History
Indoor hockey developed in Germany during the 1950s, quickly spreading to other European nations. Belgium was one of the countries to adopt the field hockey variant, and in 1966 René Frank, a native of Belgium, who was later to become President of the FIH, persuaded the German Hockey Associations to give responsibility over the rules of Indoor Hockey to the FIH. This led to the FIH recognising indoor hockey in its constitution in 1968.
Whereas in many countries field hockey is played all year long, in Germany and Austria the hockey season is divided evenly into a field hockey half in summer and an indoor hockey season in Winter. There has been criticism that this impairs these countries' chances in international field hockey competition, but on the other hand the north European climate favours indoor hockey in Winter, as outdoor pitches may be unplayable due to snow and ice. In Germany's case one could argue that it complements and enhances skills of their players with the German Women winning gold in Athens Olympics and German Men winning the 2006 Field Hockey World Cup, the 2007 indoor hockey world cup and gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In Germany indoor hockey is quite popular with many players, as due to the smaller fields and the use of side-boards the game-play is much faster. It is also both technically and physically very demanding.
The first FIH sanctioned tournament matches of Indoor Hockey were played in 1972.
Read more about this topic: Indoor Field Hockey
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