The Beginnings of the International Ice Hockey Federation

The foundation of the International Ice Hockey Federation in 1908 was rather complex, as the very essence of the game had to be defined. On the one hand, it had to be decided (not least organisationally) whether ice hockey was to be a discipline of its own or just a sub-discipline of ice sports together with speedskating and figure skating. On the other hand, and more importantly, several different sets of rules were in place and there even existed two distinct ice hockey games: English bandy and Canadian ice hockey. This article reviews international ice hockey relations prior to the foundation of the federation, the foundation process and early development of the federation, the social position and sports careers of the founders and early officials as well as international ice hockey tournaments prior to World War I.