Sidestory: On the trails to the source of floorball in Switzerland  

A conversation with Rolf "Hurti" Widmer should give us the answer

There are numerous theories of the source of floorball in Switzerland. One thing they have in common though: the name "Hurti" Widmer stands out. He supposedly is the man who brought the sticks to Switzerland. Actually he never brought them here, they were already here. He "merely" found them. But that story later. We met Rolf Widmer, also known as "Hurti", at the World Floorball Championships in Kloten, where he was invited by the Swiss Floorball Association as honorary member. As elementary school teacher he is also accompanying two school classes to the game Switzerland - Russia. We asked him about "his" sport.

"I always wanted to find an alternative sport to ice hockey", "Hurti" explains and emphasizes, that he has always been a great ice hockey fanatic. The newpaper "Blick" describes him as the man who "placed hockey into sneakers". A headline he still likes to quote today. He often was a target of ridicule to the people he wanted to tell more about the sport. "I was laughed at and hardly found support to spread floorball among gym clubs. "His "hall hockey"" was added to the fieldhockey association, what wasn't his vision. For the founding of an own association, "Hurti" was ignored and he left the scene.

We are more interested about the source of floorball. The Association Zurich Nord (no longer in existence) was supposedly the first floorball club. And what is up with these ominous sticks? "As a student I found a box of sticks, brand "unihoc" in a corner of a gymhall in Zurich. I didn't bring them here from Sweden and absolutely not from America, what has been published wrongly before by someone. Then he started to spread the sport at the University, having written the rules by himself. In the beginning, the sport was played outside and goal cages for handball were used. In "Hurti's" rule book the close similarities with ice hockey were apparent: the ball was wheighted and was allowed to be caught by hand. The goalkeeper played with a stick of course.

What is "Hurti's" view of the game today? The material is much better. He grins and says, that "anyone can play floorball with this material". "Art-Hockey" is what "Hurti" calls the hockey he saw. "If I observe the players at the WFC, I have the impression that floorball has not come a far way since my days". Well, at least the games of the "artists" are followed by several thousand spectactors. Not only in Scandinavia, also in top games in Switzerland and at the WFC. "Hurti" must accept, that there have been changes since his time. His dream of a game similar to ice hockey has not materialized.