Why has Russia so low hockey population ?

[Atas2000]

Do the media cover Bandy much?

Not much, but there are nationwide broadcasts.

 

[User9992]

Hockey isn't even among most popular sports in Russia.

It's soccer... then basketball, figure skating, biatlon, skiing, hockey, volleyball, boxing, greco-roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling, judo, olympic weightlifting, powerlfting, athletics, swimming, synchronised swimming, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, tennis, fencing, cycling, etc. Hockey is just a one of them.

Russia is all around Olympic country.

 

[Caser]

Hockey isn't even among most popular sports in Russia.

It's soccer... then basketball, figure skating, biatlon, skiing, hockey, volleyball, boxing, greco-roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling, judo, olympic weightlifting, powerlfting, athletics, swimming, synchronised swimming, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, tennis, fencing, cycling, etc. Hockey is just a one of them.

Russia is all around Olympic country.

In terms of 'TV popularity' hockey is clearly second behind football (soccer) with biathlon at third. In terms of 'practicing popularity' I don't think anything beats the 'school triad' of football (soccer), basketball and volleyball, just because it doesn't require anything special to play those.

 

[Lavina21]

I believe too much has been written about technical issues of players registration yet less has been said on the topic itself. I'd try to summarize the main factors as they are seen by me, an ordinary hockey fan living in Russia.

1. Russia is a poor country. Much poorer than Canada, USA, Sweden or Finland and significantly poorer than Czech Republic. This limits the amount of people who can afford bringing their kids to hockey schools as well as the number of indoor ice rinks and professional hockey teams. Russia can't use a half of its hockey potential having numerous regions greatly suitable for hockey yet lacking it. Tomsk, a big Siberian city with ca. 500K people, doesn't have any professional hockey. So does Ulyanovsk (600K). I can mention Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Orenburg, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Samara, Kirov, Izhevsk, Kemerovo and many more, where hockey is either absent or underdeveloped. Ice hockey coverage in Russia is much smaller than it could be in a country with such climatic conditions, had we more financial resources.

2. Russian hockey indeed has to face a high competition with almost all winter and summer Olympic disciplines. Although it's very popular in our country and is actively battling with biathlon and soccer for the first place in terms of popularity, huge human and financial resources are stolen by a good dozen of other sports. Among them is bandy, which is extremely popular in a number of the Russian regions, thus preventing ice hockey development there (Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Arkhangelsk, Kemerovo).

 

[vorky]

I believe too much has been written about technical issues of players registration yet less has been said on the topic itself. I'd try to summarize the main factors as they are seen by me, an ordinary hockey fan living in Russia.

1. Russia is a poor country. Much poorer than Canada, USA, Sweden or Finland and significantly poorer than Czech Republic. This limits the amount of people who can afford bringing their kids to hockey schools as well as the number of indoor ice rinks and professional hockey teams. Russia can't use a half of its hockey potential having numerous regions greatly suitable for hockey yet lacking it. Tomsk, a big Siberian city with ca. 500K people, doesn't have any professional hockey. So does Ulyanovsk (600K). I can mention Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Orenburg, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Samara, Kirov, Izhevsk, Kemerovo and many more, where hockey is either absent or underdeveloped. Ice hockey coverage in Russia is much smaller than it could be in a country with such climatic conditions, had we more financial resources.

I would not say that Russia is poor or poorer. Russia is simply a very big country. And there are regions where hockey has tradition and the regions without such tradition. Lately, the Russian hockey federation & government have plans about hockey infrastructure (small venues for youth) to be built. Not speaking about the construction of big venues over 10-12000 seats for the KHL clubs. You can not see anywhere in Europe such a construction boom. And Russia is investing much more money into hockey than any European country in last decade. Plus hockey academies are building in various cities.

 

[Atas2000]

I believe too much has been written about technical issues of players registration yet less has been said on the topic itself. I'd try to summarize the main factors as they are seen by me, an ordinary hockey fan living in Russia.

1. Russia is a poor country. Much poorer than Canada, USA, Sweden or Finland and significantly poorer than Czech Republic. This limits the amount of people who can afford bringing their kids to hockey schools as well as the number of indoor ice rinks and professional hockey teams. Russia can't use a half of its hockey potential having numerous regions greatly suitable for hockey yet lacking it. Tomsk, a big Siberian city with ca. 500K people, doesn't have any professional hockey. So does Ulyanovsk (600K). I can mention Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Orenburg, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Samara, Kirov, Izhevsk, Kemerovo and many more, where hockey is either absent or underdeveloped. Ice hockey coverage in Russia is much smaller than it could be in a country with such climatic conditions, had we more financial resources.

2. Russian hockey indeed has to face a high competition with almost all winter and summer Olympic disciplines. Although it's very popular in our country and is actively battling with biathlon and soccer for the first place in terms of popularity, huge human and financial resources are stolen by a good dozen of other sports. Among them is bandy, which is extremely popular in a number of the Russian regions, thus preventing ice hockey development there (Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Arkhangelsk, Kemerovo).

1. LOL even if you are from Ulyanovsk which is God knows not prominent for being a boom town in Russia you just present the usual russian whining culture and not the reality. Do you actually know what life in the Czech Republic or those other countries looks like? I do. The number of rinks is an issue, but it was throughly adressed lately. Other than that the amount of people who could afford hockey for their kids is around the same as in any "rich" country. No offence, Czechs, but the Czechs are far, far behind there.

How many professional teams should Russia have? Russia has a ton of big cities by european standards. If every single one of them had a pro hockey team we woyld have 50-70 team leagues which is nonsensical. There are enough. There isn't enough support for youth hockey. The list of cities you name is also atrociously bad. Samara has Togliatti nearby which is much bigger in hockey. While Samara still has enough hockey there. Izhevsk has a very healthy hockey tradition, so what are you talking about? You sound like every city over 100K should have a Gagarin Cup contender. That's nor realistic nor smart. What financial resorces do you speak of? Should our economy revolve around hockey alone and not other sports too for whatever reason?

2.You miss the most important point. Russia is one of the very few big sports nations. Kids can do DIFFERENT sports. That's the point. The affordability of hockey is as bad as anywhere else. And you are completely wrong with those media narratives. Stop telling me absurd tales about popularity of biathlon. And God knows bandy is not the reason for hockey's non-existent problems.

It is really all about pretty dumb statistics approaches. There are more than enough hockey players in Russia. It's the quality of the deliberately destroyed development system that is affecting the current state of affairs.

 

[Atas2000]

Hockey isn't even among most popular sports in Russia.

It's soccer... then basketball, figure skating, biatlon, skiing, hockey, volleyball, boxing, greco-roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling, judo, olympic weightlifting, powerlfting, athletics, swimming, synchronised swimming, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, tennis, fencing, cycling, etc. Hockey is just a one of them.

Russia is all around Olympic country.

That is not true. Basketball and voleyball are somewhere far, far behind hockey. And while football is inexplicably popular, hockey is easily a top2 sport.

 

[filip85]

That is not true. Basketball and voleyball are somewhere far, far behind hockey. And while football is inexplicably popular, hockey is easily a top2 sport.

Long time ago I was listening radio broadcast of handball game between CSKA and Zagreb, and broadcaster said how game is not well attended because "here in Russia, hockey is sport no.1"...that was back in early to mid 90-s.

Same was said for Switzerland, when croatian newspapers interviewed Mladen Petrić (former attacker for Basel and croatian NT) and he said "soccer is popular here, but ice hockey is sport no.1".

 

[Yakushev72]

Let's be honest, there are few if any sports where Russia is a dominant force anymore. Not even in Women's Gymnastics is there domination! Russia has a reputation as a hockey power borrowed from the Soviet era, but there has mainly been mediocrity at all levels since the early 1990's. Only two really dominant hockey players, Ovechkin and Malkin, have been produced by the Russian system in the last 30 years. Russia has a near monopoly on cold weather, and given the size of the population, you would think there would be a clear advantage in producing talent in sports that require skating on frozen water. And yet, since the early 1990's, Russia has placed mainly from 3rd to 6th place in the Olympics, World Championships, World Junior Championships, and so on.

Why is it that Russia is more or less locked out of the top 2 podium spots? Unless you accept some crazy theories about racial or ethnic superiority, there is an obvious lack of investment, or at least not enough to prevent tiny countries like Finland from giving them a good butt-kicking, as in the Junior tournament. In the 4 countries that Russia is struggling to keep within reach: Canada, the USA, Sweden, and Finland, investment in hockey comes from cities and towns dotting the countries, whereas in Russia, local government investment is almost nonexistent! There is just a few hockey centers that built hockey schools with funds collected from Federal functions like CSKA. The fact that the RHF was willing to empower a largely ceremonial figure like Larionov to coach the Russian team in a respected international tournament illustrates just how disinterested top officials are about whether things are going to hell or not!

 

[Atas2000]

Long time ago I was listening radio broadcast of handball game between CSKA and Zagreb, and broadcaster said how game is not well attended because "here in Russia, hockey is sport no.1"...that was back in early to mid 90-s.

Same was said for Switzerland, when croatian newspapers interviewed Mladen Petrić (former attacker for Basel and croatian NT) and he said "soccer is popular here, but ice hockey is sport no.1".

There is no reliable and representative research on that matter. It is obvious football is also vastly popular, hockey though is way more successful internationally. That is also the usual source for jokes between hockey and football fans in Russia.

 

[Yakushev72]

I believe too much has been written about technical issues of players registration yet less has been said on the topic itself. I'd try to summarize the main factors as they are seen by me, an ordinary hockey fan living in Russia.

1. Russia is a poor country. Much poorer than Canada, USA, Sweden or Finland and significantly poorer than Czech Republic. This limits the amount of people who can afford bringing their kids to hockey schools as well as the number of indoor ice rinks and professional hockey teams. Russia can't use a half of its hockey potential having numerous regions greatly suitable for hockey yet lacking it. Tomsk, a big Siberian city with ca. 500K people, doesn't have any professional hockey. So does Ulyanovsk (600K). I can mention Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Orenburg, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Samara, Kirov, Izhevsk, Kemerovo and many more, where hockey is either absent or underdeveloped. Ice hockey coverage in Russia is much smaller than it could be in a country with such climatic conditions, had we more financial resources.

2. Russian hockey indeed has to face a high competition with almost all winter and summer Olympic disciplines. Although it's very popular in our country and is actively battling with biathlon and soccer for the first place in terms of popularity, huge human and financial resources are stolen by a good dozen of other sports. Among them is bandy, which is extremely popular in a number of the Russian regions, thus preventing ice hockey development there (Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Arkhangelsk, Kemerovo).

I think your analysis is completely correct. The idea is to let kids have fun playing in yard rinks and such and then at the appropriate time, move those who show some talent and interest indoors, where they can develop skills under the supervision of coaches. That requires money, and those regions that you cited have either been unwilling or unable to pursue such goals. In practical terms, even countries like Finland have larger number of young kids who have the opportunity to develop their talents. Probably less than 20% of kids who have sufficient talent will never have the opportunity to develop it because of lack of rinks, coaches, and other resources that require finances.

 

[Botta]

I would not say that Russia is poor or poorer. Russia is simply a very big country. And there are regions where hockey has tradition and the regions without such tradition. Lately, the Russian hockey federation & government have plans about hockey infrastructure (small venues for youth) to be built. Not speaking about the construction of big venues over 10-12000 seats for the KHL clubs. You can not see anywhere in Europe such a construction boom. And Russia is investing much more money into hockey than any European country in last decade. Plus hockey academies are building in various cities.

Agree, you have built almost 200 indoor rinks in Russia the last year. There are almost no rinks being constructed in the Scandinavian countries. Russia is doing fine. 790 rinks compared to Sweden that has 360. You will soon have 1000 rinks, nothing to worry about.

 

[Didalee Hed]

Because in russia, population make you

 

[BlueSeal]

I don't know where yall are getting your numbers but according to Ice hockey rinks in the world | Statista

Russia has 612 indoor rinks and 2,710 outdoor. Since Hockey was invented by Canada it makes the most sense that Canada would have more rinks than anyone else. Given that a good chunk of Russia has ice for a lot of the year I'd figure any sort of 'league' play could be played more outdoors than in, given their poverty line and the common sense that, hey, why would you spend MONEY to keep an indoor rink frozen when you can play the same game outside for FREE.

According to that site, it's Canada - US - Russia and then everyone else. I'd argue there are more Russians playing than noted for the same reasons that inner kids here play Basketball.

 

[Yakushev72]

I don't know where yall are getting your numbers but according to Ice hockey rinks in the world | Statista

Russia has 612 indoor rinks and 2,710 outdoor. Since Hockey was invented by Canada it makes the most sense that Canada would have more rinks than anyone else. Given that a good chunk of Russia has ice for a lot of the year I'd figure any sort of 'league' play could be played more outdoors than in, given their poverty line and the common sense that, hey, why would you spend MONEY to keep an indoor rink frozen when you can play the same game outside for FREE.

According to that site, it's Canada - US - Russia and then everyone else. I'd argue there are more Russians playing than noted for the same reasons that inner kids here play Basketball.

The figure of 790 indoor rinks is what is published by the IIHF. That would be the number that the Russian Hockey Federation registered with the IIHF. I am a little suspicious that close to 200 rinks were built in Russia from 2019 to 2020, but it is likely more accurate than the Statista website that you reference. The ability to skate outdoors is probably a critical factor in separating the power countries from the rest of the world - otherwise countries like Brazil might be great - but at a certain age and competitive level, you have to play indoors to seriously compete for world titles. In the USA, there are a lot of places like Dallas that have indoor rinks but no outdoor ice, so the game is off-limits to everyone other than a small wealthy demographic that can afford it. Canada has the most intense hockey culture, but I think that Russia can compete with the USA even in its current underdeveloped state.

 

[Liga]

But what is the definition of registered player Canada? Imo, the definition is applied extremely liberally there.

I have an old work colleague from Sault Ste. Marie who is registered but only plays open hockey.....his kid is also registered yet plays every Saturday in some community center league. Those two would certainly NOT be considered registered in Russia.


Maybe Jussi would have more on this, but info from another forum I post at I found:

Finnish national sports survey conducted in 2005-06.

Adults (19-65):
Total ice hockey players in club hockey: 33,000

Juniors (3-18):

Total ice hockey players in club hockey: 47,500

I'm told only club players are considered registered...although I'm uneducated to what the definition of a club hockey player is.

Eighteen years ago 80,500 hockey players are great.

 

[Liga]

Between 3 and 5 millions fans in Russia and not many international fans?

 

[Czechboy]

Since it got bumped? Is this true? I actually feel like the Russian hockey is growing and building. Feels like a lot of good things happening. Especially on D and G.

 

[Caser]

Since it got bumped? Is this true? I actually feel like the Russian hockey is growing and building. Feels like a lot of good things happening. Especially on D and G.

What you are talking about is the top of the hockey iceberg, so the pro level and the top junior production, it is indeed producing pretty good talent. However even if we look at the male pro level, currently there are only two tiers, so in terms of the total pro player numbers it is also far from perfect.

As for this thread, it is about discussing some total number of hockey players that play some any sort of organized hockey, calculated by some unknown methodics, so not exactly about what you're mentioning here. Still I can imagine this abstract total number is lower than in some other top hockey countries particularly because to be fair hockey is not that popular in Russia and requires a bit more effort/costs to be played and organized - if we compare it to football/soccer.

 

[Petes2424]

It doesn’t help with how little their National Teams have played in recent years. Whether through suspension or what’s going on today. People done understand how big the National Teams were, and the National Pride they were responsible for. Kids wanted to be like those heroes. Right now, they basically have a generation who hasn’t grown up with that.

 

[Fantomas]

It doesn’t help with how little their National Teams have played in recent years. Whether through suspension or what’s going on today. People done understand how big the National Teams were, and the National Pride they were responsible for. Kids wanted to be like those heroes. Right now, they basically have a generation who hasn’t grown up with that.

The OP's post is from 2013, you're off base.

 

[Golden_Jet]

The entire country only has 346 indoor rinks, so I doubt very much the numbers are much higher than reported.

Countries ranked by number of ice hockey rinks 2023 | Statista

In the 2022/23 season, there were 2,860 indoor and 5,000 outdoor ice hockey rinks located in Canada according to the International Ice Hockey Federation.

www.statista.com

Edit: didn’t realize this was an 11 year bump

 

[Fantast100]

Hockey isn't even among most popular sports in Russia.

It's soccer... then basketball, figure skating, biatlon, skiing, hockey, volleyball, boxing, greco-roman wrestling, freestyle wrestling, judo, olympic weightlifting, powerlfting, athletics, swimming, synchronised swimming, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, tennis, fencing, cycling, etc. Hockey is just a one of them.

Russia is all around Olympic country.

Soccer is expected greatest sport in popularity then hockey sixth is unexpected.

 

[DaaaaB's]

Lol at people saying Canada is counting rec hockey players. If that was true our number of registered players would be more like 5 million than 550k. Simple fact is that Canadians like Hockey a lot more than Russians do.