Is Hockey Big in the UK?

[DavidDetroit]

Hockey is more popular here in the colder states which is logical. Michigan being butted up against Canada, hockey's made it's huge impact on the Detroit-Metro area. There is a very large, Redwings fan base in Windsor, Ontario, Canada due to proximity to Detroit versus Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It's like in American football, our Upper Peninsula (Michigan which has the Detroit Lions team) has plenty of Green Bay Packers fans (Green Bay, Wisconsin) because of proximity and distance from Detroit.

Anyway, do you have a lot of hockey rinks? Pro teams? Rink time is ultra-expensive here so only those with the dough really play.
Haven't been watching hockey much since it was taken off over-the-air TV. I now have cable, at least temporarily, to watch American football so I'm dipping a toe back into the sport.

 

[Galena]

I used to watch it when we used to go ice skating in the 80's, only because there was a break for it, I always preferred hockey skates, not that I was very accomplished. It is a minority sport in the UK but I think there is quite a healthy league and following. EIHL

 

[RichardM]

You mean Ice Hockey...we also have hockey played on grass. As @Galena said there is league here with teams from most major cities, but it is not as popular as football, rugby or cricket.

 

[dad_of_jon]

The Cardiff Devils were quite good for a bit apparently.

 

[RichardM]

The Cardiff Devils were quite good for a bit apparently.

They used to show their games on S4C, the Welsh Channel 4. One of my colleagues was a commentator. He was one of the few people in Wales who knew anything about Ice Hockey and spoke welsh.
They are still OK, third in the league Standings | Cardiff Devils

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I used to watch it then like most sport it went onto pay per view so I stopped.

 

[Stevieboy]

Ice Hockey, no, but Hockey on grass has a bit of cult following - I have a friend who is mad for it - all sorts of debauched tales from his Hockey Tours....

 

[Flat Foot]

I used to work with a guy who played hockey internationally for Scotland. Not a brag, it's just other than playing it at school it's my only link to the sport!

As for ice hockey, other than it being in films, never watched it.

 

[Eskimo John]

My town has an ice hockey team that does quite well nationaly and it has a strong local following:
https://www.guildfordflames.comBut it isn't something I follow although I have been to watch a couple of matches.
Cricket is my thing.

 

[MickDundee]

Ice Hockey, no, but Hockey on grass has a bit of cult following - I have a friend who is mad for it - all sorts of debauched tales from his Hockey Tours....

My school was a massive hockey school, we regularly had boys representing the region and a handful who were called up to play for Scotland at various youth levels. There was a running joke at the time that for one particular PE teacher to like you, you needed to either play hockey or be friends with his son - guess who was best man at my wedding.

In terms of ice hockey, when I was 17 I used to work as Kitchen Porter at the Dundee Ice Arena, and one of my jobs was to serve up the post-match lasagne to the Dundee Stars ice hockey team. They closed the kitchen 20mins before kick off so from 7pm to 9pm I basically got paid to sit and watch the ice hockey, take the lasagne out of the oven, take it through to the players’ lounge, mop the floor and lock the kitchen.

 

[Dorst]

It's funny when North Americans speak about hockey and most of the world asks them if they mean ice hockey.

Also in the Netherlands we would refer to hockey as field hockey and ice hockey as something really distinct. Field hockey is really big here but ice hockey is very much a niche sports here. We have a professional league with teams from both the Netherlands and Belgium. It's not really aired on television but it has a small and dedicated following - games in the finals tend to sell out quickly for example.

Even though the Netherlands has a long ice skating tradition ice hockey never really caught on. Where we are used to winning many titles in short track, speed skating, marathon skating - we are ranked number 24 in the world when it comes to ice hockey. As a northern nation that has really tall and big people than can skate well you would think we would do better but not really ;-)

 

[Braufather]

Belfast giants play here but I dont know anyone who watches them. I was once dragged to a game in London docklands. Not for me.

 

[HSD]

Played field hockey at school, good tough game from memory, very fast and quite violent! Never seen since will investigate.

 

[An Ankoù]

Played field hockey at school, good tough game from memory, very fast and quite violent! Never seen since will investigate.

That's exactly my experience, too. Must have gone to the same school.

 

[Graz]

Sports Played in North America	Rest of World
(American) Football	Rugby
Baseball	Rounders
Basketball	Netball
(Ice) Hockey	Hockey (with a ball on grass / artificial)
Soccer	Football
	Cricket

Just for fun by the way

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Anyway, do you have a lot of hockey rinks? Pro teams? Rink time is ultra-expensive here so only those with the dough really play.

English Ice Hockey list 57 "dedicated" ice rinks in the UK (equivalent per capita to 8 rinks in Michigan or 35 in all of Canada) and 129 ice hockey teams, although in the last 20 years or so you've seen a lot of "fun" open-air ice rinks popping up in public spaces at Christmas. Our mild winters mean that skating on "natural" ice outside has never really been a thing since the end of the Little Ice Age.

As others have said to the average Brit, "hockey" means field hockey, helped by the fact that we've historically done quite well at the Olympics in it, most recently more in the women than the men. It's still pretty niche though - like maybe lacrosse in North America? In contrast, we've not even entered a team for ice hockey since 1948, although we did beat Canada to the gold in 1936. But it's just not really a thing here.

 

[DavidDetroit]

PE teacher to like you, you needed to either play hockey

I did have a teacher like that when I was a kid. If you were good at sports, you were on the inside. In recollecting, it was utterly embarrassing the kind of favoritism he showed us.

 

[DavidDetroit]

Thanks a lot for the responses. Interesting.
It's much better getting individual thoughts here than going on Google since these are more nuanced and personal.

 

[Dorst]

Sports Played in North America	Rest of World
(American) Football	Rugby
Baseball	Rounders
Basketball	Netball
(Ice) Hockey	Hockey (with a ball on grass / artificial)
Soccer	Football
	Cricket

Just for fun by the way

Putting cricket with rest of the world shows a similar bias for the British haha. Outside of the UK and it's former colonies no one really cares much for cricket in my experience.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Putting cricket with rest of the world shows a similar bias for the British haha. Outside of the UK and it's former colonies no one really cares much for cricket in my experience.

The trouble with that argument is that India is HUGE, so cricket is the 2nd-biggest spectator sport in the world after football. You're just showing your Dutch bias Although the Dutch aren't bad at cricket...