Unicycle hockey
Unicycle hockey is a ball sport that is practiced on a unicycle . It is played with an ice hockey stick and tennis ball. Today unicycle hockey is played in many countries around the world, including Australia , Switzerland and Germany . The teams can be composed regardless of age and gender.
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In unicycle hockey, two teams play against each other. In each there are four field players and one goalkeeper , who has no special rights. It can be changed at any time.
It is played with ice hockey sticks and a tennis ball on ice hockey goals. Unicycles with wheel sizes up to 24 inches are permitted. The playing field is surrounded by a board and it can also be played behind the goals. Unicycle hockey is played without physical effort. It is forbidden to hold the club blade above waist level or to throw the club.
A foul is committed when the bat gets under or into an opponent's unicycle. For normal violations there is a corner kick or free kick . Particularly hard or unsportsmanlike violations are punished with 2 or 5 minute bans for the player concerned. If a clear scoring chance was prevented by a foul, the disadvantaged team receives a 6.50 m penalty (similar to a penalty kick in football). If the ball goes out of bounds, there is a free kick from the edge of the field of play.
A game consists of two halves , the duration of which depends on the tournament schedule. 9 to 20 minutes per half are normal. If a game that requires a winner (knockout mode and (semi) final game) is still tied after regular playing time, there will be five minutes of extra time without a golden goal . If the score is still tied, there is a penalty shootout. Here the teams alternately choose a shooter and a goalkeeper who compete against each other. The shooter starts with the ball at the center line while the goalkeeper is in the goal. The shooter may only move the ball forward. If the ball is moved backwards, the attack is deemed to have failed. As soon as the shooter attacks, the goalkeeper may move away from the goal. 3 penalties are played per team. In the event of a tie, play continues for one shooter until one team scores and the other awards.
Unicycle hockey in Germany
Probably the oldest documentation of this sport in Germany is a short scene in the film Varieté (1925), in which two men perform unicycle hockey on stage. In the 1970s, the Japanese Takafumi Ogasawara brought unicycle hockey to Germany.
LaHiMo, the first German unicycle hockey team, was founded in 1985 in Langenfeld , Rhineland . The second team, the Uniwheelers Bremen, was only founded in 1990 by Jens Stemminger, a year later a third team was added with Radlos from Frankfurt am Main . Other teams followed, so that in 1995 the German Unicycle Hockey League was founded with 13 teams . Since 1996 it has played the German unicycle hockey champions in a tournament mode every year. In the 2005 season, 51 teams were involved, in the 2019 season there are 89 teams from 12 German states as well as Great Britain, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. The table has been formed since 1996 using points that are earned in tournaments.
The German championship will be played in its own final tournament after the regular season. The best four teams qualify, supplemented by the best two teams from the qualifying tournament that took place beforehand.
There are two unicycle hockey strongholds in Germany: the Ruhr area and the area around Frankfurt am Main .
Switzerland
There are also some good unicycle hockey teams in Switzerland . Since 2003, the annual Swiss Championship "Swiss Unicycle Hockey League" has been held there in a league system with around 20 teams in three leagues with promotion and relegation. In 2003, a Swiss team was also able to become European champions for the first time , replacing the series winner Germany. In 2004 Switzerland also beat Germany in the World Cup, this title went to Switzerland in 2006 and 2010, as well as in 2012 and 2016.
Unicycle hockey international
In the United Kingdom (UK) , France , Denmark , the People's Republic of China , Japan , Canada , Australia , the USA and Sweden, games tend to be irregular. The UK has had a league again since 2007. In Asia there have been regular games between Hong Kong and Singapore since 2004. Korea has also played on the international stage since 2007.
World championships
Since 1994, a unicycle hockey world champion has been played at the biennial Unicon (world championship in unicycling). Until 2004, a team from Germany was always able to win the title. Since 2004, this has mostly been achieved by the Swiss unicycle hockey teams.
In July 2004 at UNICON XII in Tokyo ( Japan ), Switzerland won the first non-German title. In July 2006 the Swiss Power Team was able to defend the world championship title at the UNICON XIII in Langenthal (Switzerland). At UNICON XIV in 2008 in Copenhagen ( Denmark ), the title went back to Germany. EHC Bochum prevailed against the Gauls from SKV Mörfelden in a German final. In 2010 at UNICON XV in Wellington ( New Zealand ) the world championship title went back to Switzerland after the Swiss team defeated the German team deserters in the final. At the UNICON XVI in Brixen ( Italy ) 2012, the newly formed Swiss team successfully defended the world championship against the German team Baukau Boogaloos, who in turn prevailed against the Swiss two years later (2014) at the UNICON XVII in Montreal ( Canada ) in the identical final could. The Swiss team won at UNICON XVIII in 2016 in San Sebastian ( Spain ) and at UNICON XIX in 2018 in Ansan ( South Korea ).
Web links
- German unicycle hockey league
- Swiss Unicycle Hockey League
- UK Unicycle Hockey League
- Australian Unicycle Hockey League
- Official Rules (IUF Rulebook Part 14)
- TV report from November 26, 2011 at WDR ( Memento from November 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive )