I read last Tuesday on Wikipedia’s ‘In The News’ section not only that Victoria Azarenka and Novak Djokovic won Australian Open titles, but also that Spain had defeated Denmark to win the 2013 World Men’s Handball Championship, held in Spain.
Congratulations to the Spanish national handball team on winning at home.
I then clicked the tournament’s Wikipedia page and noticed Australia qualified to compete this tournament.
Strangely, I didn’t know that the tournament was happening, let alone that Australia was competing in it.
I doubt many Australians knew about it either. I haven’t noticed any mention of the tournament in the newspapers.
How did Australia go in this tournament? Not great.
The Aussies finished 24th out of 24 nations competing, losing every single game.
Australia played against Croatia, Hungary, eventual champions Spain, Algeria, and Egypt in the group stage, and against South Korea and Chile in the final ranking stage.
Overall, Australia scored 103 goals through the tournament, but let in 276.
How did Australia qualify? Australia won the 2012 Oceania Handball Championship on the 22 and 23 June last year at the Dural Sports and Leisure Centre in Sydney.
Defeating the region’s only other competitor, New Zealand, in a two-game series in front of a crowd of 200, Australia earned a world championship spot.
The sport of handball looks like a cross between basketball and futsal. Judging by watching bits of the game on YouTube, the game looks pretty simple to play.
Handling the ball like basketball without bouncing the ball continuously, and scoring goals by throwing the ball through the goal cage.
It is probably the second most popular team sport in Europe after football, with the World and European Championships broadcast on major television networks in European countries.
It has a popular domestic club competition and even a UEFA Champions League-style continental competition. It is also an Olympic sport, having been part of the Olympics since the Munich games in 1972.
But why does this sport not have a larger presence in Australia?
I am not aware of any amateur club presence in my local sports hall, I have never seen anyone play handball socially in the park or on the beach.
I’ve never learnt it in my PE classes when I was in school.
This sport would be great in school PE classes. It looks easy to play, it involves a lot of running, throwing, blocking, jumping and it can be played outdoors and indoors.
So why can’t handball have a larger profile than it currently has?
Seeing that handball is an Olympic sport, I’m sure the Australian Olympic Committee could do more to boost its profile.
Callum
Guest
As far as handball goes in Australia there is quite a number of competitions throughout Australia, the strongest being in Sydney but there's also quite a strong competition in Brisbane, Melbourne and its quite popular in the ACT. There are competitions in every state but these are the strongest participation and standard wise. @ Tigranes as far as stadiums, salaries and training goes it's as professional as a sport can be (overseas, not in Australia, we are all amateur here). Players are paid similarly to AFL/NRL players here and stadiums are regularly sold out, anywhere in the 10-20 000 mark is the average stadium size. As far as training, playing professionalism goes it basically is what you expect of a player on such a salary. And yes, in regards to performance money is the biggest issue. All the national team players (both men and women) are completely amateur although there are a few playing in European leagues. We are all required to combine work/ study/ training or all 3 just to be able to compete at a world championships, and the players are required to pay for all training camps out of there own pocket. There is very little funding from anywhere (I believe the AOC gives $10 000 every 2 years to go between both men's and women's national teams) so the sport is basically player funded particularly at an elite level. As a player at the last world champs Australia could have a team capable of doing some very good things, we have a team with an average age of 23 which is building for future tournaments, but without extra funding it's very very hard to be able to play the amount of international matches required to build further on the talent that is there, which despite the results in Spain is quite good
pipo
Guest
For anybody that would like to get involved in Handball please contact http://www.handballaustralia.org.au/ They will be happy to guide you into the direction of your nearest club!
pipo
Guest
I suggest you watch some EHF Champiobs League games (you can watch the games for free on ehf.tv). Certainly not a lame sport to watch. Otherwise you wouldn't get 10.000 (think the record for a handball game is 40.000) spectators watching it live at the game.
pipo
Guest
No you wouldn't be competing at the Olympic Handball tournament. Unless there is another Australian Olympics coming up???!
Tigranes
Guest
nick would the professional handball competition in france be bigger than Top 14 rugby - i.e. in terms of crowds, tv interest, salaries paid to players. Would France playing in a handball tournament be bigger than 6 Nations or rugby world cup?
beardan
Guest
The sport is 100 percent rubbish. Feel sorry for the goal keepers.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
plus aussies didnt need help to create their very own bogans.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
In France, handball was mostly a parisian/suburbian sport at first; i grew up there and it was the main sport at school in primary and college (until 15yo). When i moved to the country as a teen, i realised it was not played as much as it was in Paris where it has a great tradition in public schools and the burbs. I have the impression its now played all over France at professional level but dunno if its still the n1 sport in schools. The main reason why it was popular there and not here: weather is not so good there, we dont have the facilities that students have here (no big stadiums, parks etc). In one hall, you could play hand, basket and volley. that was our only 'sporting' ground. tough life!
Tigranes
Guest
Would have thought ice hockey would be bigger than handball in Norway and Iceland at least
mushi
Roar Guru
Really? I just had a quick look at the german mens team and the majority of them are over 190cm
Bob Anderson
Guest
Why do you say it becomes tedious to watch? Its almost non-stop action, much strategy, and quite a bit of physical contact. I find it far more entertaining than basketball. Also, you don't have to be tall to play.
Bob Anderson
Guest
Its the number two sport in Germany, probably also in Denmark, Poland, Norway, Iceland, Austria.
Bob Anderson
Guest
Its a great game. Watch a full match on Youtube. Far, far better sport than basketball.
Timmy
Guest
I am currently in year 12 and I can say that we would have spent a good 6 weeks on handball during PE. We even had a member of the australian womens handball team come in to assist with the classes! It is certainly an enjoyable sport to play however watching it on tv very quickly becomes tedious and frustrating.
MV Dave
Guest
http://www.infrontsports.com/marketingrights/handball/ Going on this recent article TV viewership for the big tournament would put it behind Football only in Continental Europe.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Agree with this.
Redb
Roar Guru
I think we got Hungary v Germany mens so yeah not much to observe.
Westie Nomad
Roar Rookie
I love handball, i got into it in big way during and after the sydney olympics. But have constantly had a difficult time trying to play it. In sydney there is only four clubs and none anywhere near where i live(60mins drive to play for 60mins ..no thanks). The problem isn't making it a mainstream sport, more just pushing it to be a niche sport with more active participation. I think Australian Handball should be having free comps(all cost covered by Handball Oz) in multiple locations (dpending on populations) and if they did the numbers would come, as the game is fun to play and easy to learn. Scary to think that if you and five mates put a couple of years hard work in .... you all could be competing at a World championships or even the Olympics!
Cugel
Roar Rookie
"Handball: We Are Football?"
The Bush
Roar Guru
The sport's not popular here because it's also not popular in the UK, our colonial founders. There is only room for so much sport in any one country. As has been mentioned above also, I would be surprised to hear Handball talked about as the second most popular sport in Europe. Basketball is pretty massive, whilst both Rugby and Ice Hockey have multiple professional leagues. I certainly can say that when I lived in France, Handball didn't rate in the public spectrum anywhere near their rugby or even basketball sides/leagues and they are one of the stronger countries. I'd hazard a guess that Spain and Italy also prefer basketball, whilst a lot of European countries, like Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic and Russia are pretty in to Ice Hockey.