European web sites today report about interesting developments on several fronts. One of the hottest topics involves the competition calendar for the elite level and related aspects regarding the rights of players, clubs, national federations and the IHF/EHF. Clearly, both the IHF and the EHF are attempting to grab the initiative by organizing meetings with representatives of other stakeholders. Just recently, as reported by THN, -link- the IHF got a ‘working group’ together for a meeting in Vienna during the EURO2010. As we also reported some time ago, -link- the EHF will want to continue its efforts to create a forum for discussions about changes in the structure of European handball. A meeting will now take place at the end of this week.

In the IHF meeting, participants were handpicked, and Group Club Handball (GCH), the entity representing 19 top clubs in Europe was specifically excluded, not just quietly but with a slap in the face, in the form of a statement that IHF does not meet with entities that have no formal link to the IHF. Apparently, the EHF does not have similar concerns, as GCH is likely to play a key role in the upcoming EHF forum. This may be one reason why the GCH now reports, on its own web site, -link- that a formal legal complaint that was lodged almost a year ago by GCH against IHF and EHF challenging their ‘monopoly’, may now be split up into two separate complaints. The purpose of this move would be to suspend temporarily the complaint against EHF, while the complaint against IHF remains in place. Clearly, the directions that the upcoming EHF meeting will take, will be crucial for the atmosphere on the European scene.

Right at this point in time, the President of the German Handball Federation, Ulrich Strombach, who has tended to be an ally of IHF president Moustafa, went out on a limb in an interview (as also reported, inter alia, on the GCH web site) -link- with a series of ‘demands’. He wanted to see: a reduction of the number of teams in the German Bundesliga; a reduction of teams in the EHF Champions League; a re-scheduling of World and European Championships to the summer months; an abolition of the European Championship in Olympic years; and finally, a larger share of the IHF revenue for the national federations. At first sight, this list seems tilted in favor of the IHF, away from the EHF, as the critical question of reducing ‘from five to four’ big events in each four-year period is answered by removing one European Championship. However, much of the focus of federations and clubs has been on revenue-sharing and compensation for the time spent by players on their national teams, so the monetary side may weigh heavily.

One can only hope that the upcoming meeting will be a productive next step. It would also seem that, while the issues and the stakeholders by definition differ somewhat, the IHF and the EHF should have far more in common in this whole process than they have been able to demonstrate so far. Competing initiatives and actions colored by prestige are not likely to be helpful. Also, there is that lingering concern about an exclusive focus on men’s handball and a reluctance to give player representatives a seat at the table.

During the first two days, with a total of four games, the Championship got off to a good start, with a peaceful atmosphere and in a general spirit of sportsmanship. Some teams played a bit rougher on defense than the others, but nothing extraordinary. With one exception, the games were also rather one-sided. The results were:

Gr. A Saudi Arabia – Syria 23:22 (12:9)
Gr. D Lebanon – Jordan 34:21 (14:9)
Gr. B Japan – Iraq 35-21 (19:13)
Gr. C Korea – U.A.E. 30-23 (13-12)

The Saudi team did not make the same strong impression as two years ago, and had to struggle to overcome a strong resistance from the Syrian team. It was not decided until the final seconds. It will now be interesting to see how the Chinese team compares with these two combatants.

The home team was supported by a crowd of around 2,000, including many dignitaries. The game was not played at a very high level, and the result says more about the weakness of the team from Jordan. Iran remains a clear favorite in this group, but the home team appears to have secured a spot in the main round.

Japan literally ran away from an inexperienced Iraqi team. The outcome became clear quite early in the game, even if the Japanese did not show an entirely convincing form yet. This suggests that Bahrain should also be able to get through to the next phase.

The Korean team was in for more of a battle than perhaps had been expected. In the second half, however, the Koreans, who came with a new coach and many young players, were able to pull away and win rather comfortably.

The Monday games are: Syria-China and Iran-Jordan;
On Tuesday we will see: Iraq-Bahrain and the friendly neighbors U.A.E.-Qatar

The Men's Handball tournament at the South Asian Games concluded on Saturday with Pakistan defeating archrival India, 37-31 for the gold medal. Pakistan and India were the two class teams of the tournament as no other side came closer than 12 goals to those two sides. Bangladesh beat Nepal for the bronze.

News reports indicate that this was the first time that Handball was included in the South Asian Games which is a multi sport competition for nations on or near the Indian subcontinent: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. In addition to the four nations previously mention Afghanistan and Sri Lanka also sent teams. News reports indicate the that the matches were played in an outdoor stadium with a packed house witnessing the final.

Editor’s Note: I would like to do a feature article on Handball in South Asia. If you are a handball player or administrator in any of the countries mentioned please contact me at john.ryan©teamhandballnews.com.

Asian Games Website Handball page: -link-
Dawn.com (6 Feb 10): Pakistan edge India to win handball gold in SAG: -link-

This past December and January the Great Britain (GB) Men’s team played 13 matches against club and national teams in 4 different events. The culmination of the tour was an official World Championship qualifying tournament in Finland. GB lost all 13 matches, but showed significant progress through nearly a month of practice and serious competition. GB also did not have their full complement of players for some of the matches and lost their team Captain and Center Back, Ciaran Williams, to injury in the first tournament.

In June, the GB men will have the opportunity to host their first international tournament as they will host Estonia, Cyprus and Bulgaria in the first round of qualification for the 2012 European Championships. The winner of this tournament will advance to the second round of qualification where they will play home and away matches against the top teams in Europe.

The British Federation website has a trove of information on their trip including video interviews with their coach, Dragan Djukic, their performance director, Lorraine Brown and players at the qualifiers in Finland. Additionally, BBC did a video report on the event as well.

Commentary: The bottom line results are fairly stark as GB lost all 13 matches and they clearly have a long way to go towards their goal of being competitive at the 2012 Olympics. The margins of defeat varied from 3 goals against one of the weaker club sides in Norway’s top league to a 25 point drubbing by Bosnia & Herzegovina. Still even in a massive loss like the one against Bosnia there are signs of progress as the margin was a more respectable 17-12 at the halftime break. In their interviews the coach and director, acknowledge the shortcomings and the long road ahead. Compared to the women’s team, the men’s team is currently a notch or two behind in terms of where they stand relative to the rest of Europe. The next big test will be the qualification tournament in June. As host, they should have a good performance. The other sides are all part of Europe’s lowest tier of handball and qualifying will show a marked sign of progress.

British Federation website: -link-
GB Federation (31 Jan 10): GB to Host Euro 2012 Matches: -link-
Huw Goodwin Blog (26 Jan 10): Lessons learned...: -link-
VIDEO: BBC Sport (17 Jan 10) Great Britain handballers edged out by Finland: -link-

Match Results:

Limburgse Handbaldagen Tournament (Netherlands): -link-
27 Dec: K Sports (KOR/JAP) – GBR 29-20 (17-10)
27 Dec: Vos Invesments Lions (NLD) – GBR 39-23 (17-11) (Currently 4th in Netherlands league (10-2-5))
28 Dec: Põlva Serviti (EST) – GBR 36-26 (17-11) (Currently 1st in top Estonian league)
29 Dec: Haugaland HK (NOR) – GBR 29-26 (Currently in 11th place (2-1-9) in top Norwegian League)

Yellow Cup (Winterthur, Switzerland): -link-
2 Jan: Switzerland – GBR 33-18 (12-10)
3 Jan: Tunisia – GBR 42-24 (21-14)
4 Jan: Netherlands – GBR 39-21 (16-10)
VIDEO: Swiss news report on GBR- Switzerland match: British coach, Dragan Djukic, is a former coach of the Swiss National Team: -link-

Le Marrane Tournament (France) -link-
8 Jan: Tunisia – GBR 33 – 23 (16-11)
9 Jan: Qatar – GBR 38-26 (20-10)
10 Jan: Czech Republic 32-22 (17-14)

2011 WC Qualifying Group Play: -link-
15 Jan: Romania - GBR 36-27 (23-11)
16 Jan: Bosnia & Herzegovina – GBR 44-19 (17-12)
17 Jan: Finland – GBR 35-21 (17-13)

Beirut is hosting this event that gets underway on Saturday and will go on for two entire weeks. Twelve games in six days is the modest pace during the preliminary round. Following, the suspension of the Kuwait Olympic Committee and then also the Kuwait Handball Federation, as discussed more in detail in a recent article, -link- the groups are as follows: A: Saudi Arabia, China, Syria; B: Japan, Bahrain, Iraq; C: Rep. of Korea, Qatar, United Arab Emirates; and D: Iran, Lebanon, Jordan.

There has been speculation that Kuwait might be reinstated up to the very last moment. The Kuwaiti government has been in a position to take the legislative measures that would satisfy the IOC, but apparently this has not been feasible. As discussed previously, there was also the question as to whether the IHF had actually been forced by the IOC to suspend Kuwaiti handball, or whether this was a voluntary action. Mysteriously, the IOC keeps being very cryptic. They refrain from answering this question, and simply say that the individual sports ‘were informed’ about the reasons for the IOC suspension and that then, as of this moment, eight out of 20 sports federations, among them the IHF, have suspended Kuwait in their respective sports, while 12 have not followed the lead of the IOC. Perhaps we will obtain clarity at some point.

In the absence of Kuwait, the groups now look fairly balanced, and the competition for the three qualifying spots for the 2011 World Championships may be more open than it seemed before. Most of our sources in Asia are ready to believe that Korea and Iran will be strongest teams on their half of the draw, with good chances to qualify, but Qatar should never be underestimated. They have made good progress in recent years. The other half may be more difficult to predict. China is likely to have benefited from its Olympic experience. Japan and Bahrain can always be expected do well, but both of them tend to be a bit unpredictable. Perhaps Saudi Arabia should be seen as the ‘dark horse’.

As noted in an earlier article, -link- the main thing this time is really the expectation of fair and honest competition. On many previous occasions, this was not the case. There are too many sad examples to mention here, but one of the more conspicuous ones is explained in the following THN article from the 2008 championship, incl. a YouTube video clip: -link- Asia needs to shape up its handball image, in the same way as the quality of the teams has kept improving. THN intends to follow the event closely and hopes to be able to provide occasional reports.

This past weekend LA Team Handball defeated Cal Heat 26-22 in the final to win the Cal Cup. This avenged an earlier 22-19 loss in pool play. This is the first time a club other than Cal Heat has won the tournament since 2006. Six teams participated in the tournament including international participants from Japan and Canada.

More detail on the tournament is available at the Cal Heat website: -link-

Prediction Hits and Misses
- Hit: My prediction that Germany would be a disappointment came to fruition. They lacked firepower and barely made it out of the preliminary round. Coach Brand didn’t explicitly complain about the Bundesliga, but give him time: -link-
- Hit/miss: I predicted a combination of angst and complacency would prevent France from winning the title. I was correct about the angst and complacency, but was dead wrong on the timing. France slept walk through its first three matches, (29-29 draw vs. Hungary , a narrow 21-20 victory over the Czech Republic, and a 24-24 draw vs. Spain), but then turned up the heat in the Main Round and the semifinals. Had they been able to win their first matches on reputation without a wakeup call they would have been ripe for an upset. Credit this to good fortune, parity, the ability turn the switch on when needed, or to a clever psychological strategy from the coaching staff. Or maybe all of the above.
- Miss: Russia was certainly not a surprise team. They continue to disappoint as they prove again to be a “reverse Iceland”. (i.e., Iceland proved that the team can add up to more than its individual parts. The Russians have been proving that the individual parts can add up to less than the whole). Perhaps it’s time for a new coach to reenergize their program.

Balic Theater: Christer Ahl didn’t name names when he referred to star players taking advantage of their status to secure two minute penalties, but as it’s Oscar season, I will nominate Ivano Balic for best actor. Actually, they could spice up the ESPYs by adding this category to the award show. They could show clips of soccer players taking a dive, handball players writhing in agony on the court and basketball players stumbling to the ground after a clean block before they announce the winner.

Parity: The Euro 2010 brought new meaning to the word parity as almost every game was competitive till the end of the match. Heck, eventual winners France drew with Hungary and they were eliminated in the preliminary round. Contrast that to a World Championship where only a few non-European teams are competitive and it’s easy to understand why there have been calls to modify the WC format.

How long will the dynasty last?: Winning 3 straight titles cannot be attributed to luck. Make no mistake, we are in the midst of a French Handball dynasty. The only question remains is how long will it last? With several key players in their 20’s and no player older than 34, France show no signs of slowing down. With the additional fact that no team is on the cusp of improving to their level, I’m thinking that a double-triple is a very real possibility. This would mean 3 more titles (WC 2011, EC 2012, Olympics 2012) to go with their current 3. After London, though, the French will likely see a few key retirements in the backcourt. Couple those retirements with the rest of the players aging and no readily identifiable replacements and the dynasty will be over. In the mean time though, the question before each tournament will continue to be, “Can anybody stop France?”

First of all, like John Ryan, I want to express my delight over the high-quality broadcasts from Austria. Thank you, EHF, for ensuring that. One would wish that such handball propaganda would be available worldwide more often!

For me personally, it was a special experience to sit at home, like a ‘spider in a web’, having an overview of everything that was going on. During many, many years, my typical experience from World Championships amounted to ‘being stuck’ in one group, seeing the same few teams and referee couples for a week at a time. One then becomes somewhat ‘myopic’, getting an in-depth view of one segment of the overall event, but without any opportunity to make comparisons across the whole event and to spot any important trends. Indeed, despite not being on duty this time, I felt more ‘on top of things’ than ever before.

Nevertheless, I will try to tread carefully, not intervening unduly with the job of my old EHF and IHF colleagues. But apropos individual referee performances, it was especially nice to see the good progress of two younger couples, Horacek/Novotny (CZE) and Nikolic/Stojkovic (SRB). By contrast, I feel that several of the more experienced couples did nothing to strengthen their status The exceptions were Olesen/Pedersen (DEN) and Lazaar/Reveret (FRA) who confirmed their standing from 2009, and I was also happy to see that Abrahamsen/Kristiansen (NOR) had such a strong showing. Some other couples were able to use their experience to keep some games under a semblance of control and to appear reasonably even-handed, but this is not enough if questionable observations or judgments then start piling up. Finding the right mix of more experienced couples and younger, motivated couples will be a key issue for 2011. Fortunately, there are also a few couples who recently showed a good level in the women’s World Championship.

But the clearest impressions involve overall problem areas. It is a bit frustrating, but rather typical, that the same old issues tend to come up. For instance, it tends to get me ‘worked up’ when I see so many unwarranted 7-meter decisions given, with the ‘excuse’ that a defender was in the goal-area. In far too many cases, these observations were simply wrong; as I have asked myself over the years, why does this have to be so difficult? And then the decisions regarding ‘offensive foul’, in those situations where an attacker tries to penetrate at the 6-meter line, at the same time as one or two defenders move laterally to close the gap. In no other area did the inconsistencies seem to be as great as in this one. Of course, the continuous struggle between pivot and defender, also when the ball is not anywhere near, continues to present difficulties. Nothing new for the referees or for my old colleagues, but the hard work needs to continue.

Editor's Note: Christer elaborates in detail on 'the same old issues' in the forum: -link-

This leads me to what was for me the real revelation from my position of overview. One tends to focus on the strengths and weaknesses of individual couples, and their ability or inability to stay consistent during a game. But here the striking thing was the clear differences in approach from one couple to another, regarding style, game control, ‘tactics’, observation skills, concentration, judgment of key situations, or essentially the whole spectrum of refereeing. Each couple may have maintained some notion of consistency, but there was no ‘common line’, not a strong consistency among couples. Clearly, this must be a source of concern and problems for the teams. It should not be necessary to become surprised and have to adjust from one match to the next in this way. Here I believe is a key target for further, urgent improvements. Easier said than done, of course, but critical for the happy co-existence between teams and referees.

As regards this co-existence, for the most part the atmosphere on the court and between referees and team officials was no worse than what is normal. The number of ‘incidents’ was relatively limited, and some of those cases that did arise clearly resulted from inconsistencies between couples, as just discussed. But, as I commented in an article a couple of months ago, -link- most of the awkward scenes involving referees and coaches were more related to systematic, ‘tactical’ provocations. All of us can easily distinguish between the spontaneous and brief reactions that are fully normal and understandable, and the continuous 60-minute ‘drama’ along the sideline, with gestures and outcries before and after referee decisions. The latter is a behavior against which not enough action is taken. Coaches are smart enough to understand that such behavior is not likely to improve referee performances, but they are also ready to believe that they may occasionally succeed, more than the opponents, in causing referee mistakes in their favor.

Finally, what is also frustrating is the awareness that some teams are capable of having a subtle influence in other ways that I view as unethical. Some of the methods involve on-court ‘theater’, where some players, often the ‘stars,’ have mastered the skill of faking and provoking, ‘dying’ on the court several times during a game. The referees need to be supported strongly in their efforts, not just to avoid falling for the tricks but to punish them. But it is even worse if the influence takes place off the court, when political clout enables teams to have impact on referee nominations and/or to create an atmosphere such that everyone involved in the games, including the referees, feel the pressure.

Earlier today at the South Asian Games in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka took to the court for their first ever International match. Taking on a more experienced India side they came out on the short end of a lopsided 58-28 match. They will have an opportunity for a better result tomorrow against Pakistan.

In 2004, a Sri Lankan team was formed as a ruse to obtain visa to illegally immmigrate to Europe. Never intending to actually play a match they ending up doing so and video of their match against a German club is now available on Youtube. A fictionalized account of this team was made into a movie titled, Machan. In a bit of irony, according to a blog posting, one of the actors in the film took advantage of shooting in Germany to emigrate as well. That’s right an actor portraying an illegal immigrant became an illegal immigrant and is reportedly now doing well in London.

South Asian Games Handball Webpage: -link-

The Island (30 Jan 10): After ‘Machan’, SL handball makes ‘real’ international debut: -link-

BBC (15 Sep 04): Sri Lanka handball team vanishes: -link-

THN (3 Sep 08): Sri Lankan Handball Movie Debuts at Venice Film Festival: -link-

Machan Official Website: -link-

Youtube Video of Match vs German Club in 2004
- Part 1: -link-
- Part 2: -link-
- Part 3: -link-

Sri Lankan Blog commentary on video: -link-

Who dat gonna beat dem Blues?
Live from Vienna’s’s Wiener Stadthalle, where France spanked Croatia for the second time in a championship title game in less than a year, I will share some quick thoughts on this , the 2010 Austrian Euro.
As if there was any doubt about the outcome of the 2010 Euro, France did have to go through the formalities of actually playing its games. Watching the final four matches live was quite impressive; however, nothing beats the slo-mo TV replays – where you actually get an appreciation for what these phenomenal athletes can do.
Wire to wire, France was again the most complete team, dominating its opponents when it had to. France’s edge was a psychological one as their collective experience and mental toughness was unmatched by its opponents. This tournament had so much parity, where the difference between winning and losing often came down to single possessions and split second decisions. France, along with Poland, Iceland, Spain, Croatia and Denmark made the most of those opportunities.
- I liked the dynamic (elastic) defenses. Lots of fun to watch but a nightmare to officiate.
- Goalkeeping has been tremendous. Great performances throughout, with Slawomir Szmal impressing everyone. What an electric second half he had for Poland, in the bronze medal match.
- Officiating was consistent. Mistakes were made both ways but cannot think of any major call that influenced the outcome of a game.
- Circle defending was ridiculous. Players on both sides of the ball could do just about anything they wanted inside. Stepping, cutting, running, rolling inside the 6 was the norm, rather than the exception.
- Norway, Austria, Slovenia and Russia were a handful of possessions away from some upsets.
- Germany was never in it.
John and Christer will most likely follow up with some more in depth analysis of this great tournament. For me, traveling to Austria was exciting but I cannot wait to return Stateside.
Until then, good night from Wien!