Several French outlets are now reporting that the French Coupe de la Ligue will not return to Florida for it’s final four championship next year. Speaking to reporters last week, French Professional League (LNH) President, Alain Smada, indicated that the league had broken it’s contract with the U.S. organizers New World Sports and that they had legal concerns. The tournament held in Miami last April was a major disappointment in terms of attendance. In breaking the contract, the LNH is backtracking on comments made shortly after the event in Miami that they had confidence in the events long term prospects and that a 3 year plan was in place to eventually turn a profit.

Le Monde: The American Dream Ends: http://www.lemonde.fr/sport/article/2009/09/07/handball-le-reve-americain-prend-fin_1237106_3242.html#xtor=RSS-3242
RMC Info (April 2009): The sponsor knew there expenses wouldn‘t be covered initially: http://www.rmc.fr/edito/sport/75827/smadja-le-sponsor-savait-qu-il-ne-rentrerait-pas-dans-ses-frais/
THN Commentary (April 2009): If you build it, will they come?: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.734

Some post mortem articles and videos have appeared on several French websites. Here are a few worthy of note:

Handzone’s Francois Dasriaux gives a measured critique of the event titled, Good Idea!, Bad Choice? In his commentary he outlines several of the mitigating factors that contributed to the poor attendance, but also critiques the American organizers for not more effectively marketing the event. He also points that more coordination with USA Team Handball would have resulted in a few more fans. Despite these critiques he does point out the positive reactions of the players and the fact that the German Bundesliga is contemplating a similar venture and that the potential is there for better execution the next time around.
Handzone: Good Idea, Bad Choice?: http://www.handzone.net/asp.net/main.news/news.aspx?id=52501

Le Parisien wrote that Alain Smadja, the President of the French League is going to sit down with the American organizers and plan better for next year’s event. In particular, he notes that more advertising is needed and that he would like to see the event in New York City.
Sport24.com Smadja Wants New York: http://www.sport24.com/hand-volley/fil-info/smadja-veut-new-york-254694/

Hand 7 has a couple of video interviews. One with Alain Smadja and one with several players after the all star game. Over and over again the players emphasize that they really enjoyed the tournament, they just wish there were more fans there.
Hand 7: Player interviews (Video): http://www.hand7.fr/visio/videos/coupe-de-la-ligue-les-all-stars-font-leur-show.html
Hand 7: Alain Smadja interview (Video): http://www.hand7.fr/visio/videos/coupe-de-la-ligue-itw-d-alain-smadja.html

Team Handball News conducted a few short interviews with fans, players and organizers at the tournament. Interviews can be listened to at your computer (left click) or downloaded to your MP3 player (right click).

Stephen (Montpellier Fan) (4:05): http://teamhandballnews.com/request50.html

Joelle (A Member of the Quebec contingent) (2:09): http://teamhandballnews.com/request52.html

Ragnar Oskarsson (Icelander who plays for French Club, Dunkerque) (2:31): http://teamhandballnews.com/request51.html

A.C. Tellison: (Co-organizer with Christian Zaharia) (5:13): http://teamhandballnews.com/request53.html

Jackson Richardson: (French Handball Legend): [i]Coming soon[/i]

Mark Ortega (U.S. Player playing in Norway): [i]Coming soon[/i]

[b]Istres 22 – Montpellier 20[/b]

In a startling upset, Istres knocked off 5 time defending Couple de la Ligue Champion Montpellier 22-20. Istres, currently in 9th place(7 wins, 3 draws, 10 losses) in the 14 team French league, handed league leading Montpellier (19-0-1) only its second loss of the season against a French side. Istres, a 10.5 goal underdog, coupled strong court defensive and goalie play to hold Montpellier to just 20 goals. Istres’ goalie, Vincent Gerard stopped 25 of 45 shots for a 54% save percentage. Mohamdi Loutoufi led a balanced scoring attack with 5 goals.

Both sides played without several key players due to injuries. Montpellier gave extensive playing to several less experience players to start the match before bring in veterans Mladen Bojinovic and Wissem Hmam midway through the first half. This strange substitution pattern seemed to impact Montpellier’s offensive flow and Istres was able to take advantage of several turnovers for key fast break goals. Montpellier is still on pace to win the regular season title and will likely continue to advance in the Coupe de France competition, but Istres’ victory will prevent them from repeating their “triple” title performance of last year.
French Handzone article with several photos: http://www.handzone.net/asp.net/main.news/news.aspx?id=52497

[b]Challengers 48 – All Stars 42[/b]

In a game, as the score indicates, lacking any meaningful defense the Challengers defeated the All Star 48-42. The teams consisted of several foreign players playing in France, a few stars from other teams in the league and a few players from the two teams that lost yesterday. The highlight of the game for many was an opportunity to see the great Jackson Richardson play. Richardson, who is coming out of retirement to play for German side, Rhein-Neckar Lowen, did not disappoint and showed his usual flare in passing and scoring

[b]Best Fans Award: [/b] 38 members of youth teams in Quebec traveled by bus, nonstop, all the way from Quebec City to Miami to witness the matches at American Airlines Arena. OK, I’ve taken some serious road trips to play Handball in the past, but it’s hard to top that commitment.

[b]Media Reports[/b]

Miami Herald: “Istres stuns Montpellier to win world handball title at American Airlines Arena” http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/995704.html
L’Equipe TV (Video) Istres Triumphs in Miami:
http://www.lequipe.fr/Handball/breves2009/20090411_194559_istres-triomphe-a-miami.html

Here are a couple of local reports from the Miami news media:

Miami Herald: “High-drama handball showdowns in Miami”: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/other/story/994983.html
Miami New Times Riptide Blog: “Live Handball”: http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/04/live_handball.php

Here’s a short video from L’Equipe TV: http://video.lequipe.fr/video/iLyROoafJy_z.html

[b]Montpellier 31 – 27 Chambery[/b]

The battle between the top two teams in France saw Montpellier continue it’s dominance over Chambery, despite missing several key players due to injury. Not playing for Montpellier were 3 international stars, Joel Abati, Cedric Burdet and Michel Guigou. As a result they rotated players through the right backcourt spot and converted circle runner David Juricek into a left wing. Disjointed on offense at times they were still amiably led by the steady hand of Heykel Megannem who had several assists to go along with his game high 12 goals. On defense they were also effective in keeping French International star Daniel Narcisse in check for most of the match. I say in check, because Narcisse is simply too good of a player to shut down fully.

In terms of the flow of the game, the first half was rather uneven with both sides having more unforced errors than one normally would expect from the crème de la crème of French Handball. Montpellier, however, was more consistent and built up a 16-13 halftime lead. In the second half the game appeared to be over as Montpellier extended their 16-13 halftime lead to 23-16. At this point in the match, however, Chambery rose to the challenge with excellent goalie work by Michael Robin and 20 year old David Barrachet and Narcisse providing a 1-2 punch on offense to pull within one goal, 26-25, with 9 minutes left. At this point, Montpellier and Mladen Bojinovic, showed why they are the class of French Handball. At two key junctures with Montpellier down a man, Bojinovic somehow found the back of the net and forced a penalty shot to kill any hopes of a Chambery victory.

French Handzone article with several photos:
http://www.handzone.net/asp.net/main.news/news.aspx?id=52495

[b]Istres 31 – 30 Paris[/b]

The “Junior Varsity” match between the 9th and 10th place teams in the French league was an entertaining see-saw match that saw Istres win on a last second shot. In the first half Istres pulled away from Paris for a comfortable 17-12 lead at the break. At the start of the 2nd half, though, Paris came out on fire and only took 7 minutes to tie the score at 18. Paris and Istres traded leads back and forth for a few minutes until Paris went on a 4-0 run to take a 27-23 lead with 13 minutes left and then “bam”, Istres scored 4 and a row to tie it at 27 with 8:30 left. Then, you guessed it- Paris scored to take a 30-27 lead with 4:30 to go. And you know where this is headed…. Istres scored 4 goals in a row, including the last 3 by Kamel Alouini. Alouini, a Tunisian international, who is just 20 years old, was easily the “man of the match” scoring 9 goals in 10 attempts.

Istres will have their work cut out for them tomorrow, as Montpellier will be heavily favored to win their 6th straight Coupe de la Ligue. The big news for them is that this semi-final victory all but guarantees them a slot in the EHF Cup. The winner of the Coupe de la Ligue is awarded this slot, but as Montpellier is all but destined for 1st place in the French league regular season, they will play in the more prestigious Champions League.

French Handzone article with several photos: http://www.handzone.net/asp.net/main.news/news.aspx?id=52496

[b]Solo Commentary: [/b] I’ve been watching sports on TV for almost 40 years and I don’t know how many times I’ve said to myself or out loud, “That guy is an idiot and doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Well, having sat at on the other side of the mic for a change, let’s just say I’m a little more sympathetic to grammatical and tactical mistakes. Not to mention the challenge of solo commentary. Talking to yourself for 60 minutes is a unique challenge all its own.

[b]Attendance (as in the lack of): [/b]As the lone American amongst the French Press corps I fielded several questions concerning Handball in the U.S. and inevitably the conversation turned to the low attendance. I haven’t seen official figures, but it’s obvious that the numbers are well below expectations. The controversy as far as the French are concerned is that it’s a long way to travel to play in a sparsely populated arena. I’ll have more to say on this topic at a later date, but right now all I can say is that there are a lot of people that missed two great matches.

Landed at around 1330 Local and checked out the setup at the American Airlines Arena. Truly, a magnificent setting for a handball match. Chambery was practicing and they looked in fine form. After practice I heard French National Team player pretending to be an English speaking commentator. Tres amusant. The local press has also discovered the event and has published a couple of articles on the upcoming tournament.

Miami Herald: Handball championships being played in Miami: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/991258.html

Miami New Times: The global takeover of French handball begins in Miami: http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/03/the_global_takeover_of_french.php