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Ringette

Women playing ringette in Canada's National Ringette League (NRL)
Highest governing body	International Ringette Federation
First played	1963; 62 years ago (1963) Espanola, Ontario, Canada First ringette team: Espanola High School girls ice hockey team
Characteristics
Contact	no, incidental limited no body checking level of allowable contact differs at international level
Team members	2 Forwards 2 Defenders 1 Centre 1 Goaltender
Type	Female Team sport Winter sport
Equipment	Ringette ring Ringette stick Ice hockey skates Ringette girdle with pelvic protector (a.k.a. "jill) Ringette pants Shoulder pads not required (depending on age, level, and location) Other protective gear
Venue	Standard Canadian ice hockey rink with ringette markings
Presence
Olympic	No
Paralympic	No
World Games	No

Ringette is a girls' non-contact winter team sport played on an ice rink using ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips and a blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice surfaces. The sport was created in Canada in 1963, primarily due to the efforts of Sam Jacks and Red McCarthy, and is now one of the most popular team sports for females in Canada where its registration rates reached an all-time high in 2018. Today, ringette is one of the fastest team sports on ice.

Though similar in appearance, ringette is not a variant of ice hockey and the sport is often incorrectly claimed to have been created for females the due to a lack of opportunities for females to play ice hockey, or as a non-contact version of ice hockey. Until 1963, girls and women did not have a team skating sport for the winter season which they could call their own, nor could they play one which wasn't dominated by male athletes. While most team sports produce elite athletes who are male, ringette has produced an entire elite level of athletes who are female. Unlike ice hockey, bandy, and rinkball, it is the only ice skating team sport to have achieved this goal in history. Ringette is now classified as an invasion sport by USA Hockey and has been designated a Heritage Sport by Sport Canada.

The game objective is to score more goals than the opposing team. Each goal is worth one point. Barring any penalties, teams have a total of six skaters on the ice at one time, one of whom is a goaltender. Body checking is not allowed whatsoever at any age level, boarding qualifies as a penalty, and fighting has a zero-tolerance policy. High-sticking is penalized. In ringette, there is no icing or offsides. A shot clock was introduced into the sport in the 21st century to stop teams who were in the lead from running out the clock. The sport is played on ice hockey rinks and while it uses some lines and markings used in the sport of ice hockey, it also uses ones created specifically for ringette. Players must pass over every blue line. Instead of faceoffs there are free passes from the circles, and players cannot enter the goalie's crease.

The game was first conceptualized in 1963 by the Canadian, Sam Jacks, after having served as a soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces during World War II, where he had also been in charge of sports for South West England. Although initially created for young players, ringette is now played competitively by women at the international level, the college and university level, and in semi-professional ringette leagues. Ringette's major model has been set by the female sex rather than male while the majority of women's team sports, such as women's ice hockey and women's bandy, are variants of their sport's more popular men's game model and are therefore categorized by sex. Beginning in the 1980s, ringette's highly unusual success in producing an elite base of female players rather than male paradoxically caused the sport to become a target for radical gender feminists, gender parity feminists, and other ideologically driven polemicists, a phenomenon which continues in the 21st century.

The sport is often incorrectly claimed to have been conceived as non-contact variant of ice hockey created for female participants. It was initially envisioned as a potential indoor court sport for girls to play during winter before the inclusion of ice skates became a reality. The sport's early formation involved incorporating concepts from basketball and an early 20th century variant of floor hockey with ice hockey playing a more peripheral and minor role. Its off-ice variant is known as gym ringette which was primarily designed for youth and should not be confused with floor hockey. While the game has one organized off-ice variant, it has never developed a roller sport companion involving either inline skates or roller skates. Similarly it has never developed an organized skateless winter variant like the ice hockey variant, spongee. Ringette does not have a parasport variant.

The sport is most popular in Canada and Finland with both countries forming the top international teams, coaches, officials, and female athletes on a regular basis. Internationally, half-a-dozen countries currently participate and organize in the sport with the largest community found in Canada with over 30,000 participants registering annually. Ringette has spread to the United States, Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and unofficially to the United Arab Emirates. The World Ringette Championship is the premier, elite international competition for the sport. The next World Ringette Championships (WRC) will be held in 2022 in Espoo, Finland from October 31 - November 6. The annual Canadian Ringette Championships serve as Canada's premiere competition for the sport's elite amateur athletes. Ringette is also a part of the Canada Winter Games program.

Play

Ringette players use ice hockey skates and a straight stick to pass and shoot a blue, hollow, rubber ring. The stick is a long rectangular shaft made of either wood or a composite material with a tapered end and a drag-tip which is often replaceable. The sport uses an ice rink for its playing surface and is played on either an indoor or outdoor ice surface.

Ringette officially uses ice hockey rinks with lines and markings specific to ringette added. A ringette rink is similar to but different from those used in ice hockey. At major venues such as the World Ringette Championships, the ice only includes markings used exclusively for the sport of ringette. The goal nets used in ringette are identical to those used in ice hockey (6 ft by 4 ft.), however the goal crease used in ringette is larger and players cannot enter the crease. The ringette rink uses five free pass circles, each of which has a bisecting line. There is no offsides rule in ringette and no icing. In 2000, a 30-second shot clock was introduced to prevent players from running out the clock, improve the flow of the game and increase the speed of play, but was only introduced in the Canadian Junior (U16), Junior Belle and Belle (U19), and Open (18+) divisions in 2002.

The absence of body checking as a strategic component is one of the sport's distinctive features. There is no intentional body contact in ringette though incidental contact does at times occur. Body checking and boarding are forbidden and qualify as a penalty. Fighting is also forbidden in ringette and has a zero-tolerance policy. The only type of checks allowed are stick checks which are performed by either using the stick in a sweeping motion to knock the ring away from the ring carrier or by raising the ring carrier's stick upwards by lifting or knocking it, followed immediately by an attempt to steal the ring. Sticks may not be raised above shoulder height and high-sticking is penalized.

Two teams compete simultaneously. No more than twelve players are allowed on the ice at one time. There are six players on each side consisting of five skaters and one goaltender per team. The game objective is to outscore the opposing team by shooting the ring past the opposing team's goaltender and into the goal net during stop-time periods of play. A goal is deemed as such if the ring crosses the goal line entirely. Should any part of the ring remain on the goal line, it's not considered a goal. Ringette goalies have the added responsibility of putting the ring back into play in three different game situations: one after stopping a shot on net, one when a defensive player passes the ring to them, and the other during a goalie ring (a free pass made by the goalie from inside the goalcrease). In each of these three situations the goaltender has five seconds to throw, push or pass the ring to another player. The goalie can pass the ring to a teammate beyond the blue line using the stick. Goalies are the only players allowed to play the ring with their hands but are only allowed to do so from within their goal crease.

In ringette the ring must be passed over each blue line. A player cannot carry the ring over a blue line in either direction. The ring must be passed over the blue line to another teammate. The blue line rule was introduced early in the sport's development by Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy when the girls ice hockey team he was working with noticed checking was difficult. Without the ability to use the body to check an opponent as a means of stopping their progress and due to the fact that it was more difficult to separate a ring carrier from a ring than a hockey player from a puck, a new rule needed to be introduced. The blue line rule had the additional effect of forcing players to create more plays and passes and created a better sense of team play.

The start of every game begins with a free pass from the free pass circle at centre ice. During the rest of a game, free pass circles are used for restarting the game after a goal or a violation. Players may not enter the circle unless they are the player making the free pass. The player making the pass may not exit the circle before passing the ring and must not cross the bisecting line.

Physical contact

There is no intentional body contact in ringette though incidental contact does at times occur. Body checking and boarding are both illegal and qualify as penalties, a feature of the sport dating back to its inception. Fighting is not allowed in ringette and has a zero-tolerance policy. At the international level, the level of allowable body contact may differ.

Unlike female ice hockey, rough play is avoided in ringette, helping ringette circumvent the associated problems confronting modern female ice hockey as once noted by Dr. Cal Botterill of the University of Winnipeg:

And don't think women's hockey is any different than men's hockey. I wrote a letter to the NCAA after Jennifer graduated to tell them they'd better police their sport or it will turn out just like the men's game. It's going down the same road. If they don't start calling infractions in the women's game with much more authority, there will soon be far more thugs in women's hockey than talented players.

— Scott Taylor, "Hockey violence skates offside", Winnipeg Free Press

Body checking is not allowed whatsoever at any age level regardless of the competitive level in question. This feature dates back to the early 1960s when Samuel Perry Jacks discussed his initial concept of the new sport's basic rules with Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy, a recreation director with the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA), who would then begin experimenting with its rules and structure in Espanola, Ontario:

Jacks had a drawing with diagonal lines on an ice surface and said the game should be feminine and not rough. He even suggested a three-foot line around the boards which could be a buffer zone, where no body contact would take place.

— Mayer, Norm (1989), The origins of ringette, The Sudbury Star

The absence of body checking as a strategic component is one of the sport's more recognizable features because it is often compared to ice hockey. Body checking has at no point been used as a tactic in the sport. Ringette's foundational design was influenced by rules and concepts derived from basketball, and an early 20th-century Canadian variant of floor hockey, which excluded body contact. The floor hockey variant involved had been codified by Sam Jacks in 1936.

Players

Only six players on each team are permitted on the ice at one time, one centre, two forwards, two defenders, and a goaltender.

Age groups

There are several levels of play in ringette, categorized by age. In Canada, all divisions were renamed as U* divisions under the newly created Long Term Development Plan (LTDP) rolled out nationally by Ringette Canada for the 2009-10 ringette season.

Age groups in Canada are as follows:

For the 2000/01 Canadian Ringette Championships season, three age groups were merged to form a new single one called, "Open". Previously there were three different age groups divided into "Open", "Intermediate", and "Deb". The Open level is now for players 18 or 19 years of age and older and stops at the "Masters" level, which is for players 30 years and older.

Periods of play

International rules are used in the World Ringette Championships and consist of 4 quarters which are 15 minutes each.

In the Canadian semi-professional league, the National Ringette League, games consist of 4 quarters which are 15 minutes each with a 10- to 12-minute break between the second and third quarters.

Domestic rules in Canada govern the sport's recreational format. A game is 2 halves with 16 to 24 minutes in each period while many of the competitive "U" teams play 2 periods of either 20 or 30 minutes each.

The shot clock

The shot clock is only applied in competitive levels, starting at the petite level (U12). The team in possession of the ring has 30 seconds to shoot, though this rule does not apply to the younger teams (Bunny/U8, and Novice/U10).

The shot clock is reset when possession of the ring changes teams, when the ring stops in the goaltender's crease, or when the ring bounces off of the goalie or the front of the goal posts.

Ringette rink

Most ringette rinks are found in Canada and Finland. Playing area, size, lines and markings for the standard Canadian ringette rink are similar to the average Canadian ice hockey rink with certain modifications. The rink utilizes most of the standard ice hockey markings used by Hockey Canada but with additional markings including 4 free-pass dots in each of the end zones, 2 free-pass dots in the centre zone, and a line demarcating a larger goal crease area which is shaped in a semi-circular fashion. Two additional free-play lines (also known as a "ringette line" or "extended zone line") are also required, with 1 in each end zone. Since ringette rinks are essentially ice hockey rinks with additional lines and markings, some lines and markings used in ice hockey are not used in ringette while new ones such as the "Free Play Line" are added.

Ice rinks with exclusive lines and markings for ringette are usually only created at venues hosting major ringette competitions and events. Early in its history, ringette was played mostly on rinks constructed for ice hockey and broomball and was mostly played on outdoor rinks since few indoor ice rinks were available at the time, though the first indoor ringette game took place in Espanola, Ontario, in 1963.

Rink dimensions

A ringette rink has a width/end zone of 25.9 metres or 85 feet. Its length is 60.96 metres or 200 feet.

Zones

There are three zones in ringette: the end zone, the central zone/neutral zone, and the free play zone/extended zone.

• End zones are on opposite sides of the rink and are cordoned off by the blue line and include the space between the end boards and the closest blue line. Each end zone includes: Blue line: (1), Free-play line (aka ringette line): (1), Free-pass circle: (2), Free-pass placement dots: (4), Goal crease: (1), Goal line (aka end zone line): (1)
• The central/neutral zone is the space between both blue lines. This zone includes: Free-pass circle: (1), Free-pass placement dots: (2), Red centre line: (1), and sometimes an on-ice official's crease.
• The free play zone/extended zone consists of the space between the free play zone (a.k.a. extended zone line, ringette line) and the closest blue line. This zone is the space between the blue line and free-play line in an end zone. There are no markings within this area.

Ringette rink lines and markings

• Centre line

The centre line aka "red line" or "neutral zone line" is a single red line dividing the ends of the ice occupied by each team.

• Ringette goal crease

Rink markings include the goal crease. The goal crease is a zone in front of the goal mouth where only goalies are permitted. Only the goaltender can play a ring that is in, or touching, the goal crease. The crease is demarcated by a line shaped in a semi-circular fashion. The goal crease in ringette is larger than the one used in ice hockey.

• Goal line

The goal line extends lengthwise across the rink in the end zone near the end boards. Its role is to help determine when goal has been scored. As expected, this is the line that separates a goal from a non-goal when it comes to the ring crossing through to the net. A goal is deemed as such if the ring crosses the goal line inside the net entirely. Should any part of the ring remain on the goal line, it's not considered a goal.

• Free-play line (aka ringette line)

The red line at the top of the defensive circles is called the Free Play Line, the Ringette line or is alternatively known as the "Extended Zone Line" in some areas. It marks the restricted area of each team's attacking/defending zones. Only three players from each team, plus the defending goaltender, are permitted into the restricted area beyond this line.

• Blue line

There are two blue lines in ringette. These lines help divide the ice into three major sections: centre ice and the two end zones.

Players are not permitted to carry the ring over either of the two blue lines either singularly or in combination, the ring must be passed over each blue line to another player. The ring must be touched by another player first before the passer may take possession again. A ring carrier cannot pass the ring to herself.

There is no offside in ringette.

• Free-pass circle

Free pass circles are used for starting the game or restarting the game after a goal or a violation. All free pass circles include a bisecting line with the exception of the one at centre ice which uses the centre line. The ringette rink includes five free-pass circles, one at centre ice, and two in each of the respective end zones. Each circle is divided in half by a line, with the exception of the free-pass circle at centre ice which is divided by the centre line.

• Placement dot

Each free-pass circle has two free-pass placement dots. One of each of these two dots is placed on either side of the dividing line.

Equipment

The sport of ringette uses a specially designed blue rubber pneumatic ring made for play on ice. Some ringette rings are also available in pink but aren't typically used in official game play.

Ringette sticks are straight and do not have a blade of any kind, but do have drag tips at their end. Ringette sticks must conform to specific rules including those which determine the acceptable measurements for the taper and face of the stick. The stick and the tip must also meet the minimum width measurements.

Required equipment for ringette is similar to ice hockey. Ringette players, including goaltenders, use ice hockey skates and ice hockey goalie skates. At all levels, ringette players must wear a pelvic protector, essentially the female equivalent of a jockstrap, known colloquially as a "jill" or "jillstrap". Equipment and safety standards have undergone a variety of changes as the game has developed.

Safety standards

Several pieces of protective gear must meet certain safety standards that are approved and certified by national agencies such as helmets, facemasks, and neck protectors. In Canada, this usually means the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). Affixed CSA markings are not mandatory in Canada and are not legally required. When they are it is done so as a voluntary certification. The CSA mark is a registered certification mark, and can only be applied by someone who is licensed or otherwise authorised to do so by the CSA.

Neck protectors used by ringette players in Canada must be BNQ certified and approved. BNQ stands for Bureau de normalisation du Québec. Based in Quebec, BNQ is an organization that created the standard for cut-resistant neck guards. The test requires the neck guard have a certain amount of coverage that is determined by standards that BNQ developed. The test is a blade on a swinging test apparatus that is run across the neck guard to test for cut penetration.

Required equipment list

Ice skates Ice hockey skates are required. The ice skate model in official use today is the same as the design used in the team sport of ice hockey as opposed to the ice skate model used in figure skating, speed skating or the team sport of bandy. Ringette goalies may use the goalie skates designed for ice hockey goalies.

Ringette sticks

Ringette sticks are straight and do not have a blade of any kind, but do have drag-tips at their end. Ringette sticks must conform to specific rules including those which determine the acceptable measurements for the taper and face of the stick. The stick and the tip must also meet the minimum width measurements. With the exception of goaltenders who use a stick designed for their specific position, all players use a straight stick ending in a rectangular-shaped drag-tip that includes ridges around its circumference. The drag-tip is usually made of steel, aluminum or plastic.

Ringette sticks are generally lightweight composites or hollow wood, with ridged or grooved drag-tips. Heavily splintered sticks and modified hockey sticks are not permitted. These sticks have tapered ends, with plastic drag-tips specially designed with grooves to increase the lift and velocity of the wrist shot. A ringette stick is also reinforced to withstand the body weight of a player; a ring carrier leans heavily on his/her stick to prevent opposing players from removing the ring. Sticks are flexible and lightweight to bend without breaking.

Face-masks

Ringette requires all players including goalies to wear an approved helmet with an approved ringette face-mask. Ringette facemasks are similar to those used in ice hockey but its bars are spaced so that the end of a ringette stick cannot enter the mask. Bars are often noticeably shaped in a triangular fashion, not squares.

Face-masks must be designed specifically for the sport of ringette, either a wire cage design or a wire-cage combo which includes a half visor made of a clear plastic shielding the eyes. All face shields must be made of an unbreakable transparent material and are made of a type of plastic. Some clear plastic models are designed entirely for the face and include holes near the bottom for breathing. Masks must be affixed to an approved helmet model; mask designs with square bars commonly found in ice hockey are disallowed because the stick tip can fit through the spaces; designs with tightly horizontally spaced bars near the bottom half of a wire and visor combo may be approved.

Mouthguards

A mouthguard in required in some leagues and provinces in Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States.

Neck guard

An approved'neck guard is required for both players and goalies. Neck protectors used by ringette players in Canada must be BNQ certified and approved. BNQ stands for Bureau de normalisation du Québec. Based in Quebec, BNQ is an organization that created the standard for cut-resistant neck guards. The test requires the neck guard have a certain amount of coverage that is determined by standards that BNQ developed. The test is a blade on a swinging test apparatus that is run across the neck guard to test for cut penetration.

Shoulder pads

Shoulder pads with chest protection are required in some Canadian ringette associations and provinces. Shoulder pads are optional after U12. In Ontario, Canada, shoulder pads are necessary until 18+, while other Canadian provinces may vary.

Elbow pads

Elbow pads are required.

Gloves

Ringette or ice hockey gloves are required for players (see Goaltenders for goalie glove information). Sometimes broomball gloves are also used by very young ringette goaltenders but are illegal to use at higher age levels.

Protective girdle

A protective girdle with built-in genital protection, a.k.a. a "jill", is required. "Jill" is the colloquial term for the genital protection designed specifically for female athletes.

Pants

Ringette pants are sports pants that extend all the way to the ankles to cover equipment. Standard ice hockey pants which extend to above the knee are also permitted.

Shin and knee guards

Shin and knee guards are required to be worn under the player's ringette pants.

Goaltenders

Required equipment for ringette goaltenders is similar to ice hockey with a few differences.

Goalie stick

The goalie stick is identical to those used in ice hockey.

Goalie gloves

Goalie gloves for both hands are required. Apart from using an ice hockey goalie blocker on their stick side, ringette goalies have a choice in the use of one of four options for their catching/throwing side: the broomball glove (sometimes called a "ringette" glove), another ice hockey goalie blocker, an ice hockey trapper, or the sport's only design specifically for ringette goalies, a ringette goalie trapper, colloquially known as a "Nami glove", or "Keely glove". Broomball gloves are usually only used by very young ringette goaltenders but are illegal to use at higher age levels.

Goalie skates

Ice skates are also required for ringette goalies. Ringette goalies may use the goalie skates designed for ice hockey goalies.

Basic rules

The first rules for ringette were drafted in 1963. A number of changes have since occurred. In ringette all play begins with either a free pass or a goalie pass.

Centre Ice Free Pass

The game begins with a "free pass" at centre ice by the visiting team. This is formally called a "Centre Ice Free Pass", a "Centre Free Ring". Play does not begin with a face-off.

The circle at center ice is divided into two halves by the centre red line. To begin a free pass at centre ice at the start of a game, a player from the visiting team stands inside the half which is closest to their defensive zone. No other player on the ice is allowed to enter any part of the circle and only one player may be inside the circle until the ring has completely exited the circle. The player taking the pass is also allowed to stand outside of the circle, then enter it after the whistle marks the start of the play. Once the whistle is blown to start the play, the passing player has five seconds to make the ring exit the entire circle with the intention of making a pass, though the opposing team is allowed to intercept the ring.

During the pass attempt the passing player may not exit their half of the circle or cross the centre red line or the play is stopped, and the opposing team gains possession and is given a free pass of their own.

A free pass at centre ice is also taken after every goal, when the play has been interrupted in the centre zone, and at half time to start the second period or at the beginning of a new quarter in either a semi-pro or international game.

Blue lines

Players are not permitted to carry the ring over any blue line. They can only advance the ring over a blue line by passing it to another player. After the ring crosses the blue line, the ring must be touched by a different player from either team first or it is considered a violation and play is stopped.

One exception to this rule is when the ring the player has passed over the blue line bounces off another player's skate, in which case the passing player can legally regain control of the ring and take possession again.

If the ring crosses over both blue lines, the team that passed it may not touch it until the opposing team touches the ring first. If the ring is picked up by a player after whose teammate has passed it over both blue lines, the play is stopped, their team loses possession, and the opposing team is given a free pass.

If a goaltender throws the ring across the blue line, a delayed violation is signalled. The goaltender may use their stick to pass the ring over the blue line.

The blue line rule was introduced early in the sport's development in the 1960s by Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy when the girls ice hockey team he was working with noticed checking was difficult. Without the ability to use the body to check an opponent as a means of stopping their progress and due to the fact that it was more difficult to separate a ring carrier from a ring than a hockey player from a puck, a new rule needed to be introduced. The blue line rule had the additional effect of forcing players to create more plays and passes and created a better sense of team play.

Zone restrictions

Player restrictions

All players have areas they may and may not enter barring the "first three in" rule and in the event that the goalie has been "pulled" to gain an extra attacker.

1. The centre player may access all areas of the ice except either their own goalie's crease or the opposing goalie's crease. They may not enter a free pass circle during a free pass unless they are the player taking the free pass.
2. Forwards (wingers) may only access the areas of the ice up to the free-play line a.k.a. extended zone line which is marked off in their own teams defensive end zone. Forwards may cross the zone line only in the event of a play involving the first three in rule, but there must be no more than three players in the defensive end zone at a time except in the case where the goalie has been pulled. If their goalie has been pulled, four players are allowed in the end zone. They may not enter a free pass circle during a free pass unless they are the player taking the free pass.
3. Defensive players may only access the areas of the ice up to their opponents' free-play line. Defensive players may cross the zone line only in the event of a play involving the first three in rule, but there must be no more than three players in their offensive end zone at a time except in the case where the goalie has been pulled in which case four players are allowed. They may not enter a free pass circle during a free pass unless they are the player taking the free pass.
4. Officials circle - some rinks and games involve the use of an officials circle which has its own rules for player access once play has stopped.

Exceptions include:

• The defending team must have one player out of the free play area. If a team has two penalized players, only two players in addition to the goaltender may be in the zone.
• If a team has pulled their goaltender, an additional player is allowed into the attacking or defending zone. The goaltender must be completely off the ice before the additional player is permitted to enter. Once the goalie is pulled, any of the players from that team may enter the goaltender's crease and play as goalie – but cannot carry the ring out of the crease.

If the violation is non-intentional, the team in violation will lose possession of the ring and have it granted to the non-offending team. If the violation is deemed intentional, a delay of game penalty is assessed (rare). If an intentional violation occurs in the last two minutes of the game, a penalty shot is awarded instead. The Extended Zone Line is also known as the "ringette line".

Pulling the goalie

A team may pull the goalie off the ice and one more player may go in the offensive or defensive end. If the goalie is pulled and the play returns to that team's defensive end, one skater may become an acting goaltender. Once they enter the crease, they are bound by the same rules as a regular goaltender. If a team pulls the goalie without adding an additional player to the ice, the goalie may return to the defensive end.

Violations

A violation is a minor penalty called for violations of game play rules, usually due to improper movement or handling of the ring. Common violations include entering the crease, touching the ring on either side of the blue line, four players in the zone and 2 (blue) line passes.

If a violation is committed by the team in possession of the ring, play is stopped immediately. The ring is awarded to the opposing team in the zone the violation occurred. If a violation is committed by the team not in possession of the ring, a 'delayed violation' is signalled by the official (arm raised with a 90-degree bend at the elbow) and a 5-second count begins. If the team in violation touches the ring within that time period, play is stopped and the violation is assessed. If the count expires, the violation is dropped and play continues.

If a violation occurs that would award the defending team a free pass in their own zone, the ring is given to the goaltender as a "goalie ring". Play resumes immediately when the goaltender receives the ring. Time is not provided for teams to perform line changes as can be done on a free pass, although on-the-fly changes are permitted as in normal play.

Penalties

Penalties in ringette have the same concept as in hockey, with the notable exception that less body contact is allowed and fighting has a zero-tolerance policy.

Penalties are of the following classes:

Minor penalties

Minor penalties, such as boarding, charging, cross-checking, elbowing, holding, illegal substitution, hooking, high-sticking, tripping, body contact, slashing, unsportsmanlike conduct, and interference. The offending player must sit in the penalty box for two or four minutes depending on the severity of the penalty (other exceptions apply) and her team plays short-handed. The penalty ends when the team with the penalty is scored on, or the penalty time runs out. (If the defense is serving two penalties, the oldest penalty ends.)

Major penalties

A major penalty is assessed for serious offences, generally involving intent to injure or an intentional penalty action to prevent a shot during the attacking team's breakaway. Major penalties are four minutes in length and do not end upon the scoring of a goal.

Body contact, slashing, tripping, boarding, charging and any other physical contact penalty, and unsportsmanlike can become a four-minute major penalty depending on the severity and roughness. Players may also receive multiple penalties at the same time for a combination of four or more minutes.

Misconduct and Match penalties

Misconduct and Match penalties may also be called. They result in a player's ejection from the game. Misconduct and Major penalties also incur a two- or four-minute fully served penalty to be served by a teammate, unless the penalty is assessed to a non-playing bench member.

Goalie penalties

When a penalty is assessed against the goalie, a teammate on the ice at the time of the offence must serve it.

Team with multiple penalties

A team can work off at most two penalties at a time.

If a team commits a third penalty, the penalized player sits in the penalty box, but her interval does not start until the first of the other penalties expires (and so forth if there are more penalties).

Basic skills

Ringette has developed a wide range of skills and techniques over the course of its development. This includes but is not limited to skating skills, shooting, passing, pass receiving (often called "spearing"), checking, dekeing, and drive skating among others. Like in ice hockey, skating is considered the most fundamental of all the skills that must be mastered.

Types of shots

In ringette, a player's handedness is determined by which side of their body they hold their stick. Though some players are effective using both sides, this isn't very common.

In ringette, players have four shots: the sweep shot, the flip shot, the wrist shot, and the backhand shot. Some shots are performed on both the forehand and backhand.

Off-ice variants

Gym Ringette

The off-ice gym variant of the ice sport of ringette is called gym ringette and was developed in the 1990s, largely by Ringette Canada the national governing body for the sport of ringette in the country. The game is designed to be played in gymnasiums and currently is primarily administered for play among youth though adult leagues are known to have been created. The playing area usually involves a gymnasium or indoor court though "gym ringette" has occasionally been played on dry dek hockey rinks.

Sam Jacks's floor hockey was a rudimentary form of hockey created as an alternative ice sport with its rules codified in 1936 by Sam Jacks himself. By the 1990s gym ringette was created as a floor sport variant of ice ringette by introducing new rules and team-play concepts for the gymnasium floor. It is meant to be played as a stand-alone activity or as a form of dryland training to help players develop ringette skills which are transferable to the ice game.

Gym ringette should not to be confused with floor hockey though at one time the floor hockey variant whose rules were codified in 1936 by Sam Jacks during the Great Depression did eventually play a role in the early development of the winter sport of ringette in the 1960s. The floor hockey model created by Sam Jacks used a flat, open disk made of felt with a hole in the centre, not a ring. Gym ringette is a direct variant of the ice skating sport of ringette.

A number of its own variants exist, some formally or otherwise. Some are played with floor hockey rules, the orange gym ringette rings, and gym ringette sticks and have been accidentally mislabeled "Ringette" when the codes being used are in fact those from a variant of floor hockey.

Gym stick

The sticks used in gym ringette are often lightweight and made of a type of plastic and have tips designed to minimize possible damage to the flooring which is used. It is also safer for children and therefore requires less safety equipment and is relatively inexpensive.

Gym ring

Gym ringette uses a different type of ring than the ice sport. The gym ring is bright orange in color unlike the ice ring which is blue and is made of a different material than the ice ring, allowing it to slide easily along floors without causing damage; conversely the ice ring is made of a type of rubber which has a substantial amount of grip which creates a fair amount of friction and therefore does not slide along surfaces like floors, cement or asphalt and will instead come to an almost immediate stop.

Street variant

A growing trend in more recent years has seen older players engaged in a street variant of gym ringette which involves using normal ringette sticks (made for the ice) which are heavier, but with its players wearing protective eyewear, ringette gloves, ice hockey gloves, or street hockey gloves, and occasionally shinguards designed for either floorball or street hockey. These games are most often seen played on surfaces designed for dek hockey though informal games do occur on the average residential street. In these games the ring used is not limited to the gym ringette ring; at times an ice ring can be seen used by players. The ice-ring however creates specific challenges because of the amount of grip produced by the type of rubber used to create it due to the fact that it was designed specifically for use on the ice and meant to be durable when used in cold winter environments.

To date no formalized rules or governing body exists for this variant and this game appears to be an activity that is only pursued in limited areas of Canada thus-far, most notably Quebec.

Wheeled variants

To date, there has never been an off-ice variant of ringette using either inline skates or roller skates (a.k.a. "quads") that has been developed with a set of formalized rules or large governing body.

Common misconceptions

Origin myths

Girls not allowed to play ice hockey

A popular myth surrounding the origin story of ringette in several countries, including Canada, proposes the idea that due to sexism, girls either did not or were not permitted to play ice hockey and that ringette was created as an alternative, However, evidence for these claims does not exist. Girls were playing the winter team sports of broomball and ice hockey in North America, but there was a lack of interest on the part of the female population despite their ability to access the available programs offered for girls.

In the early 1960s a group of girls from Espanola High School who had played ice hockey during physical education classes became the first to play an organized game of ringette under the direction of Mirl Arthur "Red" MCarthy. The Canadian girls high school ice hockey team who played the first official ringette game in Espanola in 1963 was featured on a Canada Post postage stamp in 2009, listed as a Canadian invention under the category of, "Sports". In addition, women had been playing early forms of bandy in Europe for over a century. Bandy, which was initially called, "hockey on the ice", was a non-contact team sport involving ice skating and was played by both men and women. Bandy and its related varieties played on ice skates disappeared from North America by the early 1900s after morphing into the new sport of ice hockey and therefore did not exist as an option for either sex to play. Similarly, girls and women had been playing ice hockey in Canada since the late 1800s. However, both bandy and ice hockey were most popular among male players and remain so in the 21st century. What did not exist until the creation of ringette was an ice skating team sport that was popular among girls instead of boys and a winter season team sport girls could call their own.

These myths surrounding the sport's origin, development, and participation rates, have also been espoused by the National Hockey League's Brian Burke.

Girls used to play with girls, and girls used to play ringette in Canada. The average American won't know what ringette is, but it was an ice sport for women with no body contact. It was designed to give them something to do on the ice. Well, those girls play hockey now.

— Val Ackerman, "A conversation with Brian Burke", ESPN, (April 3, 2013)

A similar misandristic conspiratorial claim insists ringette was created to, "keep girls and women out of ice hockey". However, evidence for this claim doesn't exist either, with girls and women's ice hockey programs already in existence when ringette was invented.

Lack of interest and misinterpretation

The early set of rules for ringette show that the lack of participation in female ice hockey was due to a lack of interest among the female population despite the available opportunities. By the 1960s, girls and women had been playing ice hockey in Canada since the late 1800s and the earliest rules for ringette, written by Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy for the Northern Ontario Recreational Directors Association (NORDA) in 1963, involved the help of various high school girls ice hockey teams in Espanola, Ontario.

The earliest rules created in 1963 evolved into ones created by the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO) in 1965. These rules make mention of local girls broomball and girls ice hockey programs in the areas and regions covered by the SDMRO, the organization responsible for developing ringette after its initial development by NORDA in 1963. Female interest in playing ice hockey for sport had failed in North America including the areas where ringette developed as indicated by a lack of growth, yet this recorded phenomenon is often falsely framed by western gender feminist ideologues in sport as a phenomenon to be blamed on men.

In Canada, the Fitness and Amateur Sport Act had only come into force in 1961 and ringette was created only 2 years later in 1963. By 1976, there were only 101 female ice hockey teams in Ontario, Canada where ringette had been created 13 years before. Only a few thousand females in Canada played ice hockey prior to the 1990s. In 1983 (twenty years after ringette was created) there were over 14,500 ringette players in Canada. That same year the number of players registered in the female category of ice hockey in Canada, was a mere 5,379 which was less than 40% of ringette's numbers. Female ice hockey only began to experience significant growth in Canada after organizers began removing body checking from the female game. Body checking in some of the women's hockey leagues in Canada were completely removed by 1986, but it wasn't officially removed from the international level until the 1990s.

Body checking in female ice hockey

In the 1960s, body checking was still used in both the male and female categories of ice hockey in Canada. Body checking was not officially removed from the female game of ice hockey in Canada until 1986 after which its registrations saw an increase. Ringette by comparison eliminated body contact and body checking from the very beginning of the sport's developmental model. The ice skating team sport of bandy, long played by both sexes for over a century, is older than ringette (1963) but organized in England in the late 1880s, around the same time ice hockey began organizing in Montreal, Canada. Bandy has never had bodychecking as a part of its official codified rules set.

Girls had to compete against boys

In the 1960s there was no legitimate distinction between male and female ice hockey apart from biological sex. They were essentially the same game. Until body checking was removed from the female game in the 1980s–1990s, a separate category for women existed but was not recognizable as a distinctly different game.

By the early 1980s in Canada, female ice hockey registrations were only marginally above 5,000. In 1976, there were only 101 female ice hockey teams in the Canadian province of Ontario. In the 1960s, there were even less.

As a direct consequence of a smaller number of female participants in ice hockey, girls in the 1960s who chose to play ice hockey did not have a well established national system organized for the female sex. As a result, if a girl chose to play ice hockey during puberty, adolescence, and beyond, they often had to compete against their physically bigger, stronger, and better male peers who were so due to biologically based male advantages. The girls did not want to compete against the boys. The same held true right up until the mid-1990s till the turn of the 20th century:

Until the CWHL (founded in 2007) and NWHL (2015) existed, mixed-gender play was the norm. Without professional women’s hockey to shoot for, girls had no choice but to play on boys teams. As they got older, they had the option to play in college, then a narrow crack at making an Olympic squad..."I stopped playing with the boys and went over to girls, but I still practiced with boys because the pace of the game was faster," said Coyne. "But girls can grow up with girls hockey now, and we didn’t have that growing up."

— Marisa Ingemi, Bigger, Stronger, Faster: Women’s hockey outgrowing its dependence on the men’s game, Boston Herald (February 7, 2019)

Today tens of thousands of girl play ice hockey in Canada, meaning Canadian parents no longer have to put their daughters on boys hockey teams and girls can join girls teams. Only once a well populated female centred ice hockey system and category was in place was a national female system for ice hockey able to develop in Canada. Girls today are far less likely to be forced to compete against boys in ice hockey the way they once had to during the 1960s because a shortage of female competitors is not the obstacle it once was.

Female ice hockey was disorganized until the 1990s

Before the 1980s–1990s, female ice hockey did not officially exist as a separate game from the men's and boys game. They were the same game. By the mid-1980s, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) came under pressure to formally codify a consistent set of rules and structures for the women's ice hockey game, a variant of men's ice hockey, but failed to do so, leading to calls for the formation of a separate women's international ice hockey federation. However, International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch informed the IIHF that the IOC would not communicate with separate federations. Women's ice hockey would not establish an official female category of the sport with a codified international model until the 1990s, almost a century after ice hockey's rules were first codified by men in Montreal.

Lack of viable equipment for girls and women

The availability and use of protective gear for ice hockey in the 1960s was minimal and tended to exclude helmets and face-guards. There was an absence of viable ice hockey equipment for mature female players which was often designed for male players and the male body.

Lack of incentives, not sexism

All of the above factors consequently acted as a disincentive for potential female hockey players. Unlike Canadian parents in the 1960s who had daughters who played ice hockey, Canadian parents in the early part of the 21st century have a wide array of viable equipment choices for them and put them in the Canadian girls ice hockey system, not the Canadian male ice hockey system, which would not be done if a separate system exclusively for girls had not been built, and if observable biological differences between the sexes didn't exist. Girls in Canada prior to the 1990s were discouraged from playing ice hockey due to the understandable consequences, not sexism.

Missing international perspective

The claim that parental exclusion of girls in hockey was based on sexist ideas also ignores the historical reality of sports participation by girls and women internationally. Ice hockey by the 1960s was not the only ice skating team sport played by girls and women. Women and girls had also been playing the non-contact sport of bandy since the 1800s, even before ice hockey had become an established sport in North America. In fact, an international match between women's bandy teams from Sweden and Finland (HIFK Bandy) took place in Helsinki, Finland in 1935 at the Helsingfors Ice Stadium, where a portion of the match was captured by British Pathé. This international women's bandy competition took place in Finland, 28 years before the first set of rules for ringette were laid down in Canada and 55 years before the first official world competition for women's ice hockey was held in 1990. However, while bandy in its loosely defined format had been played in various forms after being introduced to North America by the 1800s, it was only played in areas where a winter season existed, an important factor considering that much like ice hockey, bandy was played exclusively outdoors before indoor skating rinks were invented. Bandy unlike ice hockey did not formally organize in North America but did so in Britain where its first rules were codified in 1882 by English speed skater, Charles Goodman Tebbutt and members of the Bury Fen Bandy Club. While ice hockey developed and spread in North America, bandy was growing in Europe and in Scandinavia. Today men's and women's bandy are a part of Europe's Winter Universiade events program (called the "Winter World University Games" in English) after its debut at the 2019 Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

Lack of rough play spun as a sign of patriarchal oppression

It is common to mistake ice hockey as the main predecessor of ringette rather the early 20th century Canadian game-style of floor hockey, a game created for youths and whose rules were first codified in 1936 by Canada's Sam Jacks. The floor hockey variant was not a contact sport. In Canada during the early 1960s Jacks also became responsible for the first conceptualization of the sport of ringette before it was decided to make it an ice skating team sport for girls rather than a court sport, making the sport faster. Ringette was geared towards play which its inventor, Sam Jacks considered "feminine and not rough", in order to attract more female participants. Female ice hockey would officially remove body checking from the women's and girl's ice hockey game internationally by the 1990s, but this move was not described by organizers as a "feminization" of ice hockey designed to appeal to female interests and increase participation.

The established format of ringette, unlike female ice hockey, excluded body contact and body checking, with body checking being a tactic that would not be officially removed from the female category of ice hockey in Canada until the mid-1980s and remained in place at the international level of female ice hockey until the mid-1990s. It wasn't until after body checking was removed from female ice hockey that it began to see substantial and sustainable growth.

Body checking was still a part of female ice hockey in Canada in the 1960s but excluded from the foundational design of ringette. The start of second wave feminism, particularly in the United States, helped give rise to the belief that girls who did not participate in rough play or contact sport were underdeveloped, deprived and oppressed by "patriarchy". The creation of the sport of ringette in 1963 also predates America's Title IX which was created in 1972 by almost a decade, with ringette charting its own course without the help of an already established sport dominated by men.

For most of the 20th century, protective equipment in sports, particularly ice hockey and broomball (bandy was no longer played in North America), was not well developed and in many cases non-existent, such as in the case of protection for the face, head and neck. Sam Jacks's early 20th century version of floor hockey which helped inspire the sport in its initial phase used absolutely no equipment whatsoever apart from sticks. Because ringette was first informally envisioned as a court sport, it is this game as well as basketball which had the largest influence on the early development of ringette, rather than ice hockey.

While ringette was initially thought of as a potential court sport, the decision to add ice skates meant sharp metal blades would be involved with players moving faster than they ever could if they were merely playing on foot raising the possibility of more serious injuries, especially considering the fact that protective equipment for team sports which were played on ice were not well developed at the time.

Lack of opportunities for girls to play winter sports

When ringette was created in the early 1960s, the administration of community and civic recreation and sport programs, particularly in regards to youth, was a new emerging field.

By the 1960s girls and women could play a female variant of a winter sport that was more popular with males such as ice hockey in North America or bandy in Europe, but what didn't exist were opportunities for them to play a winter team sport that which was recognized as being distinctly their own rather than a modified variant of a more popular men's game. While broomball (the only other winter team sport in North America at the time) was initially more popular among female players, it was played by both males and females and usually did not involve ice skates.

A common myth persists in regards to the claim that there was a lack of existing opportunities for females to play winter team sports whatsoever when the sport of ringette was created during the 1960s. However, the problem wasn't a lack of opportunities for girls, since girls broomball and girls ice hockey programs already existed. The reality was, organized winter team sports were in scarce supply in particular, and few organized game models existed. Among the few that did exist, they were vastly more popular among the male population, and team sports created for girls rather than boys were rarer still. One option was to follow the popular approach and modify one of the few existing game models set by the more dominant male demographic and alter it to suit the needs and interests of female players in order to attract more involvement. However, this had already been done in North America in the case of ice hockey and broomball, but neither approach had proven particularly successful. Another option existed and that was to create a new sport just for girls themselves.

Few options, not few opportunities

Regardless of sex, only broomball and ice hockey were the available options to play during the winter season in North America if players wanted to play a winter team sport involving facing off against an opposing team at the same time, rather playing sports which involved taking turns such as in the sports of curling and icestock. Girls and women's recreational broomball and girls and women's community ice hockey programs existed in a variety of areas in Canada and the United States, including in the city and areas where ringette first began. By the time ringette was invented in 1963, opportunities for female participation in winter team sports had been in existence for over a half-century with the earliest record of women's ice hockey dating back to 1889 in Ottawa, Canada. In addition, women's ice hockey had long been introduced at the post-secondary education level, starting with McGill University's women's ice hockey team debuting in 1894. A number of universities in Canada had women's university hockey teams, but this was largely restricted to girls and women from wealthy families. Ringette began as a sport accessible to all class levels and also attracted girls from Canadian families who could not afford figure skating.

Lack of development

Despite the available opportunities, both female broomball and female ice hockey varied in participation rates regionally and nationally, partly due to differences in climate as both sports require winter conditions in order to be played. This had an impact on both the male and female population. Another important factor was that the sports of ice hockey and broomball had not been widely introduced across the continent, requiring a variety knowledgeable, experienced and skilled community leaders and builders volunteering their time to both initiate and run sports clubs and organizations at the grassroots level as well as generate interest and recruit participants.

Only two team winter sports in North America

At the time, regardless of sex, broomball and ice hockey were the only two winter team sports available to play anywhere in North America which involved facing off against an opponent, a reality of winter team sports participation often completely ignored by contemporary historical accounts and historical revisionists. However, except in some rare cases in regards to broomball, only ice hockey involved the use of ice skates.

Bandy strictly European

The only other team sport which involved the use of ice skates anywhere in the world at the time was the sport of bandy which had failed to materialize and organize in North America, largely due to it morphing into the new sport of ice hockey along with elements from other existing sports. Bandy as a game was introduced to British North America by British soldiers but disappeared from North America entirely by the beginning of the 20th century while it continued to grow and flourish in Russia and a variety of Scandinavian countries.

Only four winter models worldwide

Today winter team skating sports of this form involving ice skating are still exceptionally rare with only a total of four presently in existence worldwide, excluding their variants: bandy, ice hockey, rinkball and ringette itself, but out of those four, only ringette was initially created for girls and women rather than initially for men.

Accusations of a sexist origin

Another popular yet unsubstantiated claim involves the belief that Canadian parents entered their daughters in ringette rather than female ice hockey due to sexism and male chauvinism prior to the inclusion of women's ice hockey in the winter Olympic program in 1998. However, unlike ringette, body checking was allowed in female ice hockey and would remain so for many decades. Body checking in women's hockey in Canada was removed in 1986 over twenty years after it had already been eliminated from the foundational design of ringette. Bandy, another team ice skating sport had excluded body checking in both its male and female categories of the sport for even longer, but bandy did not exist in North America.

At the international level of female ice hockey in the women's age group, right up until the first women's world ice hockey championships in 1990, the women's national ice hockey teams from Canada, Team USA and teams from European countries used body checking as a tactic against countries with less experience. This resulted in a number of injured players and made the women's game less attractive to other competing nations. As a consequence, body checking was removed from the women's ice hockey game, the change being adopted internationally. Female ice hockey has not reintroduced body checking. In addition, once the female version of ice hockey eliminated body checking in Canada in 1986, registrations actually saw an increase.

Conversely, the sport of ringette had never included body checking, helping the sport attract female players, almost thirty years before body checking was eliminated from girls' and women's ice hockey.

Ringette as a variant of ice hockey

Despite popular belief, though ice hockey had some influence in the early development of ringette, the sport was neither created to be, nor qualifies as an ice hockey variant as is popularly reported by media. By comparison, female ice hockey does qualify for such a classification due to the fact that it is a variant of the more popular men's game of ice hockey, and was derived from the major model for ice hockey which had been set and designed by a largely male demographic.

Ringette's early foundational design was largely shaped by floor sports concepts. A Canadian version of floor hockey codified by Sam Jacks in 1936 served as the initial sport affecting ringette. Later, Jacks's first experimental design involved early drafts he had created in order to help develop his initial idea, however, ice skates were not initially involved and were added to the picture afterwards. Once the idea of including ice skates was introduced, Jacks asked for help to develop his new idea at meetings held between members of the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO). At the time, Red McCarthy was a member of the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA) and the recreation director of Espanola, Ontario. McCarthy took the initial plans to Espanola Arena, where he was the manager, and worked with a group of local girls high school ice hockey players in order to work out an improved design. Mccarthy introduced basketball concepts to help further design and shape the new sport.

Women's variant vs origin

In regards to ice hockey, the female ice hockey variant was a necessary development in order to create a female category of ice hockey. Ringette by comparison was, in its very early conceptual stage, influenced by a variety of pre-existing floor and court games, especially basketball and Sam Jacks's version of floor hockey whose rules he codified in 1936. Once the initial rules for the potential sport were envisioned by and drafted by Sam Jacks, they were further modified, developed, and shaped through experimentation by Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy on ice rinks in Espanola using high school girls who had played ice hockey in gym classes, due to a need for skaters as it had by then been decided that the sport would include ice skates.

Ice skating team sports

While ringette shares certain characteristics with ice hockey, overall there are three ice skating team sports worldwide which do, including bandy, rinkball and ringette, putting all four sports in a distinct group of established winter team sports.

Bandy, initially known simply as, "hockey on the ice" and arguably the most important predecessor to ice hockey, eventually emerged in its organized format in the 1800s and was modelled off of various ball and field games. It was the first winter team ice skating sport in the world which involved two teams facing off on opposite sides of the playing area used. Beginning as an informal recreational and leisure activity during the 1800s in Britain, bandy was introduced in its informal style by British soldiers to British North America and spread to Europe and Scandinavia before ice hockey was established as an organized sport in what is now Canada in the late 1800s. Bandy itself disappeared from North America in the late 1800s after it failed to become an organized sport and instead became absorbed into the new sport of ice hockey. Bandy would not return to North America in an organized format until the 1970s in the American city of Minnesota. In Canada, bandy would not be reintroduced until the 1980s in Winnipeg. Today bandy is one of the most popular team sports played in Sweden, where it is only second to soccer in terms of rate of participation, and more popular than ice hockey.

Ringette and rinkball both emerged in the 1960s albeit on different continents with ringette developing in Canada and rinkball in Sweden and Finland in the 1960s – 1970s. However, both sports developed entirely separately and developed without any influence from the other. Ringette was not introduced to Scandinavia until the late 1970s; rinkball to this day has never become established or organized in any manner in North America. Rinkball was influenced primarily by the existence of rink bandy and ice hockey in Sweden and Finland.

Today, bandy, ice hockey, ringette and rinkball (and their winter based variants) all involve four major but fundamental characteristics not shared by any other organized sports which put them in a unique group of sport:

1. they are all winter team sports using ice as their playing surface
2. they require the use of ice skates (or ice sledge in the case of para sport variants such as para ice hockey)
3. they require the use of a designated goalkeeper (1 per side)
4. both teams compete at the same time on opposite sides of the area of play

The organized version of broomball, a skateless winter team sport, can also be placed in this category of sport to a certain degree. However, because it does not use ice skates of any kind, and more commonly uses a special type of shoe designed to allow players to acquire traction on the ice today, it doesn't fit accurately. In addition, broomball is also the only one of these winter team sports that can also be and is played on snow rather than ice due to the fact that it does not use ice skates of any kind. Today when broomball is played on snow it is more commonly done so in an informal manner and often takes place as a part of a winter festival.

While the basic characteristics shared between these sports results in similar designs in terms of protective equipment, in all cases their distinctive differences become more apparent at a closer glance. Important differences involve: whether the format played is in the male or female category of the sport (only the female format exists in ringette), the dimensions, markings and areas of restriction which design and organize the playing area, level of allowable contact, sport-specific equipment such as the design of the sticks used and design of the footwear, the design of the object of play, the number of players and positions, size and dimension of the goalnets used, and game rules and strategy.

Popularity and success of the sport

There exists a belief that until women's ice hockey was popularized in the 1990s that women and girls had not made any headway or experienced any true success on the ice rink in team sports either in North America or anywhere else in the world. The measure of female success was considered dependent upon widespread male acceptance and recognition of the female category of a sport already popularized by the male population.

However, by 1983, twenty years after ringette was created, there were over 14 500 ringette players in Canada. That same year the number of players registered in the female category of ice hockey in Canada, which was almost a century old, was a mere 5 379, less than 40% of ringette's numbers. As a result, the popularity of ringette superseded that of female ice hockey in Canada, and as a consequence of its popularity served to increase female participation rate in winter team skating sports in Canada overall. Until 1963 when ringette was invented, only one ice skating team sport existed in all of North America for either of the two sexes to play, which was ice hockey. The only other sport of this type, bandy, no longer existed in any form in North America where it failed to organize.

History

Created in Canada, the amateur winter sport was initiated as a civic recreation project in Northern Ontario for youth during the 1960s with girls as its focus. Girls had few sports of their own and typically it was male players who were the driving force behind the growth, development and popularity of organized sports. Girls broomball and ice hockey programs did exist at the time but both programs had been observed to be unsuccessful.

Initially conceptualized by Samuel Perry Jacks as a potential winter season court sport for girls it eventually developed into an ice skating team sport instead with Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy establishing its basic design and first set of official rules through experimentation.

The Northern Ontario town of Espanola is considered "The Home of Ringette" where its first official rules were drafted by Red McCarthy, while the Northern Ontario city of North Bay is considered the "Birthplace of Ringette" where the sports initial creator, Sam Jacks was working when he first developed the sport as a concept. Sam Jacks is credited as the sport's inventor. Despite these historical differences, today the title of "birthplace of ringette" is often shared by both cities.

Scarcity of winter team sports

In regards to team sports, few winter-based team sports options existed for organized play during the long winter season in North America and worldwide. Only two ice skating team sports were in existence whereby two opposing teams faced-off: ice hockey and bandy. At the same time, the Scandinavian sport of rinkball did not yet exist and had only begun to emerge as a form of practice for bandy players in Sweden in the 1960s. Rinkball wouldn't become an organized sport until roughly the 1980s in Finland. In addition, only two skateless games of the same basic format were in existence, broomball and sponge hockey.

Adding a girls program for the ice skating team sport of bandy was not an option due to the fact that bandy itself was non-existent in Canada and had long disappeared from the North American continent entirely where it had failed to organize and only existed as a faint memory. In addition, bandy requires the use of a frozen field of ice the size of a soccer field, while ice hockey, figure skating and curling had helped popularize the use of the smaller sized ice rink. By the turn of the early 20th century, bandy, which at that point was commonly called, "hockey on the ice", was essentially absorbed into the new sport of ice hockey, and as a result did not exist as an organized sport in Canada. Bandy as an organized sport would not be introduced to Canada until the 1980s in Winnipeg, Manitoba where a group of men became the first to pursue it.

While the ice hockey variant and cult sport of spongee, a.k.a. "sponge hockey", where ice skates are verboten, began to emerge in the Canadian city of Winnipeg in the 1950s, spongee only began to organize around the 1970s and was, and still is, largely unknown outside of the Manitoban city and therefore never became an option to consider.

Regardless of this limited set of choices, there wasn't a single case where there was a winter team sport that girls and women could officially call their own.

Early development

The early development of the sport is believed to have initially been influenced by a variety of floor hockey games which were played in a style used during the early half of the 20th century. Notably, these games used bladeless sticks and poles and did not use a ball or a puck, but instead used a flat felt disk with a hole in the centre. These floor hockey games were adopted, organized and practiced by many existing Canadian youth clubs and organizations. Floor hockey had also been adopted by public schools for youth gym classes. It is important to note that the game of gym ringette is not a true variant of floor hockey as it is derived from the ice sport of ringette, with gym ringette having been designed during the late 20th century while floor hockey emerged during the early part of the 20th century.

Sam Jacks

Samuel Perry Jacks is the Canadian credited for the initial idea which inspired the development of the ice skating sport of ringette, believed to have been influenced in part due to both his experience and exposure to the youth game of floor hockey, a game whose rules he codified in 1936. Jacks was responsible for helping form the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO) and became its first President. Jacks was the Director of Parks and Recreation in the city of North Bay, Ontario when he invented ringette in 1963. He would later ask for credit to be given to the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA) for the creation of ringette.

NORDA and the SDMRO

The Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA) was a regional organization composed of members from a large area that included the Ontario communities of North Bay, Espanola, Deep River, Elliot Lake, Huntsville, Sturgeon Falls, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Onaping and Phelps, as well as Témiscaming, Québec. Bob Reid of Temiskaming was the secretary and chairman of NORDA and the director of recreation for Témiscaming.

NORDA included the two official founders of ringette, Sam Jacks, from West Ferris, Ontario (amalgamated into the city of North Bay, Ontario, in 1968) who was also Director of Parks and Recreation for the city of North Bay, Ontario, and Mirl "Red" McCarthy, the Recreation Director for the town of Espanola, Ontario. At the time Sam Jacks was also the President of the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO).

While Sam Jacks was a member of NORDA in 1963, he was also the SDMRO President. The SDMRO overlapped with NORDA representing the recreation directors in Northern Ontario. Jacks was also the Canadian responsible for the first basic idea and rules for ringette. While the SDMRO was directly involved in the project spearheaded by Jacks to develop a new winter team sport for girls, it was NORDA, primarily due to Jacks and Red McCarthy, that played a significant and primary role in the early development of the sport as well as its official foundational rules. After the first rules were organized and established by McCarthy, they were then presented to the SDMRO by NORDA. The SDMRO then helped further the development and growth of ringette.

First rules

According to the first complete set of ringette rules drafted in 1965–1966 in a meeting with the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO), the organization created by Sam Jacks, it was recognized that while both girls broomball and girls ice hockey programs were already available, they were nevertheless unsuccessful in drawing in and maintaining female participation during the winter season. It also observed criticism that their sports programs tended to be too "male-oriented". Ringette was created in the hopes of correcting these problems in the administration of sport for females in the regional areas under the existing authority of the SDMRO and the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA).

For as long as Municipal Recreation has existed there has been, with some justification, a concern that our sports tended to be male orientated.

Over the years attempts have been made to discover or create a new winter court or rink game for girls. Broomball was such a game, and for some time girls' Ice Hockey had a certain success. Neither of these games seemed to have the acceptance of the female population as indicated by lack of growth.

Ringette is a new attempt to provide a winter team sport, on skates, for girls.

— Ringette Rules (A Game on Skates for Girls), Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (1965-1966)

At the time, Samuel Perry Jacks (more commonly known as Sam Jacks), who was by then living in West Ferris, Ontario, had been working since 1948 as the first Director of Parks and Recreation for the city of North Bay, Ontario. In 1963 he became the President of the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO). Jacks was the only director in the organization's history who was elected president for two consecutive terms. He was a major contributor for the organization and was also responsible for designing the Society's coat of arms. He also served on a number of vital standing committees. It was during this period in the 1960s that Jacks, who was responsible for the sport as an initial idea, promoted the game and its future potential extensively.

As time went by Sam had many teams in West Ferris and surrounding areas playing on outdoor rinks and using boys skates. He never doubted for a moment his game would flourish. He drove his friends crazy promoting it. Eventually his game was tried out in an arena further north, and by 1965 Sam's basic rules were refined. As you all know, various changes have taken place over the years.

— Mrs. Agnes Jacks, wife of Sam Jacks and Ringette Ambassador

Early organization

The two organizations responsible for the early development of the sport were the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA), and the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO).

Naming the sport

The first time the name "ringette" is mentioned was at the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA) meetings held on January 20 and 21, 1963 in Sudbury, Ontario. Sam Jacks advised the group that "he had been working on a new girls' court game". Jacks had first considered an inside floor game for females, presumably based on his previous success with floor hockey.

At their September 15 and 16, 1963 meeting at North Bay's Royal Canadian Air Force base (RCAF), Sam Jacks informed the group that he would "like to have NORDA receive credit as a body for the birth of this game." Each one of the sports directors left this meeting agreeing to develop the game in their own community and report their findings at the next NORDA meeting in early 1964.

Ringette as an established sport

The sport was officially invented in 1963 by the two founders of ringette, Samuel Perry Jacks, from West Ferris, Ontario, director of Parks and Recreation for the city of North Bay, Ontario, and Mirl "Red" McCarthy, recreation director for the town of Espanola, Ontario. The game was initially experimented with using girls ice hockey players from Espanola High School (Espanola, Ontario). The title of "birthplace of ringette" is generally shared by both North Bay, Ontario, and Espanola, Ontario.

The first ringette game was played in the fall of 1963 in Espanola under the direction of McCarthy along with Lauren Van Volkenburg. North Bay did not have enough ice time available to experiment with the new sport, but McCarthy was the arena manager in Espanola. The first experimental ring was created by McCarthy himself, but was found to be unsuccessful because it tended to collect snow and become stuck to the ice. This ring was soon replaced by a deck tennis ring.

Sam Jacks is the Canadian credited as the sport's visionary and was inducted into the Canada's Sports Hall of Fame as a "Builder" in 2007 posthumously while McCarthy is considered the sport's co-founder.

Samuel Perry Jacks and Mirl (Red) Arthur McCarthy were both inducted into the Ringette Canada Hall of Fame as "Founder"'s of the sport in 1988. However, due to Sam Jacks having passed away in 1975, his induction was post-humous.

After the creation of ringette, Sam Jacks stated that he wanted the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA) to receive credit for the birth of the sport.

1960s

1963 Beginning stage

The first time the name "ringette" is mentioned was at the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA) meetings held on January 20 and 21, 1963 in Sudbury, Ontario.

The first "game" of ringette took place under the direction of Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy at the Espanola Arena in the fall of 1963 between Espanola high school girls, some of whom were high school ice hockey players.

1963–1964 Experimental rules

In 1963, Sam Jacks introduced his idea of a new game for girls to the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO) an organization of which he was president. The Espanola, Ontario, recreation director, Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy, was then asked by the SDMRO to experiment with the basic set of Ringette rules given to him. In addition, McCarthy was also the arena manager in Espanola at that time and had the benefit of access to ice time when its availability in North Bay where Sam Jacks resided was scarce. In Espanola in the fall of 1963 at the Espanola Arena, the first game of ringette was held under McCarthy's guidance between a group of girls ice hockey players from Espanola High School (Espanola, Ontario). He wrote up a set of rules and created a ring for this occasion, still on display inside the Espanola arena.

Upon returning to Espanola I contacted some girls who had played some hockey during physical education classes. I asked them if they could come over at noon hours and try some ideas for a new girls game. They agreed, and each day the group would get an idea, try it, discuss it and then make some changes.

— Norm Mayer, The origins of ringette, The Sudbury Star (1989)

In 1963–1964, McCarthy's original ringette rules became experimental in the following Northern Ontario and Quebec communities:

1963 Introduction to Quebec

Ringette was introduced to the province of Québec by Bob Reid, director of recreation for Témiscaming, secretary, and chairman of NORDA.

Early 1964

On January 19 and 20, 1964, McCarthy presented a written list of rules which he had developed, combined with comments and observations to the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA) at their meeting at Moose Lake Lodge in Onaping, Ontario (now part of Greater Sudbury).

1964 Further development in Quebec

The original rules of ringette, developed by Red McCarthy, were introduced to Mount Royal by Herb Linder, a personal friend of Sam Jacks.

1964–1965 First Ringette League

In 1964–1965, Sudbury, Ontario formed the first-ever ringette league, comprising four teams. Diana Heit, assistant program director of Sudbury Parks and Recreation department, helped the teams with schedules, rules, and coaching.

1965 Introduction to North Bay, Ontario

On January 21, 1965, ringette was introduced in North Bay, Ontario at Kiwanis Playground with teams from Kiwanis and Police zones participating. The game ended in a 5–5 overtime tie. Attempts were being made to form a four-team league. Growth in ringette came slowly to North Bay as ice time was seldom available. It was not until 1971-72 that West Ferris, Ontario, today part of North Bay, had a four-team league operating.

1965 First Complete Rule Set

On May 31, 1965, at "the Chalet", in Trout Creek, Ontario, a set of rules for the sport of ringette developed by Mirl Arthur "Red" McCarthy were presented by the Northern Directors (NORDA) to the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO). The group then published the first set of rules for the new sport under the SDMRO title. While a key figure in the development of ringette at this point, Red McCarthy was not present at this particular meeting.

At a meeting of the Northern Directors at the Chalet in Trout Creek on May 31, 1965, the first complete set of rules were finally drawn up. McCarthy was unable to make that meeting, but Jacks was present. George Kormos, Bob Bateman, Diana Mulcahey, all of Sudbury, and Dave Bass of Onaping were all present for the historic event.

— The origins of ringette: Espanola's McCarthy developed the game, The Sudbury Star 1989, Norm Mayer

Bob Reid of Temiscaming who at the time was the director of recreation for Témiscaming, was also the secretary and chairman of NORDA, the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association.

Ontario recreationists attending the SDMRO meeting at that time were recorded to include:

• George Kormos of Sudbury (now Greater Sudbury)
• Bob Bateman of Sudbury
• Diana Mulcahey of Sudbury
• Jim Maxwell of Sault Ste. Marie
• Bob Arnot of Sault Ste. Marie
• Charles Cherrier of Huntsville
• Archie Dillon of Timmins
• Fred Salvidor of Timmins
• Sam Jacks of North Bay
• Murray Shave of North Bay
• Dean McCubbin, Community Programmes Branch
• Bob Reid of Temiscaming (director of recreation for Témiscaming, secretary, and chairman of NORDA, the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association)
• Dave Bass of Onaping (municipality now dissolved and amalgamated into the city of Greater Sudbury)
• Dusty Baker of McIntyre in Northwestern Ontario
• Jac Cropley of Deep River
• Robert Wiggins of Sturgeon Falls (now West Nipissing)

1965–1966 NORDA and the SDMRO

By 1965–66, the Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA) decided that they had carried the game about as far as it could go. The Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO) was chosen to develop and organize it further on a larger scale in Northern Ontario. Three years later in 1969 the first provincial governing body for ringette was formed in Ontario, called the "Ontario Ringette Association".

1966 First Invitational Ringette Tournament

March 5, 1966, marked the sport's first invitational tournament. The tournament called the "Northern Ontario and Quebec championships", was held in Temiscaming, Quebec. Five teams participated: North Bay Police Playground, Sudbury Rose Marie Playground, Sudbury East End Playground, Temiscaming Reds, and Temiscaming Whites. The winning team was the Temiscaming Reds.

The tournament created many firsts for the game of ringette:

1. The first ringette tournament.
2. The first interprovincial tournament.
3. The first tournament in Quebec.
4. The first ringette tournament in Canadian and world history.
5. The first indoor tournament.
6. The first tournament on artificial ice.
7. The first crests ever created and awarded for the sport.

1969 First Manitoba ringette team

Manitoba creates their first ringette team, the "Wildwood", two years after the sport was first introduced in 1967 to the province in Fort Garry, Winnipeg.

1970s to 1980s

By 1973, an agreement was worked out between the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO) and the Ontario Ringette Association (ORA) where the copyright to the Official Ringette Rules would be held by the ORA. Finally, in 1983 in agreement with the ORA, these rights were acquired by Ringette Canada. Today, the Ontario Ringette Association goes by the name, "Ringette Ontario".

In 1974 representatives from a number of Canadian provinces organized a steering committee to help create a national sporting organization to better administrate the sport nationally. In November of the same year, Ringette Canada was founded.

In 1975, ringette received its first major television exposure during a Hockey Night in Canada intermission feature film.

The legacy of Samuel and Agnes Jacks

The West Ferris Arena, today called the West Ferris Centennial Community Centre, was built in 1967, four years after the birth and invention of the sport in 1963. The arena, surrounding ball fields, and tennis courts are together called the Sam Jacks Recreational Complex.

After Sam Jacks died in May 1975, his wife Agnes Jacks CM promoted the game and acted as an ambassador for the sport until her own death in April 2005. She was awarded the Order of Canada.

The legacy of Mirl "Red" McCarthy

Mirl "Red" McCarthy was a Canadian sportsman, co-founder, and co-inventor of the sport of ringette. McCarthy developed the first set of rules in Espanola, Ontario in the fall of 1963.

• Ringette Canada Hall of Fame - Founder (1988)
• Sudbury Sports Hall of Fame (2007)
• Mirl "Red" McCarthy Memorial Trophy - awarded to top Coach in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League
• Athletic complex in Espanola named the "Red McCarthy Memorial Athletic Fields".
• Recreation director for the town of Espanola for 41 years.
• Ringette is one of four sports featured on the "Canadian Inventions: Sports" series issued by Canada Post stamps on August 10, 2009.

Literature

In 2004, Kenneth Stewart Collins, whose hometown was Temiscaming, Quebec, wrote an 80-page book published by the Highway Book Shop in Cobalt, Ontario called, "The Ring Starts Here: An Illustrated History of Ringette".

I wrote this book to give some due to Temiscaming, Espanola, Sudbury and other towns I felt weren't getting any credit for funding and growing ringette...Ringette was first played in Espanola in 1963 and Sudbury was where the first leagues were formed in the playground system.

— Book on ringette has strong Sudbury, Northern Life/Sudbury.com Mar 21, 2006, Scott Hunter Haddow

To date, it is the only known book published in English on the subject of the sport's history and origin.

General chronology of equipment design and development

Ringette equipment began from very few requirements and involved simplistic, inexpensive and easily recycled materials. Most of the designs for protective equipment used in ringette were either directly from or borrowed from the sports of ice hockey, broomball, and sometimes other sports such as volleyball (knee protection).

Over time the amount of equipment required has increased. New rules governing required safety features and standards have been gradually introduced as well as design improvements for performance, protection and aesthetics. Some newer equipment developments like ringette facemasks, ringette sticks, and ringette goalie gloves, are specific and exclusive to the sport itself. While the standard equipment used in ringette has improved over time in terms of both function and safety, equipment has also become increasingly complex and expensive.