International Ringette Federation

The International Ringette Federation (IRF) is a non-profit amateur sports organization and the highest governing body for the sport of ringette. Today the member countries of the IRF Board includes 4 member nations – Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States of America.

International Ringette Federation
Fédération Internationale de Ringuette
AbbreviationIRF
Founded1991 (1991)
TypeSports federation
Legal statusGoverning body of
Ringette
PurposeSport governance
HeadquartersOttawa, Canada
Region served
Worldwide
Membership
4 members:
Official languages
English, French, Finnish
Jane Casson
WebsiteOfficial website

The IRF is the organization responsible for administering the World Ringette Championships tournament, designed to provide a competition for the world's elite ringette players and help showcase the sport on the international stage. The inaugural year of the IRF World Ringette Championships took place in Canada in 1990.

Historically, Canada and Finland have been the most active ambassadors in the International Federation. Canada and Finland regularly travel across various countries to demonstrate how ringette is played. Canadian teams have demonstrated in countries including Japan, Australia, Iceland, and New Zealand. The sport has also been introduced to Slovakia, Russia, Estonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.[1]

History

Twenty-three years after the sport of ringette began in Canada, the first successful attempt to organize a group dedicated to the promotion and development of the sport internationally resulted in the creation of the World Ringette Council (WRC). The first international congress in was held in Helsinki, Finland, in 1986 and was attended by representatives from five countries: Canada, Finland, Sweden, the United States and France. The sporting body was also determined to establish an elite level of international competition for ringette.[2][3]

After the organization administered the first World Ringette Championship tournament in 1990, the World Ringette Council (WRC), the precursor to the IRF, changed its name to the International Ringette Federation in 1991, possibly to avoid confusion due to the fact that it had the same acronym as the world event, the World Ringette Championships (WRC).[1]

For a period of time a separate competition was organized for the Junior elite level of ringette, the World Junior Ringette Championships, but the competition has since discontinued as a separate tournament and has now merged with the World Ringette Championship as a whole.

The organization also held the Ringette World Club Championship in 2008 but discontinued the tournament after the 2011 competition.

In 2012, the International Ringette Federation announced new promotional activities in Norway, Slovakia, as well as in South Korea.

Initial organization leaders (WRC)

The World Ringette Council's (the IRF predecessor) leaders were as follows:

Initial organization leaders (WRC)
Position Name
President Betty Shields
(Also the then president of Ringette Canada)[4]
Vice President Antti Simola
(Also the then president of the Finnish Ringette Association)[5]
SecretaryWes Clark
TreasurerDale Friesen
Board of DirectorsComposed of 4 members, appointed from the member countries

Member countries

Member countries today include Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States of America. Only Canada and Finland have had national offices with full-time staff.

Although France was initially represented in 1986 at the first meeting of the IRF predecessor, the World Ringette Council, to date the country has never formed a national body for the sport.

Member countries 2021
Member Countries
Country National governing body Location Founded Joined IRF
CanadaRingette Canada[6]Ottawa19741986
FinlandSuomen Ringetteliitto[7]
(Ringette Finland)		Helsinki19831986
SwedenSvenska Ringetteförbundet[8]
(Sweden Ringette Association)		Solna19941986
USAUSA Ringette[9]1986
FranceN/A1986

Canada

The national sporting body governing the sport of ringette in Canada is Ringette Canada.[10] The association's office is located in Ottawa. It joined the International Ringette Federation in 1986.

Finland

In Finland, the national organization for the sport of ringette is Ringette Finland.[11] The National Association of Ringette of Finland (Ringette Finland) was created in 1983. The association's office is located in Helsinki. It joined the International Ringette Federation in 1986.

Sweden

The Swedish Ringette Association, known in Swedish as the Svenska Ringetteförbundet,[12] is a special sports association for ringette. It was formed in 1994 and was elected as an associate member of the Swedish Sports Confederation in 2003.[13] The association's office is located in Solna. It joined the International Ringette Federation in 1986.

USA

The two major national sporting organizations for ringette in the USA are USA Ringette[14] and Team USA Ringette.[15][16] It joined the International Ringette Federation in 1986.

France

France was initially represented in 1986 at the first meeting of the IRF predecessor, the World Ringette Council. However, to date the country has never formed a national body for the sport.

The country has sent national ringette teams to compete at the World Ringette Championships in the past but has not done so since 2012.

World Ringette Championships
Main article: World Ringette Championships

The World Ringette Championships (abbreviated WRC) was held for the first time in Canada in 1990. The following year in 1991 the World Ringette Council changed its name to the International Ringette Federation (IRF) possibly to avoid confusion due to the fact that it had the same acronym as the world event.[1] For a brief period of time a separate tournament for junior ringette players, the World Junior Ringette Championships was organized but has since merged with the senior world competition program.

Canadian National Ringette Team

Canada is home to one of the leading national ringette teams in international play and has one of the most successful national ringette teams in the world. Canada selects two national ringette teams for international competition: one national junior team and one national senior team. Both teams compete in the World Ringette Championships tournament. Canadian teams compete in both the Junior Pool and the Senior Pool competitions.

The national senior ringette team competes in the elite competition called, "The Sam Jacks Series".

Finland National Ringette Team
Finland National Ringette Team logo

Finland is home to one of the leading national ringette teams in international play and has one of the most successful national ringette teams in the world having won the most world titles in the senior division.

National ringette teams compete in the World Ringette Championships tournament. Finnish national ringette teams compete in both the Junior Pool and the Senior Pool competitions. The national senior ringette team competes in the competition known as the Sam Jacks Series.

Sweden National Ringette Team

Sweden selects one or two national ringette teams for international competition to compete in the World Ringette Championships tournament in Junior and Senior age groups.

Team Sweden currently competes in the President's Pool competition though a Junior Sweden team has competed at the World competition as well.

USA National Ringette Team

USA selects one national ringette team for international competition to compete in the World Ringette Championships tournament. The most recent World Ringette Championship appearance by Team USA Ringette was in the 2019 World Ringette Championship which took place in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Team USA took on Sweden and the Czech Republic in the President's Pool with the USA falling to Sweden in the championship game 5–3, finishing 2nd and bringing home the silver.

Slovakia and the Czech Republic

Teams from Slovakia and the Czech Republic have also competed at the World Ringette Championships. Both countries have formed national organizations for ringette but are not currently official members of the International Ringette Federation.

Both countries compete in the President's Pool.

France and Russia

France was initially represented in 1986 at the first meeting of the IRF predecessor, the World Ringette Council, but does not have member representation today. Russia has never had a representative body for the sport of ringette to date. Neither country has formed a national body for the sport.

In the past, France and Russia both sent national ringette teams to compete at the World Junior Championships for ringette, but only during the second World Junior Championships in December of 2012 in London, Ontario, Canada. This was the last year the junior event was held separately from the World Ringette Championships after which a new U19 division was created.

Other tournaments

World Junior Ringette Championship

The World Junior Ringette Championships was a tournament in 2009 and 2012 organized by the International Ringette Federation (IRF) for elite international Junior ringette athletes but no longer functions as an event, having since been merged with the World Ringette Championship where both Senior and Junior divisions now exist.

Ringette World Club Championship

The Ringette World Club Championship was an international ringette competition held in 2008 and 2011 and was organized by the International Ringette Federation. It featured the top teams of the Canadian National Ringette League (NRL), the Finnish Ringeten SM-sarja and Swedish Ringette Dam-SM.

References
  1. "IRF History".
  2. "IRF History".
  3. "Discover the history of ringette. A sport that needs to be known!". 28 January 2019.
  4. https://www.ringette.ca/
  5. "Etusivu - Suomen Ringetteliitto Ry".
  6. https://www.ringette.ca/
  7. "Etusivu - Suomen Ringetteliitto Ry".
  8. "Svenska Ringetteförbundet".
  9. https://teamusaringette.com/
  10. "Ringette Canada". Ringette Canada.
  11. "Etusivu - Suomen Ringetteliitto Ry". ringette.fi.
  12. "Svenska Ringetteförbundet".
  13. "Historia och organisation - Uppslagsverk - NE.se". www.ne.se.
  14. "Welcome to usaringette.org". www.usaringette.org. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  15. "Team USA Ringette". teamusaringette.com.
  16. "Team USA Ringette". teamusaringette.com. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
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