The Falkland Islands Hockey Association runs the leagues of Inline and dek hockey in Stanley in the Falkland Islands. National Coach and founding member is ex-professional ice hockey player Grant Budd. Grant started off an indoor hockey club in 2006 focusing on Dek hockey. This continued to grow for several years, and with the introduction of inline hockey in 2015 the interest in the sport exploded, with youth teams being especially popular. It is now the most popular sport in the Falklands with over 130 players in the 2019 season across 5 different leagues. The association is run by the Directors which you can see details of here: Board of Directors
The 2020 season had to be cancelled due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, however the 2021 season ran as normal and the Hockey Association has delivered successful seasons since the one year hiatus.
Inline Hockey
Inline Hockey in the Falkland Islands is played with rules modified from ice hockey rather than typical inline rules. This suits the playing format which is in a wooden floored gymnasium and is played on a 3 on 3 type of game. Being based on ice hockey also prepares players for any international tournaments where the club normally competes on ice. We play a non-checking game due to the mixed ages and abilities and the playing surface itself.
The local inline leagues go from the very young Peewees through Junior, Rookie, and finally Elite (the top tier of the Youth leagues) and the Senior League. All disciplines are mixed sex, and vary in age to some extent based on ability, skill and physical capability being more important than just age in the youth leagues. Full protective equipment is required for all players which is the same as ice hockey equipment.
For more details please have a look at our FIHA Rules and Regulations.
Dek Hockey
Dek Hockey a version of hockey played in a gymnasium with trainers rather than skates. It is also a 3 on 3 type format, with players use ice hockey sticks and wear a varying range of ice and street hockey protective equipment. Teams are mixed sex and ages range from 14 years upwards. For anyone under-18 helmets are a requirement to play along with other protective equipment (full kit for under 16’s). Adult players are also advised to wear protective equipment.
Ice Hockey
Ice Hockey – the club often sends teams to compete in regional ice hockey tournaments. The Stanley Penguins are the local senior and junior teams with the peewees being the Stanley Rockhoppers and the Ladies the Valkyries. We have competed in Punta Arenas (Chile) on several occasions; most recently in 2018 taking home 4 gold trophies in total for peewee, junior, senior and ladies tournaments.
LATAM CUP
In 2019 the Association competed in Miami in the LATAM Cup taking two teams, one senior men’s team and a junior under 16 team. In which we took home gold in the men’s division 2 and bronze in the under 16s.
The Future
We hope to have an ice rink one day in the Falklands and are always working to make this a reality, currently when we go to play ice hockey players need to leave several weeks early to get enough time for familiarisation on ice before any games.
We have also competed in Cost Rica and Puerto Williams in Southern Chile, and have plans to compete in other internationals in Canada, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and USA in the future.
Hockey is not just a sport, it is a global community of amazing individuals and organisations. We are privileged to be a part of that – and want to welcome anyone to join that community.