While ice hockey is widely popular in countries like Canada, the United States, and various European nations, there are indeed cases where hockey isn’t played at all.
In countries without ice, such as several in Africa or the Caribbean, ice hockey has no infrastructure or cultural support
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The country of Afghanistan saw a ban on hockey after the Taliban took power in the 1990s, which included prohibitions on many sports seen as Western-influenced, though informal games were sometimes played in secret
In Australia, hockey is played predominantly as field hockey; however, ice hockey exists at a minor level, and there are no laws against it.