Floorball, a new game in Kenya

The Journey of Kenya’s newest game started at the dusty pitches of Ofafa Jericho last year. This is when it was first introduced by Swiss Coaches invited to Kenya by the Glory Outreach Assembly Programme. Glory Outreach Assembly has a successful sports history through their Sports Evangelism Initiative. Already, they have a football team playing in the Nairobi County league as well as an active basketball team.  

The Programme also introduced Roll Ball in Kenya three years ago. Roll ball has since gained popularity. Their teams have conquered the East African championships and also got to the world cup this year.

Besides sports, the organization also leads in volunteerism.

The Sports Evangelism initiative is aimed at reaching out to the youth through sports with an aim of spreading the Gospel.

Currently the program already has 28 teams and over 42 trained coaches targeting institutions of higher learning, secondary schools and primary schools to spread the game countrywide.

Floorball has between three to five players and a goalkeeper on each team. It is played for three sessions of 20 minutes each. There are two referees with equal authority in every game.

Globally, Floorball is a new sport but it’s now finding its way into local sports scenes since its development in the early 60s and 70s. It originated from Sweden.

According to floorball.org, Floorball first spread to Switzerland, Czech Republic, Norway, Lativa, Denmark, Estonia and Finland. A rise in popularity has been noted in Australia, the USA, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Malysia, Sinagpore and Japan. It is internationally organized by International Floorball Federation (IFF) containing 58 members and has two professional leagues Finland's Salibandyliiga and Sweden's Svenska Superligan. Euro Floorball Cup is held annually for clubs while World Floorball Champions are held biennially.