Courtesy of Kenn Tomasch, my play by play partner for last weekend’s championship game, here’s the goal at the end of overtime that put New England in the final. Not sure what #10, Piotr Gospodarzec, the second player on the left in NYC's wall was thinking. His hands are up in a V shape, almost inviting Marco Betsch to shoot there.

Video: http://www.kenn.com/the_blog/?p=3253

Group Club Handball (GCH) has existed since 2006 as an entity representing 19 selected top men’s handball clubs in Europe for the purpose of improving the situation of European club handball more generally. To be more broadly representative in this endeavor, the GCH established in 2007 another entity, Forum Club Handball (FCH). The FCH held meetings in 2007 and 2008 with 54 and 32 clubs participating respectively.

However, there is a need for a more formal dialog with the EHF. Moreover, the IHF has until now refused to meet with GCH or its representatives. Instead, the IHF has itself chosen its preferred participants in meetings on matters concerning club, leagues and players. Presumably in an effort to make clear that there is indeed an entity that represents essentially [u]all[/u] major men’s clubs in Europe, without any ‘hand-picking’, the structure of the FCH is now being formalized.

GCH will remain the entity that organizes or administers the FCH events and activities, but the FCH will have its own Board and a General Assembly. The following clubs are automatically members of the FCH: the 24 best Champions League clubs, the 16 best EHF Cup clubs, the 16 best Cup Winners Cup clubs, the 8 best Challenge Cup clubs, and any national champions not already included among these 64 clubs. There will be a weighted voting system in the FCH, and the Board members will be elected in such a way that the strongest handball countries get a heavier representation.

There will be a FCH meeting in connection with the EHF ‘Final Four’ later this month, and the FCH will then be meeting with EHF representatives to discuss a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MoU) which has been drafted jointly by the EHF and the GCH. This MoU would give formal recognition to the FCH as a partner in future discussions regarding all matters of interest the handball clubs at the European level.

The topics will include the international and continental competition calendars, the time set aside for players to be on their national teams, the compensation to be paid by the national federations, EHF and IHF for such periods, and the related question of insurance coverage. Marketing matters will also be discussed jointly by the EHF and the FCH. The FCH undertakes to ensure that all clubs act in these matters within the umbrella of the FCH and do not form other groupings or act unilaterally. It is also understood that the GCH will withdraw all legal complaints previously filed against the EHF.

The existence of such an MoU should ensure that there is a clear and transparent process for the dialog between clubs, leagues, federations and the EHF. Naturally it is hoped that the same will apply to the corresponding dialog with the IHF. And the existence of such a process, together with the meeting of minds expressed in the MoU seems to suggest that tangible results should also be forthcoming much more easily.
It should indeed be very interesting to follow the further developments.

Link to the GCH web page regarding the FCH and the upcoming meetings: http://www.groupclubhandball.com/?page_id=90

The Oceania Men’s Championships took place in New Zealand from 8-10 May. Australia secured the Oceania bid for the World Championships in Sweden next January by easily defeating both New Zealand and the Cook Islands twice. New Zealand took 2nd place with by beating the Cook Islands in both their head to head matchups.

Editor’s Note: In addition to two rival New Zealand Federations there now appears to be two rival Oceania Federations. The Oceania Handball Federation (OHF) was suspended by the IHF two years ago over a dispute with then President Vern Winitana. The recent championships were held by the Oceania Continent Handball Federation (OCHF) and according to the New Zealand Handball Federation this event was sanctioned by the IHF. It should be noted, however, that the IHF does not list either Oceania Federation on its Continental Federation Page and the new regulations proposed for the IHF included a 10 member nation requirement for the establishment of a Continental Federation. If approved this requirement would seem to preclude the establishment of an Oceania Federation.

OCHF Website: http://sites.google.com/a/ochf.org/ochf/
Oceania Website: http://www.oceaniahandball.org/

Competition Results.
Sat 8 May 2010
1030-1200 AUS vs CKI 41:13 (16:3)
1900-2030 AUS vs NZL 30:17 (17:7)

Sun 9 May 2010
1030-1200 NZL vs AUS 16:30 (6:15)
1900-2030 CKI vs NZL 21:36 (7:23)

Mon 10 May 2010
1130-1300 CKI vs AUS 7:46 (4:22)
2000-2130 NZL vs CKI 31:12 (17:5)

With little fanfare last week the U.S. Olympic Committee acknowledged that plans for an official Olympic TV channel in partnership with cable giant Comcast are officially over. Last summer the USOC announced that the new channel would start broadcasting after the Vancouver Olympics and would be a platform for minor sports like Team Handball to get more exposure. A combination of events, however, quickly squelched its prospects. First the IOC raised its ire that the proposed channel was not coordinated with them and that that it might impact future TV contracts. Behind the scenes, current Olympic broadcaster, NBC was also not happy with the prospect of a new network competing with their Universal Sports Channel. Finally, NBC and Comcast began discussions of a possible merger which raised the prospect of the two competing channels being owned by the same company.

Analysis: While this particular venture is over, it appears likely that Comcast will soon have ownership of the Universal Sports Channel. This channel, which is primarily a webstreaming platform already broadcasts several Olympic sports and would likely welcome an official Olympic title/arrangement with the USOC. But, lurking in the background is sports giant, ESPN, which is said to be very interested in acquiring the U.S. TV rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympics. If the USOC is smart they will structure the upcoming bid to include a commitment from the would be winner to establish a full time Olympic Network. Such a network should also include a commitment to have a 90% market penetration in the U.S. and to regularly broadcast events from every Olympic sport.

While it’s disappointing to see another opportunity for Team Handball to be broadcast on TV in the U.S. fall by the way side, rest assured it’s just a matter of time before it becomes a reality. In fact, I was recently surprised to find out that it appears to have been a reality all this season for subscribers to the “My Sports Germany” channel on satellite TV provider Dish Network. According to their website and and an unofficial schedule, German HBL matches are regularly being broadcasted. Too bad the HBL neglected to inform me of this possibility when they denied me internet access this past fall. Looks like I may be switching TV providers for the 2010-2011 season.

Sports Business Daily (21 Apr 10): USOC, Comcast End Agreement To Launch New Olympic Channel: http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/138719
THN (9 Jul 09) Olympic TV channel set to launch after 2010 Olympics: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.790
Universal Sports Website: http://www.universalsports.com/
Dish Network info on My Sports Germany: http://www.dishnetwork.com/packages/channel.aspx?channel=53146
Unofficial Schedule: http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tvlistings/ZCSGrid.do?sgt=grid&stnNum=64864&channel=&fromTimeInMillis=0
THN (22 Sep 09): German Bundesliga blocks internet Handball broadcasts to rest of world: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.827

When a team has as much success as the French men’s national team in recent years, with triumphs at the 2008 Olympics, the 2009 World Championships, and the EURO 2010, everyone wants to know: what is the ‘secret’ behind this success, and is it likely to turn into a hegemony? In an interesting article in the magazine Der Spiegel, the German journalist Tim Oliver Kalle looks behind scene. The following summarizes his key points and adds a few observations.

The focus of the article is on a very systematic and firmly structured way of catching and fostering young talents for a few years (ages 13-18). Using political terms, one could almost label it a ‘socialist’ system, where the government and the French Federation collaborate. The system is based on about 25 regions, where the young talents first go through a testing and selection process and then undergo standardized training in a regional sports center for several years. The education is provided by licensed coaches paid by the national federation. At any given point in time, there are about 500 participants in the system.

While the parents of each participant are asked to contribute with about US$ 7.000 per year, the cost of running the centers is essentially absorbed by the government. Teams from the regional centers get together in annual tournament, but the training is mostly decentralized, something which observers see as a weakness of the system. It also means that a special talent may be stuck for some years in a region where the quality and the competition are less stimulating and challenging.

At the next level, for two years, the clubs in the top 2 divisions are expected to run their own ‘academies’, through which the top talents should be brought up to the elite level. Here the clubs are somewhat protected and rewarded for their efforts, in the sense that if a rival club were to try to contract such a talent during or shortly after the two-year period, they are obliged to pay compensation. (This is a different approach from most other top handball countries, where clubs that ‘invest’ in a particular talent are left without compensation in such circumstances).

Almost all of the current ‘triple champions’ are products of this system, so in that sense there would seem to be some evidence that it is a good model, although one obviously does not know what the situation would have been in its absence. (Of course, other countries note with some envy that France also has a special talent pool in the form of strong athletes from their overseas ‘departements’.) But in recent years, the results of the French teams at Youth and Junior World Championships have not been particularly outstanding, not in comparison with the senior team and not in comparison with the youth/junior teams from some other countries such as Germany.

And a closer review suggests that there are right now very few top talents emerging as obvious reinforcements for the senior team, as some of the older ones of the ‘heavily medaled’ players retire, perhaps after the 2012 Olympics. Could it be that more than a result of a particular system, the current confluence or abundance of strong talents on the senior team is more of a generational coincidence?? While one should not expect France to drop out of the picture again like in the 1970s and 1980s, perhaps it gives the other top countries some hope that they will not always have to be satisfied with fighting for the silver medals…

Before you start wondering: no, this is not intended as a serious analysis of a possible change in the playing time for handball. I will leave it to others to investigate whether there would be any merit in the idea of changing the playing time to, for instance, 3×20 or 4×15, following the pattern of some other sports. Indeed, when one thinks about the importance of marketing handball as an attractive ‘product’ for spectators and media, it is necessary to have an open mind and not just stick to traditions. Of course, this could also open up for opportunities to consider new points systems or other changes that could add to the basic excitement of a handball match.

But I do not believe any such study would come to the conclusion that 12 periods of 5 minutes would be a good idea as a standard, not even at the lower levels where the fitness of players and referees might leave something to be desired. Instead I will just tell you a story about a situation where I, as a referee, had to experience the 12×5 approach in an official competition, and it did [u]not[/u] happen out of concern for my fitness…

I cannot remember exactly when it happened, but it was approximately 25 years ago. The event was a South American Junior Men’s Championship. The location was the town of Maldonado in Uruguay, very close to the famous seaside resort Punta del Este.
There was no suitable indoor arena available, but it was summer, so playing outdoors was not a problem. In fact, they had come up with a very nice solution, playing on the court of a tennis stadium. Because of the heat, the starting time of the games was 10 in the evening and midnight. This meant, of course, playing under the ‘floodlights’ of the tennis stadium, as there is no midnight sun in Maldonado. It was really quite an attractive setting for a handball tournament.

But there was one thing that the organizers had not counted on. The matches did not attract many spectators but, thanks to the floodlights, they attracted an absolute invasion of big, crunchy bugs and roaches — onto the court! This was not clear during the warm-up, as the lights were not on at full strength yet, but soon after the match started, it became all too obvious. I recently offered a story about trying to play a World Championship match on ice (indoors) in Tunisia; this was not very different. The players started to skid on a layer of bugs and roaches who really enjoyed being in the ‘limelight’. But for the players it got a bit scary. So it became obvious that, to keep it safe, we had to stop the game with frequent intervals, and all the brooms and shovels that could be found were put to use to clean off the court. Because those bugs and roaches just kept coming.

I must confess that perhaps we did not stick to precise 5-minute periods; it seemed to make more sense to take the cleaning breaks when the game was already stopped for some other reason. So it may not have been [u]exactly[/u] 12×5, but it certainly was a unique experience!

New Zealand and Australia will be traveling to Turkey later this month to participate in a 3 nations tournament. The event will take place in the town of Canakkale, on the Gallipoli peninsula, the site of a fierce WW I battle that took place 95 years ago between the 3 nations. The tournament will be televised in Turkey and in New Zealand according to a radio interview with NZ Federation Secretary General, Frank Stotenberberg. New Zealand will also be travelling to Germany before the tournament where they are scheduled to HSC Gronau (14 Apr), HSG Ascheberg (15 Apr) and TSG Harsewinkel (16 Apr). The dates for the tournament are:

21 April, Australia – New Zealand
22 April, Turkey – New Zealand
24 April, Turkey – Australia

On a side note, I noticed on the New Zealand website a poster showing the New Zealand team performing the Haka, the Maori dance most often associated with New Zealand’s “All Blacks” national Rugby team. This tradition involves the National team performing the war dance on the field while the other National team stoically looks on. But, it’s more than just Rugby as the New Zealand Federation informs me that the Handball team also performs this pregame ritual. I know that Australia has ruled the roost in Oceania competition, but here’s hoping that New Zealand upends them for a World Championship berth. I can just see the puzzled looks of the Swedes in the stands in 2011.

Audio: Interview with NZ Federation Sec Gen Frank Stoltenberg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOP4Vi3j6PA&feature=player_embedded

3 Nations Tournament official website: http://www.3nations.biz/default_en.asp
New Zealand Federation: http://www.handball.net.nz/cms/
Wikipedia article on Gallipoli: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallipoli_Campaign
Wikipedia article on the Haka: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haka

Handball Haka Videos:

Rugby Haka Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83U_Vg1GRvA

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

The European Handball Federation (EHF) produces a weekly video with highlights from the latest round of Champions League matches. Accompanying the highlights are usually a couple of stories or interviews with the players and coaches.

One of the feature stories for the Round 7 show is a report from the Big Apple Tournament in New York that took place around New Years. Interviewed in the video are the tournament organizer Karl Gladeck and German Bundesliga General Manager, Frank Bohmann. The story starts at around the 13:00 minute mark.

VIDEO: EHF Champions League Show (Round 7): http://www.ehftv.com/ec/cl/men/2009-10/video/000972

THN (5 Jan 10): Big Apple Tournament: A modest event that will lead to bigger and better things?: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.914

New York City Team Handball: http://www.newyorkcityteamhandball.com/

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: http://rubaisport.com/sag/?competition=handball
Dawn.com (6 Feb 10): Pakistan edge India to win handball gold in SAG: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sport/08-pakistan-edge-india-to-win-handball-gold-in-sag-ts-05

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: http://www.calheat.com/dr/node/197

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: http://rubaisport.com/sag/?competition=handball

The Island (30 Jan 10): After ‘Machan’, SL handball makes ‘real’ international debut: http://www.island.lk/2010/01/30/sports3.html

BBC (15 Sep 04): Sri Lanka handball team vanishes: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3658966.stm

THN (3 Sep 08): Sri Lankan Handball Movie Debuts at Venice Film Festival: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.591

Machan Official Website: http://www.machanthefilm.com/

Youtube Video of Match vs German Club in 2004
– Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUkCrfOs0Tw&feature=related
– Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIw_VJjeANI&feature=related
– Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkIJiUvThMo&feature=related

Sri Lankan Blog commentary on video: http://ravana.wordpress.com/2009/07/25/the-real-fake-sri-lankan-handball-team-playing-the-real-match-in-germany/

VFL Stade, a lower division team in northern Germany has released a calendar of their team (players and coaches) wearing bikinis in Handball scenes. Well, you knew it was just a matter of time, before some club made the marketing move to sell such a calendar. Check out the pictures and story below.

VFL Stade Bikini Page: http://www.stadehandball.de/damen/pages/team/bilder.php?cpath=005_VfL-Bikinis
Bild.de: Handball hotter than you've ever seen before!: http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/sport-news/more-sport/2010/01/08/sexy-women-in-sport/handball-hotter-than-youve-ever-seen-before.html