Aberdeen Oilers
Early in 2007, a group of enthusiastic young people set up a new sports club in Aberdeen. The sport is called floorball, an indoor variant of hockey, which can be described as a modern form of the more commonly known sport of unihoc. Fuelled by the enthusiasm of two students from the floorball nation of Switzerland and two ex-Dundee floorball players, the club was formed in record time.
Soon the word spread and the group of players prospered as members were attracted from all walks of life including students from the local education institutions and people living and working in the Aberdeen area. Quite a number of individuals of the initial group were employed in companies of the local oil industry – a fact which largely influenced the choice of the later adopted team name “Aberdeen Oilers”.
The Aberdeen Oilers meet weekly at Aberdeen Grammar School facilities for training sessions.
Floorball Season Events
Floorball League Meeting 1
| Date/Time | Location | Home | Away | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/10/2008 08:45 | Fife Institute | Balwearie Lightning | 1 | 8 | Balwearie Thunder |
| 12/10/2008 09:45 | Fife Institute | Aberdeen Oilers | 2 | 4 | Chapel |
| 12/10/2008 10:45 | Fife Institute | Dundee Northern Lights | 1 | 8 | Glenrothes Grrrowl |
| 12/10/2008 11:45 | Fife Institute | Edinburgh Floorball Club | 7 | 1 | Balwearie Lightning |
| 12/10/2008 12:45 | Fife Institute | Balwearie Thunder | 2 | 6 | Dundee Northern Lights |
| 12/10/2008 13:45 | Fife Institute | Glenrothes Grrrowl | 17 | 0 | Balwearie Lightning |
| 12/10/2008 14:45 | Fife Institute | Edinburgh Floorball Club | 2 | 8 | Chapel |
| 12/10/2008 15:45 | Fife Institute | Aberdeen Oilers | 3 | 1 | Glenrothes Grrrowl |
Floorball League Meeting 2
| Date/Time | Location | Home | Away | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09/11/2008 09:00 | Mayfield | Aberdeen Oilers | 9 | 5 | Dundee Northern Lights |
| 09/11/2008 10:00 | Mayfield | Edinburgh Floorball Club | 3 | 1 | Balwearie Thunder |
| 09/11/2008 11:00 | Mayfield | Chapel | 17 | 2 | Balwearie Lightning |
| 09/11/2008 12:00 | Mayfield | Glenrothes Grrrowl | 11 | 13 | Edinburgh Floorball Club |
| 09/11/2008 13:00 | Mayfield | Chapel | 5 | 6 | Aberdeen Oilers |
| 09/11/2008 14:00 | Mayfield | Dundee Northern Lights | 15 | 1 | Balwearie Lightning |
| 09/11/2008 15:00 | Mayfield | Aberdeen Oilers | 8 | 1 | Balwearie Thunder |
| 09/11/2008 16:00 | Mayfield | Chapel | 5 | 0 | Glenrothes Grrrowl |
| 09/11/2008 17:00 | Mayfield | Edinburgh Floorball Club | 9 | 4 | Dundee Northern Lights |
Floorball History
Floorball started to be played competitively in Britain about ten years ago with the initiation of the Great Britain Floorball Federation (GBFF), and numbers of active players have steadily increased since then. The development of the sport is however still lacking behind the “giants” of Sweden, Switzerland, Finland or the Czech Republic, where there are players playing professionally and a huge media and public interest. Nevertheless, looking at these other countries, floorball will surely see some major developments in Britain, Scotland and the local area over the next few years!
Floorball is one of the fastest developing sports in the world. It has its origins in northern Europe and is related to a sport called Bandy, which is a predecessor of modern ice hockey. However, floorball is played on a 20 x 40m indoor rink without the skates and the ice. Each team consists of a goalkeeper and five outfield players who can be substituted at any time and frequency during the game. Outfield players use a light stick with a curved plastic blade to play a hollow perforated plastic ball which can be easily lifted, bounced and deflected.
The special design of the ball allows it to be passed and shot at a relatively high speed. The world’s fastest floorball shot was recorded at a speed of 188 km/h! The rules of the game require fair play, do not allow for any high sticking, stick contact or body contact, so the game tends to be less physical and more skill oriented and fast paced. All these features combined including low equipment costs make floorball a very attractive sport and have resulted in its fast development throughout continental Europe and other places of the world including countries such as Australia, Malaysia or Brazil.
Aberdeen Oilers Floorball
With the help of a local company (Seatronics) we managed to get strips, which allowed us to play competitively in league games organised by the GBFF and so our first season began in September 07. The club is continuously expanding with more players being attracted, some who have played elsewhere before but many who had never heard of the sport.
We can now run two training sessions a week and during term time can include a two hour session as well. The clubs growth was also seen with increasing success in the northern league games where, at the last league games of the season, we managed to pull off three wins and secure 3rd spot. A great achievement for our first season, which allowed us to qualify for the British Floorball Nationals 2008. The Nationals were held on May bank holiday weekend in Stratford-Upon-Avon where we competed amongst the 8 top teams of the UK. The winner of the event goes through to the qualifiers for the European Floorball Cup, the “Champions league of floorball”.
The 08/09 season has begun and with a few more additions to the squad we really are aiming for the top. However, despite our competitiveness in the northern league, we are committed to the development and promotion of the psort and welcome all ages and skill levels to our training.
Recently we have gained some under 16s to boost youth numbers and will also be entering a ladies team into Scotlands first ever ladies league this season.
info [at] aberdeenfloorball [dot] org [dot] uk
Floorball websites
www.aberdeenfloorball.org.uk (our website)
www.floorball.org (International Floorball Federation)
www.northernfloorball.org.uk (GBFF Northern (Scottish) league page)
www.ladies.floorball.org.uk (brand new Northern Ladies Floorball site)
www.xfloor.tv (Floorball videos)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floorball (Wikipedia description)
http://www.bonessjournal.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?SectionID=960&ArticleID=... (newspaper article about another Scottish floorball club)
