Many of you were not outsmarted by our April 1 posting about a possible IHF/EHF merger; perhaps it was just a tiny bit too much to be swallowed so easily… But we are pleased that at least some of you were ready to accept our story as real; in fact, this happened at both IHF HQ and EHF HQ, although in somewhat different ways:
there are rumors that at IHF in Basle, where the President was absent on travel, a celebration involving cake and champagne broke out, before the normally well-informed Managing Director was able to make the group understand that the President had no such plans;
at EHF in Vienna, there were mixed reactions: some staff invaded the office of the Secretary General, threatening to resign; Mr. Wiederer, who is capable of maintaining a good ‘poker face’ when necessary, had a tough time assuring these colleagues that the rumors probably were unsubstantiated; but some EHF insiders actually did relish the idea of a ‘takeover’, so they were a bit frustrated when they understood that the plans did not really exist…
whatever your reaction was, we hope we are not ruining your day now by confessing that we celebrated April 1 by indulging in some fiction writing! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_fool%27s_day
by the way, we really liked the idea put forward in the same spirit in haandbold.com : there it was suggested that, to avoid any new scandals, involving a repetition of a 'Prokop type' of behavior, in all the finals of the EHF cup competitions, the coaches would be banned from their normal position on the bench; instead they would have to follow the game on TV in the changing room…
for similar THN ‘revelations’ in previous years, use the following links:
THN (1 Apr 09): HBL and Liga Asobal Press Release on First Annual Shootout Event:
http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.721
THN (1 Apr 08): IHF, EHF and National Leagues Form Major TV Partnership http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.480
THN (1 Apr 07): Kretzschmar Signs Contract to Play Handball in the United States: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.291