Essay Contest: Why Hassan Moustafa should be re-elected for another term as IHF President

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When the IHF Presidential Election Center page http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.744 was set up, the desire was that all candidates and their supporters would contribute to the site. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case, as so far only Jean Kaiser has responded to our questions. Additionally, the balance of the information concerning the incumbent, Hassan Moustafa, is focused on several negative stories concerning issues that have transpired during his recent term. Quite simply, to the best of our knowledge there have been no significant stories or commentaries written espousing the accomplishments of Dr Moustafa and why he should be re-elected as IHF President.

In an attempt to balance coverage at Team Handball News we are therefore soliciting anyone with Pro-Moustafa commentary to step forward for publication. As most readers of this website know, Team Handball News, has always been open to guest commentary. The requirements are not overly stringent. The author simply needs to put forth a good structured argument and avoid ranting without rationale.

Furthermore as an incentive, we will be offering a $20 prize for the best written essay. All entries should be submitted to john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com by May 25, 2009. For more information on contest rules and requirements please check the contest thread in the forum section.

Forum Contest Thread: http://teamhandballnews.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?1228

Canadian Alexis Bertrand’s Club Ascends to French First Division

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Led by Canadian Alexis Bertrand’s 6 goals, OC Cesson Handball defeated St Cyr Touraine 32-30 on Saturday. This victory by league leading Cesson at 3rd place St Cyr guarantees that Cesson will finish either first or second in Division 2. With that placement Cesson, which has flirted with promotion for the past few years will now play in France’s first division, the Ligue National de Handball (LNH) where they will take on the likes of Montpellier and Chambery.

Interview with Alexis Bertrand (April 2006): http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.67
OC Cesson website: http://www.cesson-handball.com/
Photo: Alexis Bertrand: http://www.cesson-handball.com/album/?img=1748

Jean Kaiser: Candidate for IHF President (Questionnaire Response)

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[html] "photo_jk.jpg"Jean Kaiser of Luxembourg has responded to a questionnaire covering many of the issues currently effecting the Handball world. Below are his responses. As of this posting neither of the other 2 candidates (Hassan Moustafa and Gudmundur Ingvarsson) have responded. Should they respond their answers will also be posted.

[center][b]IHF Presidential Candidate Questionnaire[/b][/center]

[b]GENERAL[/b]

 [b]Why do you want to be (or continue to be) the IHF President?[/b]
The first and most important reason is the fact that I fear that handball could possibly lose its Olympic status for 2016. The second one is the scandalous behaviour of Dr Hassan Mustafa concerning financial matters, such as expenses compensation without any proof, or irresponsible investments as the refurbishment of the IHF headquarters for almost the same amount as the purchase price or the purchase of a car at a price of almost 100.000 Eur. And so on.
[b]What are your qualifications to be the IHF President?[/b]
I spent almost 40 years of my life with handball. I was a player for more than 22 years. I was a referee. I was president of the Luxemburg Handball Federation for more than 13 years. I was also for 13 years president of the court of appeal of the EHF. I was an EHF/IHF delegate from 1991 until 2008 with 7 European Cup Finals and 6 European Championships and I was present at practically all the EHF and IHF congresses until 2008 In my job I was general manager of a bank. I am comfortable leading people in a democratic way.

[b]OFFICIATING CRISIS[/b]

[b]What actions would you take to address the current referee scandals?[/b] First of all there should be installed in each Continental Federation one commission responsible for making referee nominations. The Continental Federations should do the follow up. That means they should organize travel and hotels so that there will be no contact between the referees and the clubs or national federations until 1 hour before the match. There should be no common meal. The hotel should not be known by the clubs. And last, but not least, better payment for the referees. The present cases should be investigated properly with consequences for wrong doing.

[b]INTERNATIONAL/CLUB CALENDAR[/b]

[b]Do you favor a two year or four year cycle for the IHF World Championships? (The 4 year cycle would mean that World Championships would take place 2 years after each Olympics)[/b]
There should be changes, but I think that this has to be part of a whole concept, to be discussed on every level (big – small federations/ promotion of handball in small countries ….)
[b]Do you think the IHF World Championships should continue to be played in January?[/b]
Certainly not. I think that this interrupts the national competitions. Winter is also not the best time for handball fans to make long trips.
[b]How would you address the basic conflict of interest between European Professional clubs, the EHF, IHF, and player’s unions over the number of games the world’s elite players play each season?[/b]
My first aim would be a discussion with the concerned parties to listen to their problems. It is a certainty that the current schedule is dangerous for the health of the players. And we should care about their health.

[b]DOPING[/b]

[b]Two members of the IHF Doping Commission resigned due to concerns with the lack of funding and support from the IHF leadership. Do you feel their resignation was justified?[/b]
Absolutely. Nobody can understand the irresponsible behaviour of the IHF President. With this very dangerous game he played by dissolving the Anti-Doping-Unit of IHF and refusing the necessary funds, he endangered the Olympic status of handball
[b]What steps would you take to address WADA concerns with the IHF’s doping policies?[/b]
 The IHF needs to immediately remedy this situation, by fulfilling at 100%, the regulations of WADA. And this should be done in direct cooperation with the agency

[b]IHF FINANCES[/b]

Would you favor a release of the IHF’s finances at a top level? (i.e., information would include basic income and expenses)
I would like to see the president and the treasurer, behave like everybody in the economic world. That means they have to stand for integrity, correctness and transparency of all financial matters.
[b]What is your position on the IHF’s current accounting practices? For instance, do you think travelers should be required to keep receipts for auditing purposes?[/b]
It’s unbelievable that a council allows a president to spent almost 600.000 Swiss Francs without receipts. A president should have a certain amount for “out of pocket expenses” but for all other expenses he has should require proof as everybody has to do in a serious accounting.

[b]HANDBALL MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT[/b]

[b]Are you satisfied with the IHF’s current website presence? And, if not, what would you do to improve it?[/b]
Actually I did not think about that, as there are more important problems to resolve. But one can always think about what we can ameliorate.
[b]What is your opinion of Internet web streaming of handball matches? Do you envision the IHF developing a platform similar to ehftv.com?[/b]
 That would, of course, be a goal for the future
[b]What steps would you take to ensure more TV broadcasts of Handball in countries where Handball is less popular?[/b]
 First look where the problems are. Why there is no coverage by TV. Discuss with those federations about what to do and which help is required. That will be part of a whole concept which I have partly in mind, but it is too early to present it to the federations.
[b]Handball is predominantly a European sport. What steps would you take to increase its popularity in the rest of the world?[/b]
 This will be a very important goal for the new President. I already have a concept developed, but I will present it later on.

[b]ASIAN OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION CONTROVERSY[/b]

[b]Do you think that the IHF President’s role (phone conversations with the AHF President) in the assignment of Jordanian officials (vice the experience German pair) at the 2007 Asian Olympic was appropriate? If not, how would you handle a similar situation? [/b]
It is not the responsibility of the president or the treasurer to intervene in the nomination of the referees. The same thing happened at the Olympic games 2008, when the President and the Treasurer did make changes to Alexander Kozhukhov’s nominations of the referees. It is scandalous.
[b]Do you think the IHF was sufficiently proactive in addressing the Asian Olympic Qualification controversy? [/b]
The only one who was active was P. Mühlematter, by bring this scandal to the public. With the result that the president asked for his resignation. Nevertheless the president had to confess in public. What a shame for our sport!

[b]OTHER: If you have any other issues, concerns or points that you would like to make please feel free to include them.[/b]
 For the moment being it were the most important items to talk about. Maybe that later on I will have some other items, then I would let you know. [/html]

Yes, We Can (Part 2)

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A while back I wrote a commentary that cited Barack Obama’s campaign theme, “Yes we can”, as a counter-point for those that think the upcoming IHF election is a foregone conclusion. In what can only be described as poetic serendipity, President Barack Obama has announced that he will be traveling to Cairo to give a speech to the Arab world on June 4. Coincidentally, this is the same city and the same day that the IHF Congress is scheduled to start. OK, what are the chances of that happening?

June 4 is scheduled as a “social day” for the delegates. Following a trip to the pyramids they currently have the option of either a trip to a museum or a spa treatment. Might I suggest adding a third option to go see President Obama make a historic speech. Maybe that will inspire some to rethink their vote?

I’ll also have to hand it to the current IHF administration. They certainly are not afraid to trumpet the amenities of the upcoming Congress on the website, proudly noting the 5-star hotel and spa treatment that will be available. One would think in light of the current economic crisis and the minimal budgets that many national federations have even in good times, that they would have quietly sent this information via email where it’s less likely to face scrutiny. I’d like to think that money for spa treatments and hotel rooms (for some federations) could be better spent on handball equipment or marketing of TV broadcasts. But, maybe this is standard operating procedures for the current IHF administration. And maybe it’s high time to change administrations.

Have you contacted your National Federation President yet? There’s still time to do so.

London Times: Barack Obama aims high on first visit to the Arab world: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6261843.ece
IHF Congress Website: Social Day: http://www.ihfcongress2009.org/congress2009/touristic.htm
IHF Congress Website: Hotel accommodations: http://www.ihfcongress2009.org/congress2009/abouthtoel.htm
Yes We Can (Influence the Outcome of the IHF Presidential Election: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.743

IHF to New Candidates: No Time for Introductions at Congress

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The IHF has informed national federations with new candidates up for election at the IHF Congress that “for reasons of time we can not give the candidates the opportunity to introduce themselves to the Congress.” The brief memo then invites the nations to make sure that their resume is available for the official Congress Documents.

Jean Kaiser (LUX), a candidate for President fired off a terse counter-memo decrying this position as unbelievable, noting that it was counter to previous Congresses and that the current President has been globe-trotting at IHF expense to campaign directly to the different nations. He further notes that “an election congress is the most important congress within that 4 years period. Consequently it is of a very high importance for the representatives of the national federations, to make their own mind about the candidates, by listening to their proposals.”

A close look at the agenda provided on the Federation website does seem to indicated that time could be found for candidate introductions. Notably, Thursday, 4 June is a social day with a trip to the pyramids and a spa for the attendees.

IHF Congress Agenda: http://www.ihfcongress2009.org/congress2009/timetable.htm

Text of the IHF memo and Jean Kaiser response is in the extended post

To the Handball Federations CRO, DEN, FIN, FRA, GER, IND, ISL, ITA, JOR, KAZ, KOR, KUW, LUX, MKD, NOR, POL, SLO, SUI, TUN, UKR

Basle, 8th May 2009

XXXII Ordinary IHF Congress 2009 New candidates for positions at the IHF

Dear Handball Friends,

You presented candidates from your federation for a position in the IHF at the coming Congress. The candidature has been handed in in due time and has been announced in the circular letter dated 11th March 2009.

As for reasons of time we can not give the candidates the opportunity to introduce themselves to the Congress, we would herewith invite you to send us the respective CVs (if you have not already done so) in order to add them to the official Congress documents. We would kindly ask you to send us the CVs by the 15th May at the latest.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further information you may need.

Thanking you in advance for your kind cooperation we remain,

With best sporting regards

INTERNATIONAL HANDBALL FEDERATION
Christoph Geissler
Head of Administration

—————————————————————————-
To all Handball friends.

It is really unbelievable !!
We, the candidates to the different positions in IHF, at the congress 2009, are forbidden to present ourselves to all the congress participants.

An election congress is the most important congress within that 4 years period.

Consequently it is of a very high importance for the representatives of the national federations, to make their own mind about the candidates, by listening to their proposals.

In the past, this procedure has been a very appreciated usance

M. Hassan Moustafa, president of IHF in his dictatorial way, refuses this to the representatives of the national federations!

Whereas he is travelling around the world, "sponsored" by IHF-funds, to make his own election campaign, he does not allow the other candidates even to talk to the congress.

What kind of impudence! What an unfair competition!

What an indignity for democracy and an insult for all congress participants.

I kindly request you all, to rise and protest for democracy, and against the shabby behaviour of the IHF president.

Jean KAISER (LUX)
Candidate for President

USA Team Handball Town Hall Meeting

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This past Saturday, USA Team Handball conducted a town hall meeting in conjunction with the National Championship tournament in Elgin, Illinois. The audio podcast includes presentations by USATH President, Dieter Esch, General Manager Steve Pastorino, Technical Director Mariusz Wartalowicz and IHF President Hassan Moustafa, as well as a few questions from the membership

The quality of the audio varies. President Moustafa is particularly difficult to hear. Also word to the wise: You’ll need to turn it up fairly loud to hear some of the speakers, but be prepared for some ear drum shock when clapping starts.

A big thanks to USA Team Handball Board Member and Athletes Advisory Council Representative, David Thompson, who did the recording and file conversion.

USA Team Handball Town Meeting: http://teamhandballnews.com/request56.html
Left click to play, right click to download. (File Size: 46 MB; Running time is 53 minutes)

Stefan Fatsis Promotes Handball Again (New York Times)

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Stefan Fatsis, once again is doing his best to promote Team Handball in the U.S. This time with a cheering section report in one of the most widely circulated papers in America, the New York Times. The story doesn’t have much in it that will be new to Handball fans, but it is great for the sport to get that kind of exposure.

One tidbit that was news to me was the $1,500/game cost that ESPN charged for the satellite uplinks during the World Championships. Yes, we’ve got to pay to get the sport on TV in the U.S. (even web TV!) But, it’s money well spent as that is the fastest way this sport is ever going to grow in this country.

New York Times: Team Handball Has It All, Except an American Interest: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/sports/othersports/10cheer.html

Earlier commentary by Stefan Fatsis
Wall Street Journal (Aug 2004): http://www.stefanfatsis.com/writing/weoughttoplay/
NPR Interviews: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.685

Can you teach an old dog a new trick? http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?extend.372 (or why I think TV is so important to grow the sport in the U.S.)

If I were at the Town Hall Meeting in Illinois…

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I won’t be attending the USA National Championships this coming weekend, so regrettably I will be missing out on and opportunity to catch up with old friends and talk about Handball issues with the Federation leadership. But, if I was attending Nationals, I certainly would have a few burning questions. A town hall meeting is scheduled for Saturday at 1:00 PM. Here are some suggested topics and questions for those who will be there:

1) Board of Director (Election/Selection): The Federation By-Laws that were approved at the first Board Meeting are not exactly clear as to the procedures for Electing/Selecting Board Members. Namely, the by-laws includes language (Section 5.2) concerning member rights to vote in elections, but the language (Section 7.6) for choosing Board Members only describes a selection process. As I read it, the Nomination and Governance Committee will be the sole decider as to who the new Board Members are. And the Board of Directors gets to decide who gets placed on the Nomination and Governance Committee. Thus creating a potential never-ending do-loop where only like-minded individuals can possibly get a seat at the table. With the exception, of course, of the two athlete representatives who must be elected.

Going back to the original applications submitted to the USOC, I noted that the lack of an election process was pretty undemocratic, but perhaps that was designed intentionally to save USA Handball from itself. The conflict in the by-laws suggests, however, that there might be some reconsideration of this. So, the simple question to ask is “Will the Federation membership ever get to vote on candidates for the Board of Directors?” and, “If no, Why not?”

2) Competition Committee: See my last post on this topic for more detail. The basic question to be asked is how will Nationals be set up next year?

3) Little has been said or written as to how the USA plans to field competitive National teams. Here’s some relevant questions:
– There were talent identification camps this year, but now there’s already talk of requiring the Men’s team to self fund their attendance at the PATHF Div 1 championship later this year. It looks like the USA is already resigned to not qualifying for the 2011 Men’s WC. Is the USA also throwing in the towel in regards to London 2012? When will the USA first attempt to seriously qualify for major competition?
– Is the USA considering establishing a resident National Team program? If so, when and where?
– Are their plans to more aggressively place USA players with foreign clubs?
– Is there a master plan that lays out what the goals are near term, mid term, long term? Can we see it?

4) German Bundesliga: I’ll say again that this partnership deal could be a major breakthrough for USA Team Handball. The key words are “could be.” The questions are, what are the concrete benefits of this partnership and when will start to see them?

Side note: The IHF President is attending the USA National Championships. It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan and you can guess how I feel about the implied endorsement USA Team Handball has given, by welcoming him less than a month prior to the upcoming election vote in Cairo. The President, however, is the representative of the IHF and should be treated with respect. That being said, the National Championship is an excellent opportunity for you to make it clear to the Board of Directors how you feel about the upcoming election. Some of the Board of Directors are total newcomers to the sport and most likely would be interested in getting feedback from the rank and file on a number of issues. USA Team Handball Board Members names and photos are here: http://www.usateamhandball.org/about/board/ If you spot them, go ahead and chat them up for a few minutes. I'm sure they will appreciate it.

Jackson Richardson Endorses Kaiser for IHF Presidency

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In a letter sent to all National Federation, Handball legend Jackson Richardson decries the actions of President Moustafa and endorses Jean Kaiser for President. Joining Richardson in signing were former German National Team Player, Erhard Wunderlich and Zlatko Portner, who played for the former Yugoslavia. The complete text of the letter is below.

To all national presidents, secretary generals and functionaries,
To all national and internationalplayers, trainers and referees

Basel, May 2009

The signing athletes in connection with the IHF congress 2009 and in connection with the linked discussions want to make the following statements:

– the current president of the IHF, Dr. Hassan Moustafa, as well as the current treasurer of the IHF, Miguel Roca Mas, feel put out to entitled criticism.
– concerning the financial transactions, there is in many cases still no sufficient transparency. Hence, we demand a neutral financial control, combined with a publication duty, as it is usual in general for economic companies and federations
– apparently there is also not enough transparency concerning the IHF funds spent for the presidents personal matters, in connection with the expenses compensations without documents of proof
– the research of "Spiegel Online“, a famous paper in Germany, about the whereabouts of 1.6 millions CHF, supposed to be on an account in France, remains to date without exact clarification.
– President Moustafa apparently takes decisions without consulting the council. This could possibly be looked as not statuts-compliant, among other things the exclusion of Oceania’s eligible Mr. V. Winitana from participating in the councils meeting in
Herzogenaurach, or even to act as secretary general. The secretary general elected by the congress, is apparently forbidden by the president itself, to enter his own office
– the value of the athlete's commission, installed by decision of the congress does not have, until today within the IHF its recognition. Until today no meeting took place because the president of IHF did not give his permission. The president communicates exclusively with the federations
– there are still no insurances for the athletes and the promised equalization of the time schedule of the events, has not yet occurred. This all leads to a huge overloading of the players, with dangerous health consequences. This entails that the federations and their clubs have to deal with financial losses, as well as long-chronological health failures of their players
– the behaviour in the matter of anti-doping regulations of the WADA endangers the handball sport to loose its Olympic status, maybe even for 2016
– the president, as well as the treasurer currently intervened in the referees nominations during the Olympics in Bejing (statements from the legacy of passed away Alexander Kozhukhov)
– the president of the IHF has promised during a press conference, which took place in the office of the IHF in Basel in February, 2009, a full transparency concerning all the reproaches against him. The carrying out is missing till today.

All these points prevent massively an improvement of the high-class standard, which we see as absolutely necessary, namely in the national federations, as well as in the continental areas. We, the athletes, simply form the basis for the exercise of our sport and to its marketing world wide.

In view of these lacks of transparency and the worldwide discussions linked to it, we would like to request all responsible officials of the handball sport, on the next IHF congress, which takes place from the 4th to the 7th of June, 2009 in Cairo, to express to

Jean Kaiser candidate for president

their trust and vote for him, so that the handball sport can enter a new, clean and prosperous era.

With our signatures we stand for „ clean handball “!

Jackson Richardson
World Handball Player, 1995

Erhard Wunderlich
German century Handballer

Zlatko Portner
World Champion with Yugoslavia, 1986

USA National Championships (Format Problems and Solutions)

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There was a lot of hot air expended in the forum section of our website in regards to the format for this year’s National Championship. Aside from the hot air, though, most of the complaints we’re pretty legitimate. This commentary will look at the basic problems with the format, the process that was used and provide a proposed solution

[b]National Championship (Format)[/b]

Rather than traditional pool play, the Federation first informed clubs that this year’s tournament would use a simple knock out format. It didn’t take too long for clubs started to complain. The problems identified included the following:

1) The seeding of the 20 teams was highly suspect. Notably, the Condors with national team player, Gary Hines, were seeded very low.
2) The single elimination tourney format combined with the poor seeding, undoubtedly would have resulted in some quality teams playing for either 17th, 9th or 5th place.
3) Eight teams were subjected to play-in games that not only placed the losers into finishing no better than 17th place, it required them to play an extra game prior to playing a 100% fresh team in the round of 16.
4) Not securing a facility for Sunday morning games, thus not providing enough time to easily adapt the format.

To the Federation’s credit, they listened to the uproar that ensued, recognized the inherent problems with the original format and replaced it with a new format. Instead of 8 teams being immediately subjected to elimination games, each team losing in the first round will now be given a 2nd chance to play their way back into the round of 16. After the round of 16 the knockout format then gives way to pool play. While better, the new format is still not without flaws. Namely the seeding is still highly suspect and the round of 16 games are still paramount. Two strong teams could still meet in that early round and one of them will be sent down.

[b]National Championships (The process for developing the format)[/b]

But, while there were problems with the format, what I find even more troubling is how the Federation came up the format. First off, last Fall the Federation quickly put together a competition rulebook that laid out in detail a semi complicated scheme for qualification to the National Championships. This competition rulebook was rushed and inherently failed to recognize that the club structure needed to pull it off simply didn’t exist yet. It took awhile to recognize this, but eventually most aspects of the rulebook were thrown out for the 2008-2009 season. The 2009 championships became an open tournament and requirements for U.S. Residency and Citizenship were thrown out when challenged.

And when it came time to lay out the format and seeding for the tournament, the Federation did so in a manner so non transparent it makes the IHF look good. I had thought that it was simply done in-house by the staff, but according to some email traffic I’ve seen it appears that a select group was quietly chosen to participate in the development of the format and the seeding of the teams. Hey, I exchange email with the West Point coach from time to time and the Carolina guys seem OK, but surprise, surprise, I noticed that those clubs and Chicago (the Tech Director’s club) fared pretty well in the original seeding matchups. Hypothetical here, but if they had been matched up in the first round vs. the Condors, I’m thinking the first format probably would not have survived its in-house sanity check. Keep in mind that I’m not alleging intentional foul play. I’m just saying you’re less likely to recognize a potential problem effecting some other club. And obviously, no matter how good a job they might have done there is an inherent perception problem in that these folks were never identified. Imagine if word got out that Coach K was secretly sitting in on the selection committee for the NCAA Tournament and Duke got great seeding in Greensborough and UNC was sent out to Boise.

[b]The Solution[/b]

Not much can be done for this year’s tournament beyond the band-aid that’s already been applied. Next year, however, it should be a different story. Here's what should be done:

1) Establish a Competition and Organization Committee: The committee should contain 4-5 respected Federation members from the different regions of the country. The Federation staff can take the lead, but the committee should be an integral part of the planning and decision making process.

2) Take a good hard look at the competition rulebook. There needs to be a balance between what we would like to have in terms of national and regional competition with what’s realistic considering the current state of our club programs. A meaningful and fair qualification format for Nationals is feasible, it just needs some thought. The rulebook should be adjusted accordingly and then a formal review should be conducted. Keep in mind that it also can’t be foisted upon the clubs and be successful. The clubs are going to have buy in to it and this is where those 4-5 respected Federation members can go a long way towards making that happen

3) Stick with the rules outlined in the revised rulebook. As long as you do a good job of developing a realistic qualification system this shouldn’t be a problem. Yes, there should still be some flexibility, for unseen circumstances, but in general, clubs will prefer a clearly defined set of rules that they need to follow.

From a big picture standpoint, it’s starting to get a little old to keep saying, “let’s get it right next year”. Depending on when you want to start counting the new Federation is either a year old or approaching it. Some good things are happening. It looks like some high quality officiating will be at the tournament and the long term impact of the Bundesliga deal could be huge. The Federation needs to recognize, however, that the “we’re the new guys” excuse is no longer valid anymore.

2009 IHF Presidential Election Information Center

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The IHF Presidential election will be held at the IHF Congress, June 4-7, 2009 in Cairo Egypt.

[b]The Candidates for President[/b]
– Hassan Moustafa (Egypt) Current President
– Jean Kaiser (Luxembourg)
– Gudmundur Ingvarsson (Iceland) (Withdrawn)

The following articles and commentary are related to the candidates. If you would like to submit an article or commentary please send an email to editors@teamhandballnews.com

3 June 09: Commentary: Will Handball minnows seize the opportunity at the IHF Congress?: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.770
3 June 09: Jean Kaiser outlines plans for world-wide Handball development: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.769
1 June 09: Karabatic and Schwarzer endorse Kaiser; Richardson expresses support on YouTube: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.767
30 May 09: Commentary: Why Hassan Moustafa should be re-elected as IHF President: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.766
28 May 09: Associated Press: Officials push for ouster of handball president: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2009-05-28-1980126860_x.htm
27 May 09: Christer Ahl: Agreements between the IHF President and Asian President opened the way for the fraud in Olympic Qualifying: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.763
26 May 09: Christer Ahl: Fundamental IHF problems cannot be resolved without new leadership: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.762
24 May 09: Jean Kaiser further outlines plans for IHF: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.760
23 May 09: IHF Sec Gen Muehlematter makes case for re-election: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.759
18 May 09: Essay Contest: Why Hassan Moustafa should be re-elected for another term as IHF President: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.754
16 May 09: Jean Kaiser: Candidate for IHF President (Questionnaire Response): http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.752
13 May 09: Commentary: Yes, We Can (Part 2): http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.751
11 May 09 : IHF to New Candidates: No Time for Introductions at Congress: http://teamhandballnews.com/news-i750-4.html
6 May 09: Jackson Richardson Endorses Kaiser for Presidency: http://teamhandballnews.com/news-i746-4.html
3 May 09: Commentary: Yes, We Can (Influence the outcome of the IHF Election): http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.743
30 March 09: Commentary: IHF Memo Misleads and Fails to Address Key Issues: http://teamhandballnews.com/news720.html
27 March 09: IHF Memo Fires Back at Sec Gen Muehlematter and GCH’s Butzek: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.719
11 March 09: IHF Releases Full Candidate Lists for 2009 Elections/Moustafa and Roca Propose Funding for “Less Gifted” Federations: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.704
2 March 09: Commentary: IHF Council misses its chance for an “I am Spartacus” moment: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.698
23 February 09: Group Club Handball: Moustafa Conduct Puts Handball's Olympic Status in Danger: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.695
19 January 09: VIDEO: German News Show Reports on IHF Accounting Irregularities:
http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.677
14 January 09: HBL President Witte: Handball Olympic Status in Jeopardy: http://teamhandballnews.com/news670.html
10 January 09: “Campaign Committee for Clean Handball” Sends Missive on IHF Corruption: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.666
20 August 08: Commentary: An Improbable Run that Almost Never Happened: http://teamhandballnews.com/news573.html
15 July 08: Analysis: Asian Olympic Handball Qualification: Details of the Fiasco: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.535
17 January 08: Who is Erik Eggers? http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.438
20 December 07: AIPS: Heated press conference leads to IHF back-flip on Asian Handball Olympic qualification tournament decision: http://www.aipsmedia.com/index.php?page=news&cod=1730&tp=n
18 December 07: Asian Olympic Qualification results ruled null and void; Restaging of the entire tournaments planned: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.427
4 December 07: VIDEO: Korean News on Olympic Qualification: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.422
3 September 07: Asian Men’s Olympic Qualification (Kuwait Beats Host Japan while Koreans Express Outrage Over Referee Bias): http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.380

Yes We Can!; Oui, Nous Pouvons!; Si, Se Puede! (Influence the outcome of the IHF Election)

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While living in France for 5 years I worked in an international office with colleagues from throughout Europe. Every once in a while I would conduct straw polls of these colleagues over lunch on happenings in America to get a sense as to whether a particular phenomenon was uniquely American. Back in 2007, one such question posed to 7 colleagues was, “Do any of you guys know who Barack Obama is?” The answer was a unanimous, “No.” My prophetic response was, “Get ready, you will.”

To be fair, at that time, the U.S. election was several months from the first primary and France was focused on their own Presidential election, so it wasn’t that surprising that the African American with a funny sounding name was unknown by my educated and fairly well informed colleagues. Of course, everyone knows who he is now, but I also know, even though I haven’t spoken to many of them since I left, that most are surely amazed that a black man who had only been a state senator 5 years earlier is now the leader of the most powerful country in the world. Reluctantly, and perhaps a little bit sheepishly, they would also acknowledge that a similar event could never happen in their own country. Of course, many Americans would have said the same thing 20 years ago. Heck, many were still saying that the day before the election when he had a commanding lead in the polls.

So, what is the point with this diatribe on American politics? The point is to inform some folks in the International Handball community that [b]elections are never a foregone conclusion [/b]and that the power of ideas can go a long way. O.K., I may be just one crazy American who writes about Handball, but I get emails from a lot people all over the World, some in very well informed places, so I think I have a pretty good pulse of this nebulous International Handball community. And what totally perplexes and bewilders me is the near universal dissatisfaction with the current IHF Presidential coupled with the perception that his re-election is a foregone conclusion. Those two conclusions just don’t add up.

I’m not foolish enough to think that the IHF is a cornerstone of democracy in which every voter will independently weigh the merits of each candidate and then choose the best one. No, I fully realize that there will be some backroom dealing with promises being made and some voters can and will be swayed to vote in a way that perhaps benefits themselves and not necessarily their country or International Handball in general.

But, I cannot and will not believe that all 157 potential voters will blindly vote for a particular candidate or can be bought off by a few handballs and a nice hotel room. Instead, I think most of the voters are swayable, [b]particularly if they are fully informed[/b].

One critical aspect of this election should also not be lost to the readers of this website who live in a country where Handball is relatively unknown is that the vote will be [b]one country, one vote[/b]. This means that Cameroon’s vote, the Cook Island’s vote, Costa Rica’s vote and Hong Kong’s vote counts the same as Germany’s and France’s. It’s not practical for a random German fan among millions to call his Federation President on the phone to talk about the upcoming election, [b]but it’s quite feasible to do so in a country where a few thousand or even a few hundred care about the sport[/b]. And if calling is not possible a simple email or hand written letter could be sent.

[b]And can personal contact make a difference? You better believe it can.[/b] It would not surprise me one bit if there are Federation Presidents out there in far flung locations who are not fully aware of the events that have transpired in international handball over the past few years. Or if they are aware, they’ve only gotten one side of the story. An email from a member of their Federation highlighting their election concerns may not immediately cause a Federation President to change their vote, but it should encourage him to start asking questions.

Some will say that we, the Handball fans of the world, are naïve and that we can’t influence the way nations vote next June in Cairo. To those people, I say:

[size=14][b]YES, WE CAN![/b][/size]

Contact your Federation President and let him/her know that you care strongly about his upcoming vote.

[b]National Federation Contact Information[/b]
Countries A-D: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=119
Countries E-H: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=120
Countries I-L: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=121
Countries M-P: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=122
Countries Q-T: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=123
Countries U-Z: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=124

Handball Royalty Moving to Washington D.C.

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Former Spanish National Team Captain and 3 time Olympian, Inaki Urdangarin, is relocating to the United States. Urdnagarin, who is married to Princess Cristina, has accepted a position with Telephonica and will be posted in the Washington, D.C. area. No word yet as to whether the DC Diplomats will sign him up as well.

Washington Post: “Spanish princess and family moving to Washington”: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/23/AR2009042301127.html
Inaki Urdangarin Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%C3%B1aki_Urdangar%C3%and
DC Handball Club: http://www.dchandball.com/