The Game

Floorball as a game comes from northern Europe. It is similar to Bandy, a sport considered the predecessor of ice hockey; in fact, floorball is often likened to ice hockey without the ice skates. However, there are considerable differences in the rules.

Floorball is a fast and dynamic sport with much of the time played near the goals. The mixture of endurance, power and precision make floorball a popular game in schools.

The playing field is 40 x 20 metres and enclosed by a board with rounded corners (50 cm tall). The game is played by five field players and one goalie on each side, although team consists of a larger number of players which can be substituted at any time. However, the game can also be played on a smaller court measuring 24 x 14 m. In the smaller court a team consists of three field players and one goalie. The rules do not differ, with some adjustions for the smaller rink.

The stick used in floorball is exactly regulated. The shaft may be at most 95 cm long, and the whole stick must not weigh more than 350 grams. Generally lighter sticks are preferred, and tend to be made from hollow plastic. In the initial years of floorball, the goalkeeper was permitted to use a special kind of stick, but no stick is used in today's game.

The ball is made of white plastic and hollow. It has a diameter of 72 mm and weighs between 20 and 23 grams. There are 26 holes, each of which measuring 11 mm. The goals are 160 cm wide and 115 cm high; their depth is 65 cm.

The goalie wears special equipment, including a helmet and long padded trousers and shirt. They are allowed to wear gloves (though not commonly used), but a mitt is not permitted. All the equipment worn by the goalie has the purpose to protect the goalkeeper and must not augment the area as covered by the goalie. The field players on the other hand only wear shorts, a shirt, socks and indoor sport shoes. They are also allowed shin guards.

A floorball game is usually played over 3 periods of 20 minutes. Time is stopped in the case of time penalties, goals and timeouts. There is a break of ten minutes between the thirds. If the game is part of a tournament, the time may be shortened to 2 x 20 minutes and the break to 5 minutes. In both cases, the last three minutes the clock is only running when the balls is in play. Each team is allowed a timeout of 30 seconds.

A free hit is the standard position after a foul. There are time penalties of two and five minutes for harder fouls; ten minutes are reserved for unsportsmanlike behaviour. For extreme cases there are match penalties (red card).

Compared to ice hockey, floorball does not permit the use of the body for checking, pushing or blocking.Such rules help create a dynamic game that emphasises tactics.