Broomball

 

 

 

The sport is played on either an indoor or outdoor ice rink. Conventional play involves the use equipment designed specifically for broomball, though recreationally the traditional corn broom with tape is still used. A regulation broomball goal net is considerably larger than the one used in the sport of ice hockey, though conventional ice hockey nets are often used unofficially.

A broomball game begins with a face-off. A typical game of broomball is broken up into two or three periods. Each team has a goaltender plus five other players, typically two defenders and three attackers (two forwards and one centre). If the ice surface is especially small, some leagues use fewer players on the ice.

The object of the game is to score goals into the opponent's goal or net. The team with the most goals at the end of a game is declared the winner. In some tournaments, if the scores are tied after regular time, an additional overtime period is played to determine a winner. In the overtime period (in most cases), six players, three on each team, play five minutes without a goalie. The team to score more goals in the overtime period is declared the winner. In the event of another tie, a second overtime period may be played. In some games a shootout period will be played. The shooter has the choice to have the ball placed a specified distance from the net or, like in hockey, can play the ball from centre ice.

Sport specific equipment involves broomball shoes, broomball sticks, and broomball balls. Equipment used is either traditional for an informal style of play, or a deliberately manufactured design created for modern, formal play.

In competitive play, protective equipment for broomball is similar to that used in the sports of ice hockey and ringette with some sport specific equipment designed for broomball.

 

In traditional play, a broom is literally a broom,^[2] usually a corn broom, with tape added to keep the bristles from fraying. In the modern game, a broomball stick has a shaft with a stylized hard plastic paddle at the end.

Shoes designed specifically for broomball are available for purchase, but only for games played on ice. The soles are designed to give players traction on the ice.

 

In informal play, players can use any type of ball, though a soccer ball is usually used. In more formal play, two types of balls are manufactured for use. An outdoor ball is usually the color blue, while the indoor ball is the color orange.

 

Broomball goal nets have a different shape than those used in ice hockey and ringette and are larger.

Goaltenders generally wear a full face cage in addition to thick padding on the legs, thighs, chest and shoulders. Goaltenders are permitted to use a blocker, a specially designed rectangular glove attachment that is used to block shots. A blocker is similar to those used by ice hockey and ringette goalies. Goalie's must also wear a chest protector.

Broomball games are controlled by two on-ice referees. Both referees have the same powers to call all penalties, off-sides, goals, and so on. There usually are off-ice officials as well, depending on the level of the game being played, including a scorekeeper, a timekeeper, a penalty timekeeper, and goal judges.

Referees are generally required to wear black and white vertical-striped jerseys, with a red arm band on one arm. They use this arm to signal penalties throughout the game.

 

 

There is no known fully accurate history of broomball. The exact origin of the sport has been difficult to pinpoint. The best estimates in regards to its origin involves the First Nations in Canada, who are believed to have passed the sport on to the settlers.

The first known recorded broomball games in North America have been found documented in Perdue, Saskatchewan, on March 5, 1909,^[3] though the game has also been observed to have been played by organized girls teams in the Canadian province of Ontario in the early 1900s.^[4]

The Canadian style of the game is believed to have spread south to the United States, becoming especially popular in Minnesota. In 1910 a group of men would gather and play on the ice by the docks in Duluth, Minnesota.^[5] By the 1960s a broomball community was thriving in Minnesota.^[6][7]

Initially the sport used brooms, usually corn brooms, and an assortment of different types of balls which were bigger than a baseball but not larger than a soccer ball. The playing area for a game of broomball took place on either a snow-covered area or field, or on an area of ice created by frozen ponds, lakes, rivers and the like, until both enclosed indoor and outdoor ice rinks, usually ice hockey rinks using artificial ice became more prevalent. Today the game is played on snow mostly during organized winter festivals, but play using an ice surface, especially artificial ones, has grown in popularity and is the playing area more prevalently seen used today. In regards to equipment, sport specific sticks and balls are available and have been developed for the game with balls designed for both indoor and outdoor play, while protective equipment is similar to and sometimes identical to that found in the sport of ice hockey.

Broomball gradually spread internationally over the following decades, and by the 1980s, organized broomball was being played in Australia,^[8] Japan, Sweden, Italy,^[9] Germany,^[9] and Switzerland.^[10]

 

The International Federation of Broomball Associations (IFBA) is the world governing body of broomball. Its headquarters are in Canada.

Every two years the IFBA runs the IFBA World Broomball Championships (also known as the Challenge Cup), an international event with teams from around the world. Historically, the championships have been dominated by the North Americans teams.

Broomball has been gaining popularity internationally. The sport is now an established international recreational sport, played in many countries around the world. Canada and the United States are the "powerhouse" nations of the sport, with their local representative teams often battling in prestigious tournaments held annually across North America.

In Japan, some top teams and players are attracted to regular tournaments. Australia holds its annual National Championships in centres across the country and is continually increasing its number of players in a country where ice sports are not considered popular. Switzerland and Italy regularly send representative teams to tournaments in North America. Other broomball nations include Finland, Germany, and Russia.

There are two main differences between International Federation of Broomball Associations (IFBA) gameplay and American broomball gameplay: the way offside works, and the size of the net. The results of these rules are generally considered to effect the game by making both the score and the pace of play slightly slower under IFBA rules.

Under IFBA rules, the red line (center ice) is the only line used to determine offside. Once the offensive team clears the red line, the defense must work to get it back over the same line.

In American broomball, a "floating blue line" is employed,^[11] meaning the offensive team must pass the blue line, and then the defense must work to get it back over the red line.

The other major difference is the size of the goalnets.^{[citation needed]}

• IFBA sanctioned games use a 5-by-7-foot (1.5 m × 2.1 m) net.
• American broomball uses 6-by-8-foot (1.8 m × 2.4 m) nets.

While there are other slight differences, these two are by far the biggest.

 

Broomball is played at many universities and colleges, mostly in North America. Some leagues are competitive while others function as a social event.

In the United States, broomball is played at the following educational institutions:

• Michigan State University^[12]
• Carleton College^[13]
• Miami University
• Iowa State University^[14]
• University of Notre Dame^[15]
• Michigan Technological University
• University of Texas at Austin
• Rochester Institute of Technology
• University of Chicago
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Boston University^[16]
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Yale University

Broomball is played, with a slightly different ruleset, by expatriates in Moscow.

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Broomball.

• IFBA official website
• Slovenian Broomball official site
• USA Broomball official site
• Broomball Canada official site
• Japan Broomball site
• usbabroomball
• Broomballing!, Passport Moscow magazine, January 2006 edition.
• Warm winter keeps broomballers home, Moscow Tribune 21 February 2002.
• History of Broomball at Michigan Tech, IRHC Broomball Committee, 20 November 2012.