The Champions League started yesterday with Portland San Antonio easily taking care of Steaua MFA Bucharest, 38-32, at home in Pamplona, Spain. Portland? San Antonio? Pamplona? Huh? Did the NBA actually create a Handball all-star team out of the Trailblazers and Spurs rosters?
This is probably one of the more common questions an American Handball Fan has as he is introduced to the European club game. I know it’s one that I had. For the record, according to Miguel Garcia, a frequent poster in our forum, the name derives from a school named San Antonio in Pamplona that the original founders of the club attended. Portland is the name of their sponsor, a cement mixing firm, Cementos Portland.
Of course this begs the question, what the heck is a Steaua MFA?
This question and others like the ones below need to be answered:
Is Danish side GOG Svendborg named after the Biblical creature?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gog
Did Pick Szeged get it’s name from their mastery of the “pick and roll” in the early 50’s? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pick_and_roll
Is Chekovskie Medvedi named after the SS Enterprise Helmsman?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Chekov
Is FCK Handbold A/S missing a vowel and, if so, why are they so angry about Handball?
So, it’s time to go to work Handball Fans. Yes, I’ve created a new Wiki to explain what these club names mean. If you have a clue please fill us in. Simply go to this link, click on “Edit this Page” and start typing. When finished, we’ll add it to the FAQ.
Handball Club Names Wiki: http://teamhandball.wikispaces.com/Club+Names