I did get some favorable comments on the ‘news’ I reported yesterday, some from people who liked my proposal of allowing time-outs for the referees, and some from people who remembered what was yesterday’s date and our habit in the ‘Western world’ to try to trick each other on April 1.

So. sorry all of you who would have enjoyed the idea of a referee time-out.  It was not quite truthful that the IHF has decided to implement the idea.  BUT, precisely yesterday and today there is a meeting in Basel with the core group of members of the IHF Rules & Referees Commission, together with some colleagues from the Coaching & Methods Commission and IHF President Moustafa.  So who knows, when they were unfairly ‘accused’ of having come up with this idea, their way of seeking revenge may actually amount to a decision to pursue the whole idea!  Or is that just wishful thinking…