Bandy in Russia

In Russia, bandy is known as hockey with a ball or simply Russian hockey. The game became popular among nobility in early 1700s, with the royal court of Peter I the Great entertaining the crowds playing bandy on Saint Petersburg frozen Neva river.

Russians played in bandy with sticks made out of juniper wood later adopting metal skis (imported by Peter I from Holland). By second half of the 19th century the game became also popular among the masses throughout the Russian Empire.