The Good Old ‘European’ Game

[@MLaserHistory]

Extra Information, Clarifications, & Visual Sources Sources for all my videos (shown by the footnotes in the bottom left corner of the video) are in the bibliography of my scripts which are available to download for free on my Patreon: www.patreon.com/mlaser?filters[tag]=script 2:01 Maksim Goncharenok 2:28 Hours of Joanna of Castile, 18852, f.2, British Library 3:03 Lidwina's fall, a 1498 woodcut 3:48 royal_ ms_10_e_iv_f095r, British library 3:53 "The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News," January 29th, 1898 4:02 Hours of Joanna of Castile, 18852, f.2, British Library 4:13 Thanks largely in part to the Dutch Renaissance. 4:15 (onwards) The Hunters in the Snow, Winter Landscape with Ice skaters and Bird trap, Skating fun by 17th century Dutch painter, Jan Griffier I (c.1652-1718). 4:42 Writers often added the word ‘ice’ before these names to indicate they were talking about a stick and ball game being specifically played on ice but this was not universal. 5:52 Winter landscape with iceskaters, c. 1608, Hendrick Avercamp 6:27 Hendrick Avercamp Ice Scene 11:23 These Dutch teams were originally football clubs which also added English Hockey to their repertoire. 12:46 Joerg Schlagheck 13:23 This is not a picture of the 1875 game. It’s a picture of a later game taking place at the same rink. 13:53 There were also side walls so the puck couldn’t go off side like in bandy or football. 14:07 Some initial ice rinks were simply barns put over ice and so were reliant on negative temperatures but as cooling technology improved at the end of the 19th and early 20th century, ice rinks became state of the art buildings that could sustain an ice surface all year around. 14:47 People skating on Penn Ponds, Richmond Park, London, circa 1890. Photograph: Past Pix/SSPL via Getty Images 15:12 St James's Park lake frozen over, 1954. Picture: Elam / Daily Mail /Rex Features Credit: Elam / Daily Mail /Rex Features 16:24 French and Belgian national teams in January of 1922 16:34 Rossland's Hockey History Museum (not actually in Europe but in Canada) 16:50 These Canadian students were primarily sponsored by the infamous Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford. 17:12 The Oxford Canadians were briefly banned from competing in the hockey Varsity because they were deemed too good in the sport. This ban was later lifted. 18:47 Since a lot of Sports Clubs in Europe were just that ‘sports clubs’. They often fielded, and still do, multiple teams in multiple sports. 23:25 (Pictures in chronological order as they appear at the end of the video) Elegant ice hockey game in the Grand Hotel at Les Avants, canton of Vaud in the 1920s. ETH Library; Ice hockey match at a boarding school above Vevey, 1907. FOSPO image archive; Berlin skating club versus Brussels ice hockey club at the first European Championships in 1910 at Les Avants near Montreux. Wikimedia.

[@Scorpionwincheater88]

Are you czech?

[@MLaserHistory]

@@Scorpionwincheater88 Close enough

[@Scorpionwincheater88]

@MLaserHistory svk

[@davidyago6015]

- Be England - Invent a Game - Be trash at it

[@krupam0]

Many such cases.

[@shryggur]

Rubbish*!

[@Scorpionwincheater88]

Bollocks ​@@shryggur

[@MCKevin289]

Ice hockey actually comes from the Irish sport hurling. The word puck comes from the Irish word to strike or poc. There’s a good documentary called poc na gael about it.

[@MLaserHistory]

​@MCKevin289 Hurly is just one of many stick and ball games that existed all across Europe. Hurly just happened to survive to modern times unlike many other stick and ball games which became standerdized into sports like field hockey and floor hockey.

[@Artur_M.]

Take a shot each time the phrase "stick and ball" is uttered. 😉

[@MLaserHistory]

or IIHF, or hockey

[@dragonkingofthestars]

I thought the The Good Old ‘European’ Game was invading your neighbor.

[@MLaserHistory]

Nahhh that is the Good old "European" passtime.

[@1cupof6]

That's the Good Old Everyone Game

[@Noric.Morava]

“If flag isn’t waving, it’s ripe for enslaving!”

[@ezrafriesner8370]

I thought it was competitive alcoholism

[@JanSesko]

I thought it was creating working and safe societies, making delicious food, discovering everything in the world etc.

[@MrTeapots]

Canadian here. This has been very informative. I was taught in school that the first game of hockey was played at the Royal Military College in 1867 using a frozen horse turd as a puck. Shortly after the Canadians kindly shared their invention with the Russians, Finns, and lesser (hockey-wise) Europeans. I stand corrected.

[@SamAronow]

Shit, according to the excellent channel CheapSeatsSports, ice hockey was already being played by children in colonial-era Virginia.

[@Claudius-tr7zb]

Most of those playing hockey in Montréal in the late 1800s were rugby players wanting to train & stay in shape during the winter in preparation for the summer season... Thus the "no forward" pass, the "rover" and the maximised physicality of this great sport

[@JeremiahKF]

Weirdly enough in the Ukrainian language- bandy is still called "hockey with a ball" and ice hockey- "hockey with a puck". In a casual conversation, hockey will usually mean ice hockey, just like how rugby will generally mean rugby union. I'm excited about part two.

[@asd16764]

same in finnish

[@k.jespersen6145]

Very cool-- though, augh, a cliff-hanger!!! I did not expect to emerge from watching this video with an understanding of where the expression "to bandy about" came from and why it means what it does. Also, it's extremely amusing that a dentist was responsible for bringing Canadian hockey to Germany, given the perennial comedic link between hockey and dentistry in modern-day North America. (You've made me a sudden fan of the Bohemian hockey team, given its attitude toward learning the game and. I'm hoping that the second video will reveal some sort of pedigree by which the Bohemian league lives on.)

[@georgeholly5489]

The Slavia team which played Oxford Canadians is still playing in 2nd tier of Czech hockey league and of course current World Champions from Czech Republic are proud heirs of Bohemian national team.

[@MetalHeadViking]

There is a Bandy world cup and is played in Sweden, Finland, Russia and Kazakstan. It is similar to ice hockey but it has a larger goal and you cant round the goal. And the ball can be played out of bounce.

[@BayviewGhost]

I'm a hockey fan and I'm way more familiar with the history of the game in North America than in Europe, so this was a really interesting and informative video. I'm looking forward to the next one!

[@NK73080]

Why is my favourite history KZbinr creating a video on my favourite sport And why do I love it already

[@bille8]

Here in Sweden we still call hockey bandy, innebandy if it is inside/without ice. Hockey is still used often for referencig ice hockey though.

[@SilverionX]

What? Hockey and bandy are two different sports though? Am I losing my mind?

[@JH-lo9ut]

Ice Hockey Hockey (or field hockey) Bandy Floorball (indoors bandy) They are all different sports. Swedes often call Ice-hockey simply "hockey" because field hockey is not really a thing here. Bandy is still a pretty big sport, though it has nowhere near the same audience as ice-hockey. Bandy has a strong working-class and rural identity, (even if Ice hockey is also a big sport among the working class) . Bandy doesn't require as much expensive equipment so it is seen a more equal and "democratic". The sport was huge in the 1950's and 60's but interest waned as television was introduced. Bandy is almost impossible to cover on TV. The field is the size of a football (soccer) field and the ball is the size of a small apple. Passes are long and fast and players are constantly in motion, as opposed to Ice-hockey wich has lots of positional gameplay. It's really hard to see and to follow the bandy ball, even from the rafters. You need to learn how to read the game to follow along, and you need to concentrate. Frankly, it's really easy to just zone off and start thinking about that hot dog in the half-time pause. Bandy has made a comeback in the 2000's though. It is seen by many fans as an expression of Swedish culture as much as a game. Your feet are cold, the game goes on forever, you are going to miss the goals because you are not paying attention and your team is gonna lose anyway, but it's OK because you get to be drunk on a Sunday afternoon -That is the experience of bandy.

[@johnj8069]

@@SilverionX You are not. Hockey and bandy are different sports.

[@yoink781]

Yeah, same here in Finland. Bandy is "jääpallo" or "ice ball", ice hockey is "jääkiekko" (ice discus or ice puck), and floorball (innebandy) is... "salibandy", "sali" meaning "hall" or indeed indoors.

[@EstonianBrother]

Greetings from Eesti. Keep on making great content! Aitäh ugri vend!

[@MLaserHistory]

Thank you :) (But, also, AAAAAAAA RUN IT'S THE NORTHERN HUNGARIANS!)

[@EstonianBrother]

Mine vittu

[@johnj8069]

In Finnish hockey is jääkiekko, meaning "icepuck", bandy is jääpallo, meaning "iceball".

[@petergeyer7584]

Fascinating video! Berliner SC still exists to this day, although it’s a strictly amateur club. Chamonix, France hosted the first ever Winter Olympics, and still hosts a number of international tournaments. European hockey has grown up parallel to North American hockey, but it is interesting to see the two as they converge in the modern era.

[@thearcanaperfidiaguy]

This is fire, keep cooking)

[@heyhellyco]

It’s actually pretty cool to see how long Bandy and Ice Hockey have been around, and kinda heartwarming knowing that even then people could still absolutely wipeout on the ice 😂.

[@GarkKahn]

Greetings from argentina Despite living in a cold as heck place (the heat began around 3 days ago here lol), never seen any ice sports until the post covid days. Hockey being what caught my eyes the most. And that's interesting, since argentina has a very long history of being contenders in hockey competitions, in all of its versions, except for this specific one, where it wasn't until very recently some amateur tournament was played in ushuaia (for those who don't know, it's in the middle of f-ing nowhere 😂)

[@bruhdude6712]

interesting indeed

[@RoseBenson-jv5xm]

Isn't there a league in Patagonia? I know Chile has one down there.

[@serpounce5699]

Very uncharacteristic of Germany to be indifferent to rule standardization!

[@MLaserHistory]

That's exactly the same joke the author of the book 'Hockey : The Fastest Game in the World' made when he mentioned that fact :D

[@iammrbeat]

I just think it's so cool that you covered this. I'm planning a history of basketball video myself!

[@MLaserHistory]

Nice! There's someone already in the comment section asking me to do a video on the history of Basketball so I can just point to them to your channel.

[@mjsmith1176]

21:46 In 1909 GB beat God 11-0 in a hockey game, there's something they don't teach you at school.

[@Alex-fv2qs]

What's this *ice* hockey thing? 🇦🇷

[@MLaserHistory]

It's the best type of hockey.™

[@bepsi6204]

​@MLaserHistory not at all! 🇮🇪

[@GarkKahn]

Funny how argentina is a major power in all of its variants, except for this one

[@nord5183]

Actually bandy is still being played today. The dominating countries are sweden, russia and finland

[@markmuller7962]

2:20 The guy tripping on the left 😂

[@JH-lo9ut]

It's the OG "wet floor"-guy!

[@stanleysmith7551]

"Demitra with the puck...Šatan...scores!!!" Good old NHL 03.😏

[@Unionatwar]

Great Britain actually has two professional Ice Hockey Leagues, the Elite Ice Hockey League and the Planet Ice National League

[@A22337]

And it's so good that a guy who played football for 20 years can walk straight into the hockey league after retiring from football.

[@serpounce5699]

This is so ridiculous. England created / popularized virtually every major international sport in the world -- association football, rugby football, cricket, bandy.

[@MLaserHistory]

There's actually a historical reason for this. One, Brittain was the largest empire hence whatever sport they created would have automatically spread further than in other countries. Two, culturally English people prioretized sports as essential to ones upbringing which wasn't as prominent in other countries that prioretized other physical activity rather than sports. Three, and most importantly, England was the first country in Europe, in the 18th century, to allow the formation of social clubs that weren't based solely politics (political parties) or work (guilds). That is most countries forbade the formation of social clubs because people in power were afraid they might be used to foster revolutionary thought. So the first official sports clubs, which are necessery for a stenderdization of a game, were often formed in Brittain. Football, hockey, tennis, etc. style games were played all across Europe but it was in England that they were first standerdized because that's where the clubs which did standerdize the games could first officialy form.

[@GarkKahn]

And suck at most since the day more than 2 countries learn its rules

[@donkeysaurusrex7881]

The good ol hockey game Is the best game that there is And the best game that there is Is the good ol hockey game

[@gabrielseaborn257]

Best game you can name*

[@nuthinnobody3357]

Really butchered the lyrics there, bud.

[@MrKork1]

Hockey is very prevalent in my home country of Sweden.

[@MLaserHistory]

I am very aware but fun fact. Up untill the 1950s Bandy used to get more fans and make more money than hockey in Sweden. It was only since the 50s that hockey overtook Bandy in the country.

[@MrKork1]

@@MLaserHistory It would seem suitable, especially with our climate.

[@CaptainBoban]

There are still towns in Sweden where bandy is more popular than hockey, however those towns are getting fewer and fewer every year. My hometown has both a hockey and a bandy team and the bandy team has way more people playing and connected to the sport.

[@Catarigue]

what up M. Laser!

[@MLaserHistory]

what's up

[@SilverionX]

Like most things, it builds on things that came before it. Very interesting to know the details though.

[@daidabus]

i love that youtube went ah yes you are going to listen to this in italian

[@MLaserHistory]

The new automatic translation tool is a bit wack.

[@honzabalak3462]

Nice video. Fun and educative.

[@justagi119]

Thanks Europe! We'll take it from here 🇨🇦🇺🇸

[@honzasrnka4796]

No idea why the US flag is there, the Yanks are trash at hockey.

[@adamfabian6969]

@honzasrnka4796 my exact thoughts

[@nuthinnobody3357]

I’m a proud Canuck. I dunno why you would think this. My American brothers and sisters are always considered a potential gold medal team in international play. Austin Matthews is considered to be potentially the best player in the NHL. He’s from California.

[@ColonizerChan]

@honzasrnka4796 The big 5 are Canada, Russia, USA, Sweden, and Finland. Cope.

[@adamfabian6969]

@@ColonizerChan more like Canada, Russia, Czechia Sweden and Finland

[@christopherbataluk8148]

It's interesting that in Canada the term "shinny", derived ftom the Scottish Shinty, persists but it's used to denote a disorganized game of hockey where there will be an irregular playing surface, numbers of players, fewer rules and sometimes only one net. Which is to say we recall the European precursors for their lack of the necessary structure and definition to be a sport.

[@carlinberg]

Sick cliffhanger

[@yossarian644]

Take a shot every time he says 'Stick 'n' Bowl game'

[@manfrommontreal]

Great video!

[@claudebuysse7482]

Very interesting video.

[@CJH-zx3cp]

You think we (Canadians) haven't discussed this in detail for decades?😂 After looking at all evidence, historians weighing in, and disecting all the theories we generally accept that there are three strong arguments to do with origin, and none of them involve its creation in europe. In fact, the most compellingly argument currently is that the game was adopted by us from the Mik maq people. Why its comoelling is that there were eye witness accounts of them playing this game on ice in Nova Scotia as early as the 17th century, and the tribe would be the soul producer of the hockey stick, globally, for the next 120 or so years. The tribe also considers the game a part of there culture. What people fail to realize is the Aztecs played two games half a millienia ago that kinda resembled NFL footbal and Soccer, but we don't credit them with those sports creations. Much like we dont credit any ball and stick game as being the father of hockey. It is said we took up this native game (much like with lacrosse) but we evolved it over time, which included european influences (likely borrowed from european sports). The game has evolved many times, and so the fingerprints of those whomhave contributed are quite international, saying its all of ours is a very true statement, but its but the games birth was certainly in north america, within the country of Canada.

[@alaksandutheexorkizein7634]

23:52 I know .. we know.. you really wanted say 'put on ice' instead.

[@Casmaniac]

But the real question remains "why you heff to be mad?"

[@85blutch]

It's just a game!

[@donkeysaurusrex7881]

There’s hockey and field hockey.

[@JH-lo9ut]

And there is bandy

[@Gui101do]

Yes! This is great stuff 🏒🥅

[@Gusararr]

A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. I'd love to see more sports covered like this-maybe tennis next, considering your history?

[@MLaserHistory]

Yeah, I should. My old history of tennis video, just like all my other old videos, is horrendous.

[@OscarOSullivan]

There is also bandy which comes from England

[@YarPirates-vy7iv]

Weird how we wound up going with calling it 'hockey' when we could have called it 'European-on-ice-stick-and-ball-game'. Rolls right off the tongue, I can see why you used it instead.

[@MLaserHistory]

When talking about history one needs to be precise in order to avoid confusion. But, yes, hockey is simpler hence why we call it hockey today.

[@YarPirates-vy7iv]

@MLaserHistory I like your version more.

[@presseagainidareyou4704]

I’d love if you did a similar video but about Basketball. It’s an American sport, and a rather young one and yet it is one of the most popular sports in Europe and much of the world today

[@connorboyle2585]

It has the same massive boon as soccer (it's cheap as dirt to get going) while requiring significantly less space and despite being a team sport it generally doesn't need more than 2 people to play. Honestly I'd be more surprised if it wasn't popular globally. Not a huge basketball fan but that would be an interesting video to see.

[@GarkKahn]

​​@@connorboyle2585the only thing more difficult than football being you need a high place to put a basket, unlike the other where you just put the goal somewhere on the ground 😂

[@daveweiss5647]

The Brits were truely the all time greats at codifying sports...

[@JonBrownSherman]

Great video but I think you could have reiterated a few more times about how it was called Bandy/English Bandy/ or just simply hockey (All in good fun, just givin you a hard time)

[@MLaserHistory]

It's sometimes hard to figure out how much I should reiterate or explain stuff in different ways. Sometimes I only mention things ones and people miss it or misinterpret it and other times I say it multiple times in different ways and people get annoyed about me repeating myself (not that this is you I am just rambling). Trying to gauge the proper amount of times I should explain something and how to explain most concisely is certainly a skill I need to improve.

[@gabrielseaborn257]

@@MLaserHistory taking the perspective of a favourite teacher of mine, I would go with repetition over saying it once. Even if people find it annoying, it'll stick in their heads all the better.

[@dank_obama6938]

why isn't finland mentiones when Finns invented the iceskates

[@samuelzackrisson8865]

What if they had called it association bandy or soccer for short

[@danielm6319]

Austria-Hungary? Croatia should be there.

[@greenblobfish9992]

If anyone knows how modern North American hockey works compared to how it worked in the 50s, they will know what the most important event in hockey history is LOL 🚩🚩🚩

[@greenblobfish9992]

Cant wait for the next video!!

[@grisflyt]

If you mean the introduction of the 2 line pass rule, it was introduced in 1943 The game was originally an on-side game like rugby. Rocket Richard played in the "modern era," though now the "modern era means something else.

[@Merapsco]

Cool!

[@Lcngopher]

17:31 🤬why?😂

[@MLaserHistory]

American, I presume :D

[@Lcngopher]

@ yep

[@In_Our_Timeline]

Fun fact: hockey pakistan national support

[@Lord_Lambert]

Maybe replace the ruZZian flag on the thumb with the Finnish one?

[@MLaserHistory]

The early history of hockey/bandy in Poland, Ukraine, Finland, the Baltics, etc. is very much tied to the Russian Empire and its involvement in the hockey world including its very bizarre way of allowing social clubs (i.e. sports clubs) to form, so the flag historically fits, sorry.

[@EFO841]

LFG

[@chris-2496]

Too bad for USA that they can't have their international competitions like European have with a team for each state. It's a different feel when national teams play each other. USA national team is just a behemoth with no spirit.

[@Eppu_Paranormaali]

Well, the USA being one country instead of 50 similar countries is making up for that crowning domestic club competition winners as "world champions", when some sports have been sported during breaks in advertisement marathons.

[@tlr5519]

Its not BCE its BC

[@JackMurphy-io2qz]

EUROS SUCK AT HOCKEY RAHHHH🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🏆🏆🏆🏆

[@georgeholly5489]

We'll forever have Nagano 98'. Gretzky crying, Fleury salty until these days, Yanks trashing their hotel rooms. Oh sweet memories

[@honzasrnka4796]

I'll let the maple Yanks have hockey given that they have literally nothing else

[@grisflyt]

How is it working for the Canadian teams in the NHL?

[@Mitsuraga]

Man, everyone wants to claim to be the first to have played hockey: white Canadians, black Canadians, indigenous Canadians, and also now Europeans, apparently. I'd love to see a real deep dive seeking to suss out the validity of these claims and determine the true, likely much more complicated than any one account suggests, origins and history of hockey. I can't help but notice the obvious omission of the independent Native American invention of a very similar sport in this video, as it suggests that it was an entirely European invention which was brought over to North America by European invaders.

[@MLaserHistory]

Canadian hockey was most certainly affected by indigenous games like lacrosse, so where football style games, and so was lacrosse the other way around. There isn't a 'first' for anything in sports history, it's all a chicken and the egg situation. Most sports were affected by each other, borrowing and changing features throughout history. Modern hockey involved from a mish mash of many other games. As I said at the start I just wanted to talk about European hockey in this video hence I talked about European hockey. If you want to talk about North American hockey you certainly can start with indigenous games that combined with European games resulting in unique Canadian stick and ball games which eventually affected the creation of 'Canadian hockey'. However, North American hockey isn't the topic of the video so I didn't talk about that.

[@bukelos2804]

"European invanders" he said. That makes everything you just wrote invalid in the meaning of having a healthy educational discussion.

[@Mitsuraga]

Look, whether or not you think European settlers had good intentions, the fact of the matter is that invading is literally what they did. There were people already living here, and then the English and the French and the Spaniards and other such came along to claim the land as their own. So, no. Nothing I said was invalidated by the use of a technically correct word, and you would do well to take a tone more like the vid poster's channel if you really want to have a civil discussion about it.

[@GarkKahn]

Same with football England is the official inventor. But some claim it was invented in ancient greece, others in china, also had similar stuff in america before europeans arrived, and so on

[@Mitsuraga]

That's what I mean. I think it's very interesting to explore these histories from different angles. It's not quite so important who was actually first, especially because, as MLaserHistory pointed out, that's such a hard thing to pin down with certainty when a lot of the earliest origins of sports weren't exactly recorded. It mostly stemmed from regular people seeking recreation. In any case, I really like what this channel was going for. Hardly anybody goes back further than Canada as we know it when talking about the history of hockey, and I really enjoy seeing things people think they know covered from new angles that shed new light on our understanding of it all.

[@ML-mm2th]

Imagine having Hockey as the favorite sport 😂 Cringe, really cringe