EURO 2012 Women’s final: Revenge for Montenegro after thriller with double overtime

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Christer Ahl

Time to celebrate GOLD!

It must have been a nice situation for Montenegro to get their opportunity for revenge against Norway so soon after the Olympic final, which left some bad taste with controversy related to refereeing and bad luck. Today there was some of the same concern about tough decisions, but in the end it did not matter: Montenegro won the gold medals after a great surge at the very end!

The final started out just the way one ideally wants to see a final played: good technical quality with very few mistakes, a fast pace and good goalkeeping, accompanied with good refereeing, which all led to a game characterized by fair play and an absence of dirty methods. The Norwegians had some good periods, but Montenegro responded with determination and with nice attacking moves. The half-time result was 12-11 in favor or Montenegro.

In the second half, the trend continued where the successful early shooting by the Norwegians had become more hesitant, of course partly affected by the good form of Montenegrin goalie Barjaktarovic. But gradually, the Norwegians regained their composure, while at the same time the Montenegrins just perhaps were beginning to show tired legs and tired shooting arms, following the tough battle yesterday in the semifinal. Also, just as in the Olympic final, Norway escaped some of the 2-min penalties that Montenegro received, possibly because the methods of the Norwegians were a little less obvious. Understandably, coach Azdic was not too happy. And not surprisingly, the game was tied after 60 minutes, 24-24, following a Norwegian equalizer with just seconds to go.

The first overtime period was characterized by tentative shooting. However, mistakes by the Norwegians led to a 27-24 and 28-25 lead for Montenegro. But then came, to put it mildly, a disputed referee decision whereby Katarina Bulatovic was sent off for 2 minutes, accused of interfering with the throw-off after scoring a goal. This proved to be costly, and the Norwegians forced a second overtime by getting to 28-28. During that final overtime period, it seemed that the individual marking of Knezevic who had been the most successful shooter, and the sense that Bulatovic was a bit too tired, might decide the game in Norway’s favor. But in the end, it was the Norwegians who committed the costly mistakes and turnovers, so that in the last couple of minutes Montenegro could pull away and win by 34-31.

It should be added that Hungary won the bronze medal match after a considerable drama. At the end of the regular playing time, the game was tied at 33-33. Overtime periods tend to be tense and have relatively less goals scored. Here Serbia was ahead 37-36 at the half-way mark, but Hungary turned it around with some quick goals towards the end and managed to pull out a 41-38 win. So no medals for the home team, but their participation in the medal round contributed to a nice atmosphere with large crowds, after a disappointing spectator situation earlier in the competition.

Asian Women’s Championship: dominance by East Asia in polarized event

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Christer Ahl

Iranian women’s team, ‘brilliant’ against the real novices but too weak against other opponents.

With somewhat less media attention, Asia has carried out its women’s championship parallel to that of Europe. The event took place in Indonesia, and had a very large participation, including by some novice countries such as the home team and Kuwait. As expected, the top teams from East Asia dominated and obtained the three to places which qualify for the 2013 World Championships.

South Korea were impressive, beating China in the final with 40-22, after having beaten Kazakhstan by the score of 34-21 in the semifinal. Japan narrowly defeated Kazakhstan by 21-20 to capture the bronze and the remaining qualifying position, after having lost 25-28 to China in the semifinal. Kazakhstan had already lost earlier against Japan in the group play, just like China had lost against South Korea but with a much smaller margin. These four teams were totally dominant in group play, although the eventual 5th and 6th place teams, North Korea and Uzbekistan had shown a reasonable capacity.

Below those teams, Taipei and India had a ‘pivotal’ situation, being clobbered by the better teams but being able to take out their frustrations on the weaker teams at the bottom of the standings. Iran finished in 9th place, having lost four of their group games with the average score of 19-36. But their 53-4 win against Indonesia caused Iranian media to resort to euphoric statements about their team’s brilliant performance. Indeed, everything is relative! Kuwait, which of course has had a strong men’s team for many years, had their women’s team finish second from the bottom among the twelve teams. Their average result in group play was 4-62, so they obviously have a long way to go. So while it is nice to see a broadened participation, the enormous difference between top and bottom may be just a bit too much to be healthy and helpful.

Kickstarter Campaign launched for Home Court documentary

Posted on December 15, 2012 by John Ryan

Documentary on NYC Handball starts Kickstarter Campaign

The directors, Monica Alba and Ben Teitelbaum, of the Team Handball Documentary, “Home Court” have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $8,000 for the final editing of their film. They are looking to add a good soundtrack, professional editing touches and to pay entry fees for film festivals.

The documentary focuses on the multi-cultural New York City Team Handball Club and their run to last year’s national title. For more on the documentary listen to my interview with Director, Ben Teitelbaum: Link

If you’re not familiar with Kickstarter the basics are this. You make your pledge through an Amazon account. If the campaign gets enough pledges by the due date your credit card charged. If the campaign fails to get enough funds by the due date, then your card is never charged. Home Court needs to raise $8,000 by January 13th.

EURO 2012: Intriguing match-ups in the semifinals

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Christer Ahl

Serbia and Montenegro had ‘bloody’ battles in waterpolo in recent Olympics; let’s hope it will be less wild in women’s handball!

So finally the long stretch with group matches in the preliminary round and main round is over! It has contained games of good quality and other games where at least the result caused excitement; but the reality is that with so many rounds of group matches, there is room for matches without importance for one or both teams, for capricious results, and for a final main round day with an anticlimax for most teams. If one adds the clear impression that most teams do not really have the stamina and the concentration to play six games in such an intensive schedule, so that their form sometimes is like a ‘roller-coaster’ both from one game to the next and also within a game, then the effect is that we get many disappointing games.

Therefore, it is great that from now on we only have games that clearly matter for both teams and where no manipulation is possible, and where the outcome is not affected by the result in some other game. And the match-ups in the semifinals really look exciting. To see Norway, with its Icelandic coach, play against Hungary with its new, well-known Norwegian coach is interesting enough. But to see Serbia take on Montenegro in the other semifinal is even more spectacular. After all, Serbia and Montenegro existed as one entity from 1992 to 2006, first as a ‘federation’ and then as a ‘State union of Serbia and Montenegro’ until Montenegro became independent after a popular referendum. To say that both the federation/union construct and the subsequent separation have had its controversies is a mild understatement…

For Montenegro there is now a chance of improving on the sensational silver medal from the Olympics earlier this year. I commented before EURO 2012 that there was a lot of speculation as to whether the Olympic success would serve as an inspiration or be the cause of a letdown. I think we have the answer now. And the current success has happened without the famous, now retired, Bojana Popovic. In the case of Serbia, I speculated that the team might not really be strong enough to be a medal candidate but that the support of the home crowds might help turn them into a contender. That also seems to have worked.

Norway continues to have the largest group of strong individual players. And in several matches, like against France, they have really showed their class. What has made some observers wonder, however, is that they have had problems in some other games. But most people would probably still see them as favorites. I predicted that Hungary would come through a seemingly difficult draw and make it to the semi-finals. And they now have the advantage of a coach who knows the Norwegian methods and individual talents better than anyone else. (Moreover, he is the ‘signficant other’ of Norwegian star Heidi Loeke!) Can he help the Hungarians come up with a winning formula?

Before EURO 2012 started, I also referred to media speculation that Spain might not this time be as strong as before, while Germany might cause a surprise. In the end, that speculation seems justified. Germany came extremely close to the chance of playing in the 5th place game. But Russia improved after a shaky start and passed Germany on more goals scored in aggregate, after gaining the same points and goal difference. A bit of luck with some referee decisions did not hurt. The Swedes and the young, rebuilt Danish team were too uneven to get to the semifinals, but the Danes at least made it to the 5th place game. The real disappointment was the overall performance of the French team.

Why weren’t the U.S. National Teams at the London Olympics?: Part 7: A lack of awareness and marketing: The historic lack of European support

Posted on December 13, 2012 by John Ryan

Who Cares?: For many years this was the European attitude towards the development of Team Handball in the U.S.

In Part 5, I tried to fully capture the extent of Team Handball’s basic awareness problem in the U.S. In part 6, I explained how more TV broadcasts could solve that exposure problem, but that a catch 22 TV paradox has kept the sport off the U.S. airwaves for decades. In this part, I explain why the entities that would stand the most to gain if the U.S. was turned into even just a minor “handball nation” failed for years to lend an effective helping hand. (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)

Why should Europeans even care if the U.S. isn’t any good at handball?

First off, it’s probably a good idea to dispel the notion held by some that it just doesn’t matter that the U.S. isn’t any good at Team Handball. After all, Americans are plenty good at a lot of other sports. At the London Olympics the U.S. won the most overall medals and the Men and Women both won the Gold in America’s preeminent Olympic team sport, basketball. With all this winning it’s not hard to contemplate how many might conclude that the Olympics will do just fine and dandy if the Americans don’t qualify in Handball and go without medals in field hockey, indoor volleyball and other sports. And, it’s hard not to argue that for a typical non-American fan that is a perfectly rational viewpoint.

It is, however, more difficult to understand how any handball executive, coach or player could come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter if most of the U.S. is oblivious to their sport. A vast, untapped affluent market of over 300 million people? A sport tailor made for the American mindset and only about 300 fans? Oh my goodness! Imagine just a small portion of that 300 million watching the sport on TV and buying merchandise. It’s a potential bonanza that could raise the profile and income of virtually anyone involved with the sport. Why then, for so many years did European handball entities not see and try to exploit the opportunity here?

Historical reasons for the lack of European support

As often is the case it was a combination of several different reasons that contributed to this lack of European support. In no particular order, here are those reasons and some rationale as to why they may or may not have been valid:

1) Basic indifference: While executives should have recognized the opportunities that the U.S. presented, I suspect that many simply had the same basic mindset of the typical indifferent fan. Throw in some “Anti-Americanism” and you further compound the problem.

2) A belief that the U.S. can or should fix it themselves: It’s no secret that the U.S. is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Why should they get any help? If the U.S. wants to promote handball then it should spend its own money to do so. This contextual viewpoint, however, doesn’t appreciate the fact that the U.S. government does not provide any funding to its sports federations. And whereas many nations have a fairly egalitarian distribution of funding to their federations the USOC can and has limited its support to handball.

3) The lack of professionalism: For many years European handball was more amateur than professional. Accordingly, there was less structure and less concern with growing and bringing in more revenue. As the club leagues became more professional and revenues increased, however, executives became more inclined to explore new marketing opportunities.

4) Market share struggles at home: While the IHF has often proudly proclaimed that handball is the 2nd most popular sport in the world this is simply not true. The reality is that even in countries where the sport has a significant following there are a lot of resources that have had to be expended to simply maintain market share at home. The thought of expending scarce resources in a foreign country probably seemed foolhardy in many instances.

5) Unwillingness to pay upfront for potential return on investment. Even when Europeans saw the potential they were usually unwilling to invest the necessary funding required for promotion in the U.S. While this is somewhat understandable in the context of all the other challenges listed above, there have been unsubstantiated reports of lost opportunities along the way; Rumors of networks like ESPN expressing interest in broadcasting, but the deals not being closed due to European insistence on more money for rights fees.

6) Not understanding American sports structures and marketplace. While anyone who’s traveled and/or lived in both Europe and the U.S. will find a lot of similarities between the two, there are still some significant differences. Just try explaining the importance/relevance of collegiate and high school sports to a European or conversely explaining the European club structure to an American. Or the concept of rotating seasons (U.S.) and the September to June model that Europe uses for most of its sports. On top of all this is a U.S. sports marketplace which has been evolving rapidly in terms of TV channels and promotion. Heck, U.S. sports (Baseball and Ice Hockey) have had trouble keeping up; Pity, the poor Europeans attempting to navigate this minefield.

7) Ineffective American sales pitches. Well, it’s quite simple for me to sit back and whine about how clueless Europeans have been. But, it would be disingenuous to not fully acknowledge that each of the reasons listed above also has an American failure component to it. I wasn’t around for any of the pitches that have been made through the years by the U.S. Federation and others, so it’s impossible for me apportion “blame.” It could be that past Federation officials were master promoters that couldn’t convince obstinate Europeans to do more. Or, it could be that they were bumbling fools that savvy Europeans quickly determined weren’t worth supporting. I will speculate, however, that it was somewhere in between with the U.S. being good, but not great promoters and the Europeans being a little more resistant then they should have been.

So, that’s why the Europeans for years paid scant attention to the development of Team Handball in the U.S. In Part 8 I will highlight why Europeans have awoken to the possibility of turning the U.S. into a handball nation, but still haven’t quite figured out how to awaken the sleeping giant, that is USA Team Handball.

Wasn’t the idea to reduce the competition calendar?

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Christer Ahl

Exhaustion, injuries and shortened careers are already major concerns; what should we now expect to happen!?

For several years now, one of the hot topics in the world of handball has been the overload on the top players and the resulting burden on the top clubs. The intensive schedule at the club level is no longer seen as entirely compatible with the obligations to the national teams. Accordingly, discussions at all levels, including between the IHF and the EHF, have involved ways of eliminating or cutting back on events to make the situation more realistic.

One proposal has been to reduce the ‘big events’ from five to four in each four-year cycle. We currently have World Championships every two years and European Championships every two years. But in addition, just like in 2012, we also have the Olympic Games. So one of the ideas has been to reduce the World and Continental Championships to three each in every eight-year period. Not much progress has been made, as both the IHF and especially the EHF have wanted to protect their respective big events.

But now we suddenly have a new situation that pulls us in the opposite direction. Africa, Asia and Pan-America have had continental ‘Games’ under the auspices of the Olympic movement for a very long time. For a lot of sports, these are really major events, and they also include handball. And now we have just had the announcement from the association for European Olympic Committees (EOC) that Europe wants to join all the other continents in organizing such continental Games. Just what handball did not need, it seems. If nothing else were to change, we would then move from five to six big events, rather than from five to four!

The first European Games will be held in June of 2015 in Azerbaijan, a country that has made noises in recent years about wanting to host the Olympic Games. One might think that this really would cause major concern among European clubs, federations and the EHF. But the reality is of course that once such an event comes into existence, it is almost unthinkable for a major sport to indicate that they do not want to take part. And for many sports, particularly most of the individual sports, the situation is very different from that of handball. Here the athletes are typically not under the pressure of overload, especially as the participants in individual sports are freer to dictate their own overall schedule.

So it is understandable that the official reaction from the EHF is cautiously positive. President Brihault has indicated that European handball and its various stakeholders support participation, and there are no specific comments about negative aspects. It seems that handball would prefer to take part from the outset and then perhaps evaluate both the benefits and status of this new event and the practical impact for handball and its top players. There has, however, been some speculation in the media that, perhaps, it would be better for handball to turn it into an ‘under-23’ or ‘under-21’ competition, although there must be doubts about the willingness on the part of the EOC to accept that approach.

The experience in the other continents does not provide much guidance. Here the existence of the continental Games every four years has rarely been an issue in terms of overload for handball players. The reality is that the proportion of players on the top national teams in those countries who also play for an elite club team, meaning in Europe, is much smaller, so there is not a serious conflict. Instead, because of the varying timing of the continental Games, the concern has more been one of securing the release for players on European club teams, when the continental Games come at a time that does not really fit with the European club calendar.

It will be interesting to see how the reactions might change as we get closer to June 2015. And there is also a suspicion that the new event might become an argument or create some leverage in the IHF vs. EHF debate about a possible cut-back of the existing big events. The IHF cannot very well complain about the emergence of such an event in the only continent where it has been missing, and it is not the EHF that has caused the situation to arise. But it might create a situation where a reduction becomes more inevitable than ever, and the IHF might argue that, after adding a European event, the obvious first thing that must happen is to remove another European event.

However, it might also create a certain appearance of symmetry, with one global and one European Olympic event, together with the two World and two European Championships. Perhaps this is what would make it look natural to cut one of each of these two types of events. Because at least personally, I have a hard time seeing that it is a tenable situation to have six such events in every four-year cycle.

EHF Doubles Down on it’s failure to take action

Posted on December 9, 2012 by John Ryan

You’re kidding me? The shirt pulling incident is now a lighthearted whimsical non-event.

The jersey pulling incident at the Women’s European Championship has just gotten a little bit more bizarre. Here’s a refresher as to what happened. During the Serbia – Norway preliminary round match, the Serbian coach, Sasa Boskovic, grabbed Norwegian right wing, Linn Jorum Sulland’s jersey and arm. Yes, standing on the sidelines the head coach of one team reached out and physically disrupted the play of an opposing player.

What’s the penalty for such a transgression? Well, the referee’s didn’t see anything during the match so there was no immediate penalty. Afterwards, however, as my colleague, Christer Ahl, noted it would be appropriate for European Handball Federation (EHF) officials to bar coach Boskovic from the rest of the tournament.

But, then the hand wringing began. First, the EHF issued one of their traditionally oblique memos regarding an “incident.”

Nobody saw it, nobody complained and therefore we can’t do anything about it. I’m not certain as to the regulation nuance, but this was ridiculous. Federations should be able to make use of video footage to evaluate conduct like that and to take appropriate action. But the EHF compounded their handwringing by adding “It is however evident that the media, through the selection of match scenes, has not presented a complete picture of the incidents.” Alright, here’s some video to peruse. Judge for yourself what more evidence you need.

The Serbian Federation also issued an apology: “Please accept our apology,” the statement reads. “Since it all happened in the heat of the match.”

So, “not a complete picture” and “heat of the moment.” Maybe the Serbian coach had some good reasons for being upset with the Norwegian winger? Nothing that would justify his actions, of course, but maybe they would at least explain the non-punishment. Well, according to this Serbian website article Coach Boskovic was upset with Sulland for invading his space and preventing him from communicating with his players. Huh? Quite frankly, I’ll actually give Boskovic credit for perhaps playing a role in taking a Norwegian player out of the game mentally on offensive. The little game that was being played between the coach and the wing was undoubtedly a distraction for Sulland. She, however, is a player and can stand anywhere she wants to. All he had to do was move a few feet to the left. Instead he reaches out and grabs her. Trust me coach, there’s nothing you could have said to your players that was so important to physically make contact with a player on the court.

As someone who wishes handball would be taken more seriously, you get used to shaking your head at such events, and moving on. It’s hard to know for certain why the EHF doesn’t take more action. It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that the coach in question is the coach of the nation hosting the tournament. Moreover, Serbia agreed to host at the last moment when the Netherlands bowed out.

And I was ready to move on until I saw this posted on the EHF webpage. I don’t know where to begin here. The EHF has now double downed on its failure to take action by trying to pass off this incident as a light hearted moment. What could possibly be the message behind this? Ha, ha, it’s no big deal for coaches to make physical contact with the opposing players? How can you make light of such a transgression? Wouldn’t it be hilarious if this happened again in the final of a close match? What’s going to be the reaction then? Well, unfortunately the precedent has been set. I’m wondering what the written words will be for that jersey gift.

Seriously, I don’t know what I’m going to see next. Maybe, players will get caught betting against their own team and then add a betting sponsor as an advertiser on their jerseys.

EURO 2012: Main round ready to start

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Christer Ahl

Montenegrin coach Dragan Adzic knows how to bring out the skills and emotions from his talented team

Groups C and D finished yesterday with some exciting matches. Hungary finally managed to match my predictions by defeating Spain who had previously won both their games. The final result was a seemingly narrow one goal-win, but Hungary was in fact dominant and had a four-goal lead shortly before the end. And when Germany, not entirely unexpected, took their final chance to advance by beating Croatia, then the Hungarian happiness was complete, as they now advance with four points to the main round, their defeat against Croatia no longer being relevant. While Hungary-Spain was a game of good quality, Germany vs. Croatia was really highly affected by nerves, if one wants to be kind and find an excuse. The way they played, both teams really deserved to be packing their bags to go home. What made the difference in the end was the superb goalkeeping by Schuelke in the German net.

Montenegro continued to show that the really have a strong team also in the absence of Bojana Popovic, and the emphasis is really on cohesiveness and team spirit. They play with great enthusiasm and determination. Romania had the upper hand in the first half, but then they gradually fell behind. I put much on the blame on the coach, whose destructive demeanor has been obvious for many years now. It is hard to understand that the traditional handball power of Romania cannot find someone to replace him who gives the talented team the support they deserve! Russia easily advanced by beating Iceland, who took their third straight loss in good spirits but showed that they are not yet strong enough for this level of competition.

In the main round group that now combines groups C and D, it will be mostly a matter of watching whether any other team can catch up with Montenegro and Hungary (each with 4 points), prying away one of the semi-final slots from them. Perhaps Spain (2 points) will launch a comeback, whereas the Russians (1 point) may already have fallen too far behind. Romania (1 point) and Germany (0 points) are the remaining teams in this group.

Today we had the final round of groups A and B. In group A we had a rather anticlimactic match-up between Norway and Ukraine, after Norway already advanced with maximum points after their wins against Serbia and the Czech Republic. Norway spared some of their best players but won by one goal, after an unattractive game where Ukraine often resorted to dirty methods. The Serbs and the Czechs had a much more critical battle, with the winner gaining the points that could make all the difference for the chances in the main round. It did indeed turn out to be a high-intensity game with the Czechs being ahead in the first half. But the Serbs gradually took over, even if it was very close until the last few minutes. The final result, much to the delight of the crowd, was 28-24 for Serbia.

France has not lost against Sweden for quite some time. So the question was whether the earlier win against Denmark would cause the Swedes to get the inspiration to break the ‘dry spell’ against France. But those who were dreaming about that must have forgotten that Sweden won against Denmark despite a mediocre performance where Denmark committed even more mistakes. Sweden now stayed even until France pulled away from 5-5 to 10-5. The lead was at one point ten goals and the game ended 24-17 for France, after feeble attacking play from Sweden against a strong defense. As expected, Denmark was able to handle FYRO Macedonia rather handily, but the break-through did not come until the last few minutes of the first half. Up to that point, the ‘almost home team’ kept the game even.

In the main round group, I happily stay with my initial prediction that Norway (4 points) and France (2 points) will qualify for the semi-finals. France vs. Serbia (2 points) will of course be a key match-up. While I do not believe in a surprise here, it could hypothetically open up an opportunity also for Denmark (2 points) to get back into the running. I do not see any hope for Sweden (2 points) or the Czech Republic (0 points).

Finally, in a way that really disappoints those of us who want to expect more from the EHF, the EHF took the easy but totally inappropriate way out in dealing with the nasty incident caused by the Serbian coach in the game against Norway. His interference in the game, by repeatedly holding on to a Norwegian player on the court, should have earned him a suspension for the remainder of the event. Not even the top leaders of the EHF have wanted to try to deny that the EHF Legal Regulations would have made such action possible, even though the referees and delegates did not see the incidents.

So instead, the EHF tried to blur the issue, mumbling about the wording of the regulations and absurdly arguing that the video evidence that had circulated around the world was not adequate. So, as many had feared, the EHF simply decided to ‘sweep the whole thing under the rug’: a self-inflicted embarrassment for the EHF and an awful precedent in our sport that needs to think more about protecting its fragile image!

VIDEO: USA vs. Canada, IHF Challenge Cup

Posted on December 8, 2012 by John Ryan

USA’s Orton Fofana about to take a hard foul in the closing minutes. (Check video 8 of 8 at around the 6 minute mark to see how cooler heads prevailed.)

Alberta Team Handball has posted video of the USA – Canada, Men’s Under 20 group play match that was played in Mexico this past November. Canada won that contest 37-30 and later beat the Americans 40-38 in the Bronze Medal match.

It doesn’t take long to see how pivotal the back court tandem of Fofana, Binderis and Galindo were to the U.S. performance. These players definitely have a future with the U.S. national team.

Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
Video 5
Video 6
Video 7
Video 8

Player #, Name, Club/country of residence, goals scored
#1, Chris Hesser, Dynamo HC, Goalie
#2, Stefan Paunovic, Denmark, 0 goals
#3, Tylert Shukert, Minnesota HC, 0 goals
#5, Domenic Lapore, Salt Lake City, 0 goals
#6, Jerome Nohr, Germany, 0 goals
#7, Ian Pinson, LA THC, 1 goal
#8, Orton Fofana, France, 10 goals
#11, Alex Binderis, Sweden, 4 goals
#15, Javier Galindo, Spain, 9 goals
#16, David Brown, West Point, Goalie
#17, Andrew Donlin, Air Force, 2 goals
#24, Connor Holt, West Point, 2 goals
#25, Ryan Petersen, Cary HC, 0 goals

THN (23 Nov 2012): IHF Challenge Cup: Some numbers behind the results

Start of EURO 2012: Scandalous action by home team coach; no spectator interest

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Christer Ahl

This requires a long ban from participation in our sport!

At this point, two of the groups have played two matches per team, while two groups just have had one round. We already have some teams qualified for the main round, and for the most part we have not seen major surprises.

In group C, Spain has shown that injuries and hints of poor form have not prevented them from grabbing two straight victories in an otherwise very evenly matched group. Croatia surprised Hungary on the first day, but the Hungarians came back and defeated Germany. The Germans are without a win so far but could still make it to the main round. As expected, group D has become a tough fight between three teams who are trying to maximize the points that they can carry to the main round. Montenegro was impressive against Russia, and they did not seem to miss their retired star Popovic. Romania also seemed to be able to get a comfortable win against Russia, mainly due to a spectacular performance by the young goalie Tolnai, but the Russians managed to come back and tie the game.

In Group A, Norway seemed comfortable during much of the game, but in the end they just barely managed to hold off the home team Serbia. The Czechs lived up to my ‘dark horse’ label and got a nice win against Ukraine. The Scandinavian ‘derby’ between Denmark and Sweden turned out to be just as exciting as had been expected, at least in terms of result. It was a game mostly characterized by technical mistakes and turnovers, and the Swedes seemed feeble in the early going. But towards the end it almost looked as if the Danes tried to give the game away through endless mistakes. And indeed, the Swedes turned a five-goal deficit into a 27-26 win. France seemed just as powerful as in the past, when running over FYRO Macedonia.

When the Netherlands pulled out as a host for this event at a very late stage, it is understandable that the EHF did not have much of a choice; and they cannot be criticized for accepting Serbia’s bid, after the very successful men’s championship at the beginning of the year. But it is apparent that women’s handball is not much of an attraction in Serbia. With the exception of the games involving the home teams and the near neighbors Montenegro and Romania, the halls looked miserably empty. Not exactly the image and propaganda that we want for women’s handball at the top level. It seems there are very few countries that can guarantee full arenas when the women come to play!

But the real scandal took place in the Norway-Serbia game. I thought that the situation involving the notorious Gunnar Prokop entering the court to stop a fastbreak for the opponents some years ago would remain unique. But here we had the Serbian coach Boskovic reach in and grab the arm and shirt of a Norwegian player on two occasions, to prevent her from her intended movement on the court. It is fully understandable that it was not detected by the referees, but I am somewhat disappointed that the match supervisors also failed to spot it. As it happens, the EHF (unlike the IHF) has a Legal Regulation that allows the EHF to initiate disciplinary proceedings on its own, and with the help of video evidence. I would be extremely disappointed if the EHF did not ensure that the Serbian coach at least gets barred from the rest of this event. This kind of action must be punished and discouraged as strongly as possible.

Women’s EURO 2012 – Ten candidates for the medals??

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Christer Ahl

Your guess is as good as mine…

I have become used to the idea of ‘sticking my neck’ out with some predictions for major championships. Often I felt reasonably comfortable with my predictions, and I even felt that I was ready to suggest some specific surprises. But this time I must admit I really do not feel I have very strong views. I have followed the results of the preparatory tournaments, the team rosters and the injury problems, without sensing that this has given me any special insights.

And I really do believe that my heading is justified. While I think this is going to be an event where most of the traditional contenders will do well, many of them are in some kind of transition, with the loss of key players or the arrival of a new coach. So I think there could be as many as ten teams having a good chance for a medal, and that you could not really talk about a surprise if any of those ten teams go to the final. But at the same time, I will be a coward and predict that Norway and France will qualify from one half of the draw, while Hungary and Romania are my best bets from the other side.

You have heard me argue that I do not really like the tournament format with four groups of four, where only one team in each group misses out on the main round. Many times this makes for a rather boring first stage in some groups, and it even leaves some room for tactics and manipulations in the third round of the groups, when some teams can afford to speculate about what result suits them best.

But at least I see some intriguing match-ups in each of the groups. While I see Norway as the favorite in group A, I wonder if the home court/crowd advantage can help Serbia overachieve, just like they did on the men’s side. It would also be nice to see if the Czech team could get to the main round, after so many years of weak showings. In group B, I see Denmark-Sweden on the first day as the key game, with a probably edge for the young Danish team. And the loser of this game may find it tough to keep FYRO Macedonia behind them. While I have already said that I see France going through to the final four, mostly on account of their physical style, I do not think they are unbeatable.

Germany’s return to the top level is causing speculation in a positive direction, while I see some experts predicting a decline for Spain this time. I think this leaves some room for an experienced Hungarian team to get off to a good start. Iceland will find it tough to win a game in group D. We have here, like several times in recent years, a Russia-Montenegro encounter; moreover with a new coach for Russia and an interesting psychological situation for Montenegro. Will the Olympic silver now lead to a letdown or will it stimulate them to a further surprise? But I think the time is now right for Romania.

Finally, the EHF has nominated six women’s couples among the twelve referee pairs. There are also six rather experienced men’s couples. In the Olympic Games we often had the sense that several of the men’s couples had major difficulties in finding the right approach to the women’s games. Let us see now if the women’s couples, despite their generally more limited experience, are better at finding the right touch for this women’s event. Good luck to all of them! Our top women’s teams deserve first-class support from the referees.

IHF continues to refuse to deal with the FCH, the official association of the European top clubs

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Christer Ahl

Old habits and attitudes need to change — also in the IHF !

For some time now, the Forum Club Handball (FCH), through which all the top clubs of Europe are represented, has had a fruitful collaboration with the EHF. The FCH is represented on the EHF Professional Handball Board, where also national federations, leagues and player representatives join the top EHF officials. (A similar but separate Board also exists for women’s handball). It is of course a well-known reality that the demands on the top players from their clubs, leagues and national team cause tensions and raise important issues such as the international competition calendar, the compensation for the release of players from their clubs for national team events, and the related issue of insurance.

The EHF, just like FIFA and UEFA in football, allows not just discussions but actual negotiations on these issues with the other stakeholders. By contrast, the IHF has consistently dictated the conditions for player release, compensation and insurance on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis in relation to IHF events such as World Championships. Increasingly, this authoritarian approach has led to great dissatisfaction among the representatives of leagues, clubs and players. It is not seen as an acceptable recognition of the fundamental asset that players and clubs constitute in the world of handball.

Moreover, it fits in with an attitude demonstrated by the IHF in recent attempts to revise the IHF By-Laws, which reflect the apparent desire by the IHF President to impose duties and obligations but deny rights and privileges on the part of the stakeholders in handball. The pivotal role in dealing with this problem is played by the national federations in Europe. Of course, to some extent the federations might be seen as competition for influence with the leagues and clubs, and they may therefore fail to question the obsolete IHF practices. But one would really like to believe that the national federations which, in aggregate, are the ones, who have the formal political influence on the IHF regime, should better understand that the IHF’s position is really untenable.

As an example of the absurd length to which the IHF is prepared to go in order to maintain unilateral control, it should be noted that not just does the IHF refuse to recognize and have a dialog with the FCH; in a clear attempt to ‘divide and conquer’, the IHF has announced to clubs that they must deal with the IHF on an individual basis, because otherwise they cannot even count on the compensation that the IHF arrogantly determines without any form of negotiation. In other words, clubs who would want to stick together and be represented by the FCH in any such meetings will automatically lose the right to compensation. Instead, they would have to tolerate that the IHF hand-picks a small number of national federations and clubs as participants in the meetings where the IHF decisions are conveyed.

Frankly, it is embarrassing to see such methods continue to exist in our sport and, again, it is equally disturbing to see that the national federations do not force the IHF to change its approach.

The implications for USA handball if Puerto Rico were to become the 51st state

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Christer Ahl

Side by side, for now, but perhaps one day the star gets moved!?

Two weeks ago we had elections that were so controversial and hotly contested on so many levels, that it was completely overshadowed in the U.S. that Puerto Rico simultaneously had a referendum about it status. The referendum had two parts: in the first one the result was a majority in favor of a change of the current situation under which Puerto Rico is a U.S. ‘territory’ and where the Puerto Ricans have U.S. citizenship. The second part gave the Puerto Ricans a chance to express opinions about what new relationship they would prefer. Here there was an overwhelming majority in favor of statehood, i.e., Puerto Rico becoming the 51st one among the United States.

However, one should keep in mind that this referendum does not in any way guarantee that statehood is just around the corner. Many Puerto Ricans would see statehood as something that would help the local economy, as it would undoubtedly make them ‘takers’, to use the terminology that came up in the recent U.S. election, meaning that they could expect economic benefits that would exceed their aggregate federal tax burden. But this may be precisely what would make the members of the U.S. Congress hesitate about voting with the two-thirds majority in favor, in this precarious moment for the U.S economy. The initiative would have to come from President Obama, who has generally spoken favorably about statehood, but also for him would it be a big step to take up this initiative right now.

So it may be a bit premature to discuss statehood despite the results of the Puerto Rican referendum. But it may still be fun and thought-provoking what it could mean in an admittedly peripheral area, namely the impact on the state of handball if Puerto Rico were to become fully integrated with the rest of the U.S.! Puerto Rico has participated independently in handball as in all other sports with national teams, and they have their own sports structure and Olympic Committee. In some sports the Puerto Ricans would be ‘dwarfed’ in the case of an integration, but that would not be the case in handball.

While traditionally U.S.A. had the upper hand, this is typically not the case today. Despite its relatively much smaller population, but to some extent due to the advantages of its ‘compact and manageable’ size, Puerto Rican handball has been holding its own in comparison with U.S.A handball in PanAmerican competition. Their federation has been well-organized and has had substantial clout in their Olympic Committee. They have had good coaches (sometimes with Cuban support) and astute administrators. They have good, dedicated handball facilities, and their youth program has been impressive in relation to its size. And they have an IHF referee couple, which is more than USA handball can boast with at this point in time. So quite conceivably, the Puerto Rican handball could become ‘the tail wagging the dog’ as the expression goes.

In other words, it could become a rather interesting debate about how integration would influence the development of handball over the short term and for the longer term! Clearly, there would be a sudden influx of good quality players, although the integration would not necessarily be an easy one. This could lead to a sudden boost in the context of the competitiveness of the national teams at different levels. But what would it mean for the longer term? Would it serve to encourage the growth of handball in the other 50 states or would it perhaps in some way cause handball to become even more of a ‘niche’ sport? And what about development in Puerto Rico when moving from being a country with a proud national team of its own to being a component of USA handball and its national teams? Is it conceivable that some of the excitement around handball in Puerto Rico could diminish rather than being enhanced? (This is of course a broader question that would affect all types of sports).

In the U.S., we have often debated whether it would be more realistic to ‘jump start’ handball development by concentrating mostly on a few geographic areas rather than focusing on nationwide growth all at once. With the addition of a 51st state, it seems that this issue would be given a sudden, practical test. It would also be interesting to see what the reactions would be among our Caribbean and Central American neighbors. They would obviously have reason to speculate about the impact of joint U.S./Puerto Rican resources on the opportunity to be successful in advancing from the region in qualifying events for PanAmerican Championships and beyond.

Given that the statehood question is not likely to have an imminent resolution, I will put on the brakes on my speculation at this point. The scenario may never come about, or it may be something for a distant future when the circumstances may have changed substantially. But apart from intriguing speculation, it just might suggest to us that it would be prudent to do some modest amount of preparatory thinking about the implications, just in case…. And it is also interesting to see that, at this very moment, there is some excitement about the notion of the possible independence of Catalonia from Spain, precisely as it pertains to sports, given the dominant role of FC Barcelona in football, handball and other sports and the large number of individual star athletes from the region!