It is commonly recognized that the roots of Floorball are to be found in the game of street hockey that was being played in the United States during the 1960’s and 70’s. Following the growth of the National Hockey League (NHL), street hockey developed as a cheap alternative to ice hockey for youngsters. The playing equipment consisted of a wooden hockey stick and a hard rubber ball. Street hockey gained rapid popularity, most notably in the states of Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, and Michigan, where the first tournament was held in 1962. A similar game called ball hockey was also being played in Canada.

 
Street hockey, Floorball’s predecessor.

Cosom hockey, an indoor version of street hockey using plastic sticks and a light perforated ball, also developed in the US during the 60's and 70's. The Cosom Sporting Company (New Jersey) may be credited with producing the first ever Floorball equipment. During this time Cosom was manufacturing a hard heat sealed Polyethylene ball with 26 holes for a multi purpose sporting use, and PVC sticks with a plastic vented blade.

Swedish students studying in the US at the time street hockey and cosom hockey were developing took the idea of the game back to Sweden. Other students had also seen a similar indoor game, developed from field hockey, being played in the Netherlands.

The games of street hockey and cosom hockey were embraced and modified by students in Huskvarna, Sweden, in the early 1970’s, and the new sport of “Floorball” was born. The game quickly blossomed under the guise of several different names including “plasticbandy”, “softbandy” and “floorbandy”. Popularity for the game increased, most rapidly in schools, as an after-work activity and even as cross training for an elite handball team in Gothenburg. Floorbal quickly developed into one of the most popular sports in Scandinavia. Innebandy was eventually settled on as the name for the game in Sweden, and Floorball was adopted as the official international name.   

Floorball arrives in Finland (www.salibandy.net)

Floorball developed from its present form in Finland (Salibandy) from the game first played in Sweden in the early 1970's. In Finland the game was named "sähly" according to nature of the game. Sähly was brought to Finland by students, and the first series was played at the University of Helsinki in 1974.

Sähly also spread rapidly to the other student cities of Hämeenlinna, Turku, Tampere, Jyväskylä and Joensuu. It established itself as the number one sport among students and is still remains very popular. The sähly generation has become a familiar expression. Sähly has managed to reach all social and age groups within the last twenty years.

The interpretation of sähly rules is more user-friendly and flexible for beginners than Floorball rules. It is very difficult to separate sähly from Floorball and often also unnecessary. In sähly, 3-4 players can be on the field at one time; there is no goalkeeper and the size of the goal is 90 x 60 cm. The match time is usually 2 x 15 minutes and the field is only half the size of the Floorball rink.

One of the secrets of sähly's success is its great variability. It can be played almost everywhere, even on an asphalt surface. It is also easy to get started: no specific skills are needed and the rules are quite simple. Sähly is primarily a fitness sport where equality between the sexes is well realized. Mixed sähly has been played since the early stages of the sport. In addition to schoolchildren and students, today many workplace and special interest groups have also taken up sähly, and the so-called inter-company matches have come to stay.