Bristol, Peterborough, Solihull, Streatham Bruins Third Division - mainly reserve teams plus Oxford & Cambridge universities and Brighton Royals. 1982-83 - The winners of the First Division are Dundee, Durham and Altrincham and at the British Championships, again at Streatham, Dundee beat Durham. 1983-84 - Dundee Rockets become the first team to win the 'Grand Slam' of Autumn Cup, Heineken League and Heineken Championship. 1984 - Dundee Rockets are first GB team to play in the European Championships qualifying as winners of the British Championship - Tony and Paul Hand guest for Dundee but the result is still best forgotten! (21-5 on aggregate to Rodovre of Denmark) 1985 - December 29th. - Emma Bowles becomes the first woman to play in a British league game when she comes on for Mike Kellond of Oxford City Stars - the Oxford officials had got their fixtures mixed up and the Stars had to play Solihull Barons with only two first team regulars leading to a scoreline of 0-50 hence the use of Bowles to allow Kellond some respite! 1985-86 - The Scottish League is revived as the Regal Scottish Cup which is won by Murrayfield racers with Dundee Rockets coming second. Finishing positions in the league are used to decide the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup Weekend at Dundee where Racers beat Ayr 14-12 in an epic battle and Dundee beat Fife 7-3. As is now common when TV cameras are involved, the final is a tame affair with Dundee disposing of Racers 7-3 in a poor game. - Durham Wasps come so close against Jesenice of Yugoslavia in their home leg of their European Cup game losing 6-7. 1986 - Tony Hand of Murrayfield Racers is drafted 256th. out of 256 by the Edmonton Oilers and so becomes the first (and as yet, only) British born and trained player to be drafted by an NHL club. 1986 - 28th. December - Martin McKay, having kept goal for most of the match, changes into outfielders kit and returns to the ice as a forward to score a goal against Ayr Raiders in a 12-1 victory for Tayside Tigers - after a BIHA investigation, the result stood but the coach was reprimanded! 1986-87 - Murrayfield Racers pip Dundee Rockets in both the Scottish League and Cup, again both sponsored by Regal. - Murrayfield Racers become the first British team to win a game in the European Cup in a preliminary round match when they beat Slavia Sofia. - There are now 49 teams in the British League plus teams at Oxford & Cambridge universities, Aviemore and elsewhere. The 49 teams are as follows -> Premier League - Ayr, Cleveland, Dundee, Durham, Fife, Murrayfield, Nottingham, Solihull and Streatham. First Division - Kirkaldy, Glasgow, Irvine, Sunderland, Blackpool, Altrincham, Peterborough, Telford, Oxford City, Swindon, Slough, Lee Valley, Richmond, Medway, Southampton, Bournemouth. Second Division (North) - Billingham Buccaneers, Bradford, Durham Hornets, Grimsby, Nottingham Trojans, Sunderland Tomahawks, Whitley Bay Bandits. Second Division (South) - Bournemouth Bucks, Brighton, Hastings, Medway Maurauders, Oxford City Satellites, Richmond Raiders, Southampton Vikings 2, Streatham Bruins. Second Division (Midlands) - Ashfield, Bristol, Cardiff, Deeside, Peterborough Titans, Solihull Knights, Telford Tornadoes, Trafford Tigers. 1987 - Glen Henderson, Scottish Porsche dealer and owner of Ayr Raiders, announces he is to build a 3,000 seater rink at Prestwick purpose-built for hockey - and so the Centrum saga begins... 1987-88 - An eleventh hour rescue by Capital Foods saves the Scottish League & Cup where Fife pip Murrayfield for the league and things finish vice versa in the cup. - Durham Wasps hold Polonia Byton to a 7-7 tie in the European Cup quarter finals. GB RETURN TO INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 1989 - GB return to the World Championships (Pool D) in Belgium but miss out on promotion to Pool C when they fail to beat the host nation - Gordon Latto of Fife Flyers is sent home in disgrace as three players fail a doping test - this is later quashed and all the players involved are admonished. GB complain to no avail that basic equipment like skate sharpeners is just not made available to them. This is the last time that GB play in the World Championships without using 'dual nationals'. 1989-90 - Cardiff Devils become the first non-Scottish team to play in the Scottish Cup weekend when invited as guests as the demise of Tayside Tigers leaves only three Premier teams in Scotland. Unfortunately, Devils seem to lose interest after an injury to star forward Steve Moria in the semis and bow out rather tamely to Murrayfield Racers in the final. 1990-91 - Durham Wasps win the 'Grand Slam'. - Cardiff Devils beat Rodovre of Denmark in the European Cup and become the first British team to win a quarterfinal stage game. 1990 - Britain host the World Championships (Pool D) for the first time in 40 years. At Cardiff GB are streets ahead of their rivals Spain and Australia and gain promotion to Pool C as champions with ease. 1991 - In Pool C in Denmark, GB just miss out on promotion to Pool C after a number of very close games - they finish 5th., one place off the extra promotion places caused by the expansion of Pool A to 12 teams. 1991-92 - Whitley warriors become the first English team to win the Scottish Cup when invited as guests after the demise of Glasgow Saints left only three Heineken teams in Scotland. 1992 - Britain host Pool C of the World Championships at Humberside and win promotion by finishing first. - new arena at Sheffield begins staging hockey and by mid-season is attracting crowds in excess of 8,000 - by the end of season playoffs, Sheffield breaks modern British attendance record previously held by Wembley Arena with crowds in the 11,000's - and all this whilst the Steelers are in English Division One, two levels below the Premier League! 1993 - Britain win Pool B in Holland and regain their Pool A status for the first time since 1948! 1994 - Britain win Pool A and Olympic Gold to relive their triumphs of 1936. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Salvini JANet steve@uk.ac.hw.cee Dept. of Computing & Elec Eng Internet steve@cee.hw.ac.uk Heriot-Watt University NSFNET steve%cee.hw.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk EDINBURGH EH14 4AS Scotland UK EARN/BITNET steve%cee.hw.ac.uk@UKACRL Phone (+44) 31 451 3418 UUCP steve%cee.hw.ac.uk@uknet.uucp