ABSTRACT
The Swedish sport of bandy has been declared dead for a hundred years. Still, the sport survives as an ancient Swedish treasure. Neither the modernity of ice hockey, nor floorball, nor climate change has managed to knock it out. The exoticism of bandy is similar to that of the sour herring. Bandy started in the country’s most exclusive milieus – among the aristocracy and university elites – but today represents sparsely populated working-class areas. The Swedish Championship final, played since 1907, has retained its magic as Sweden’s oldest major annual sporting event. The supporter culture around the final has a long history. Not even football has been able to show as large a number of traveling supporters to a match. Nostalgia has long been the hallmark of the sport. Women’s bandy has an equally long and exciting history. During the 2000s, the sport of bandy was substantially modernized. In a short time, it left its dependence on nature and moved into indoor halls, arenas that guaranteed a good ice surface. Fans, however, did not quite accept the changes out of a sense of nostalgia. This study focuses on the sport of bandy and its complex relationship to modernity, the natural environment, nationalism, and nostalgia.
