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Handball vs. football: part 1 – which Barcelona was more exciting?

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Double Champions

The coincidence last weekend of the Champions League final in football/soccer and the Final Four in handball offered the opportunity for some interesting comparisons.  So does the nasty action surrounding the FIFA Congress earlier this week, following soon after the IHF Congress which also had its controversies.  For me personally, it is natural to make these comparisons, because there is 25 years of football refereeing in my background, and I keep following at least a couple of games per week on TV during the European season.   I will start today with the more pleasant side, the games.

John Ryan and I commented a bit on the Final Four in a podcast some days ago.  The match-ups were intriguing, given the strong German-Spanish rivalry in recent years.   Both semi-finals were very tense and tough battles, and the rivalry is likely to have had something to do with that.  Even if both matches were more or less decided some time before the final whistle, they were really hard-fought.  But they also offered a lot of spectacular technical and tactical moves.   There were some great goals scored, but the performances of the goalkeepers were perhaps even more special. 

Then perhaps the fact that the final was played in Germany between two Spanish teams, who know each other so well and are the two totally outstanding teams in their league, made for an atmosphere that contained less drama.   But going back to the two semi-finals, what really stands out are the pace and the constant action.  There was really never a dull moment, and there were plenty of exciting one-on-one situations.   But the nature of handball also contributes:  fast and furious attacking on one side and then, without time to catch one’s breathe, something equally dramatic on the other side.  Handball really is, literally speaking, goal-oriented.

Clearly there were also many reasons to admire the skills displayed, especially by the Barcelona team, in the football final.  Media headlines spoke of ‘the best final ever’ or ‘the best team ever’ and the losing coach stated that his team had never before been so outclassed.  But then it should be emphasized that the style that made Barcelona so dominant was one of ball control.  When the score was 0-0 and 1-1 early in the game, it was noted that Barcelona had had the ball more than 70% of the time and that they had delivered more than twice as many successful passes as the opponents.  Impressive, yes, but exciting or dramatic, no!  What made the game exciting were instead some of the goals scored, as they showed touches of absolute brilliance.   But those are still brief moments in a 90-minute game.

Of course I will now be accused of speaking too much like an American, who supposedly cannot see anything exciting in aspects other than the goals scored (although I would argue that there exists a slow and boring super-American game that is popular despite its infrequent scoring;  no, I will not mention its name…).  And yes, someone has labeled football ‘the chess of the green field’, which suggests that there are a lot of moves that deserve to be watched and admired without having anything to do with goal-scoring.  Nevertheless, not even a Barcelona team can keep your attention as constantly and intensively in football, as they or one of their rivals can easily do in handball.

So what is then the point I am trying to make?  Well, I know that I can never expect to convert a true football fan into thinking that handball is more exciting, just as the opposite also holds true.  But from an American standpoint, where I am pleasantly surprised to see how huge football is at the youth level and how nicely the Major League Soccer is thriving, it should really carry a message.  If Americans can become so interested in football, how is it then that a sport that seems so much more suited for American tastes and preferences is finding it so difficult to penetrate and become established?  And what can we do to make sure that handball, with its intensity, constant action and goal-scoring, becomes the real ‘eye-opener’ that it deserves to be??

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EHF Final Four (Best Weekend of the Year for Handball Webstreaming Fans)

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Four teams will battle for the Champions League Trophy this weekend and you can see it all at ehfTV.com

No complaints from this Handball fan in regards to this weekend’s matchups.  The semifinals on Saturday should be interesting to say the least with the Liga Asobal and the Handball Bundesliga going head to head in both matches.  Rhein-Neckar is a 2.5 goal underdog to Spanish champions Barcelona.  Rhein-Neckar will have the home country court advantage while Barcelona will be going for a rare 2 sport “double” with their sister team going for the Champions League soccer title later in the evening.  The second match pits German champion Hamburg vs. Spanish runner up Ciudad Real.  The oddsmakers couldn’t pick a favorite between these two titan, so don’t be surprised if it goes down to the end.

On Sunday, there will be two more matches with the semifinal losers squaring off for 3rd place, before the final match.  ehfTV will be broadcasting all four matches live and will have English commentary with Tom O’Brannagain on hand for pre and post game commentary as well.

Match Schedule (Handicap point spread in parentheses)

Saturday, 28 May

Rhein-Neckar vs. Barcelona (-2.5) (ehfTV: 3:15 PM CET, 09:15AM (U.S. East Coast)
On Demand Broadcast: http://www.ehftv.com/final4/ec/cl/men/2010-11/video/001671

Ciudad Real vs. Hamburg (Pick em) (ehfTV:  6:00 PM CET, 12:00 PM (U.S. East Coast)
On Demand Broadcast link:  http://www.ehftv.com/final4/ec/cl/men/2010-11/video/001672

Sunday, 29 May

3rd Place Game: 3:15 PM CET, 09:15AM (U.S. East Coast)

On Demand broadcast at ehfTV: http://www.ehftv.com/final4/ec/cl/men/2010-11/video/001711

 

Final: 6:00 PM CET, 12:00 PM (U.S. East Coast)

On Demand broadcast at ehfTV:  http://www.ehftv.com/final4/ec/cl/men/2010-11/video/001712

U.S. TV Broadcast

There is also a televised tape delayed broadcast of the Final on the MHz Network in the U.S. at 4:00 PM (U.S. East Coast) on Sunday, 29 May. For information on how you can watch MHZ see this link: http://www.mhznetworks.org/mhzworldview/carriage/

Side note:  For those of you who can’t watch the matches live, be advised that you may want to strategically use a sheet of paper to avoid seeing the still photos used for the on demand video link.  I’ve pleaded with the EHF to not use a trophy hoisting celebration photo (for those who don’t want to know the outcome), but I haven’t got any response as to whether they will meet this reasonable demand.  UPDATE:  If you use the links above you can watch the games without knowing the outcome.  However, if you go to ehfTV.com directly be advised- you’ll immediately know the outcome.

ehfTV Preview of Final Four: http://www.ehftv.com/ehfCL-show

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Is ’50-50′ refereeing not what we want??

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I have touched on this topic in some other context in the past, but the Gislason embarrassment (which I wrote about last week) causes me to bring it up again.  After a game where Kiel played unbelievably poorly and also were let down by their normally great goalkeeper Omeyer, coach Gislason had the nerve to wonder in public if the EHF had ordered the referees to keep Kiel out of the Final Four.  Amazingly, three weeks later there has been no EHF announcement of action taken in response to Gislason’s accusation of fraudulent behavior on the part of the EHF, with the complicity of the referees.

But it appears that a major cause for the anger was that the referees had the audacity to be neutral!  They did not follow the example of most referees in ‘home and away’ competition under the jurisdiction of the EHF, i.e., favoring the home team in a ’60-40′ fashion or something in that direction.  This past season I have watched around 75 games in the Champions League or in the other EHF Club competitions, live or on a delay basis, using the EHF-TV web casts.  So when I say that 60-40 is common and that the home team can count on at least 55-45, then I do have a basis for this statement. 

Having spent a long career in the IHF, where most events take place in one country and are decided through individual matches, I have always pondered the contrast with the many EHF events that are based on the ‘home and away’ system.   Most of the top EHF games are handled by referees who are also used in IHF events.  Yet, there is this blatant difference between refereeing that is reasonably close to 50-50 in neutral locations and refereeing that consistently tends to be 55-45 or 60-40 in favor of the home team in ‘home and away’ games.  This difference was clear when I attended the Men’s World Championship in Sweden and also saw many games from the Women’s European Championship on the internet. 

Over the years I have had many opportunities to discuss this issue with experts, including coaches, former top referees and psychologists.  We know that there are other advantages that come from being a home team:  no need for tiring travel, playing in a familiar and comfortable setting, and having the support of a sometimes fanatic home crowd.  But is it really unavoidable that a ‘refereeing bonus’ should come on top of these other, legitimate advantages?

Is the pressure so enormous in these games?  Are the referees genuinely striving very hard to offer 50-50 but fall victims to a subconscious, unintended bias that comes from the crowd pressure etc?   Is it related to the fact that the group of EHF referees that has the experience, competence and confidence to resist pressures and handle very difficult assignments is in fact quite small, smaller than what the EHF really would need for its vast competition activities?  Partly this may help explain the problem, but also the recognized top referees have problems of this kind.

Recently I wrote about the suspicion that referees knowingly try to ‘take the easy way out‘ in some game situations where they feel they can get away with this approach because chances are slim that they will be caught.  This concerned giving incorrect 7-meters when a defender is in fact standing outside the 6-meter line, not inside, when being run into by an attacker.  It also involved the temptation of allowing a goal scored after a foul that caused a player to touch the floor in the goal area before releasing the ball.  Here the correct solution would be a 7-meter, but too often a goal is given. 

Could it be that the same tendency, in a broader sense, exists in the handling of home/away games??  Is there a view that 55-45 or 60-40 is not just good ‘self-protection’ but also fully acceptable, because in the two games it comes out even?  I hope I am wrong in implying that referees may be so calculating, but I am beginning to fear that I am far too often justified in this belief.

The problem becomes acute when there are referees who are determined and able to stick to 50-50 also in ‘home and away’ games.  I know that clubs and national teams in Europe know exactly which referees they love to have when they play a difficult away game.  And by the same token, these are the referees whom they might prefer not to have at home.  My understanding is that the EHF, to some extent, try to assign referees in such a way that, for a given match-up, both matches are handled by ’50-50 couples’ or both matches are handled by referees who might be technically competent but are known to have a 55-45 or 60-40 tendency. 

Unfortunately, if the reader innocently wonders why we do not then insist that all referees stick to 50-50 so that we get consistency, I fear the answer is that this would not be realistic.  As I noted above, the number of EHF games is so huge and requires so many referees that there is little hope to get to a situation where one could rely exclusively on referees who are strong enough to live up to such an expectation.   But at least it might be a step in the right direction if the demands on the referees and, perhaps above all, the evaluation and follow-up of the referees were to be strengthened in this respect.

In the meantime, while the upcoming ‘Final Four’ may not offer an entirely neutral setting for German-Spanish match-ups, it is at least not a ‘home-away’ format.  So let us hope that the referees come with a determination to keep all the games under control and with a ’50-50′ objective.  In this regard, I am really pleased to see that Gjeding/Hansen, the solid Danish referees who were affected by the Gislason outrage, were promptly given a nomination for a game in the Final Four.   Good luck to all the couples!

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Time for a True European Super League (Part 3): Why playoffs are overwhelming superior to season long championship

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For the past few weeks, America's #1 Handball fan has been watching this German athlete more than the German Bundesliga. Why?

 

In Part 1, I highlighted how Europeans might want to consider making their sports leagues more like their Governments.  In Part 2, I provided an overall framework for a European Super League  In Part 3 of this series I take on the totally absurd notion that NBA/NHL style playoffs won’t work for European Professional Handball.

First, let’s establish that I’m a big fan of the sport of Handball.  Heck, I’ll go out on a limb and state that I am the #1 fan of the sport in the U.S.  Certainly, I doubt that any of my 308,000,000 compatriots watch more Handball on TV or the internet on a yearly basis.  (If you think you’re a bigger fan, please drop me a line at john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com and will compare notes.) So, it should be clear, I’m not here to bash the sport.  In fact, you’ll be hard pressed to find a bigger promoter of it.

Secondly, I’m not some clueless American who doesn’t understand European sports traditions.  On the contrary, I lived five years in France and became totally immersed in the club sport culture.  I played one season of lower division Handball and four years of over age 35 basketball in Levallois, a suburb of Paris.  Ask me what I enjoyed the most about living in France and I will say without hesitation it was playing club sports.  Oh, how I wish the U.S. had clubs where individuals of every level can play from the age of 5 years to 70.  (Yes, incredibly there was a 70 year old player on our basketball team.  I’ll never forget figuring out just how old he was after he told me about the Americans throwing him candy from the tanks back in 1945.)

Third, I think I’ve got a pretty good understanding of European professional club handball.  Living in France, I became a pretty big of the French League and this year, I’ve enjoyed watching around 70 German Bundesliga matches.  It’s truly been great to immerse myself in what is clearly the top professional Handball league in the world.

So, sorry for the diatribe, but I think I’ve got some pretty strong credentials to take on this topic.  And while there are many aspects of the American sports model, I’d like to see Europeans adopt, the most needed reform is clearly the addition of playoffs.   I’ve always thought this, but the TV viewing choices I have made the last few weeks have brought even greater clarity to the validity of this position.  To further explain, let’s just say that there are only so many hours in a day available to watch sports.  And earlier this year, for the first time in my life, I could choose to watch traditional American sports or Handball.  And while I didn’t go cold turkey on the sports I grew up with, Handball took priority.  Even more remarkably, basketball, my first sport passsion, became an afterthought.

But as Hamburg’s run to an HBL title became all but apparent my interest started to wane and since the NBA playoffs started in mid April my DVR queue has started to pile up with HBL matches.  Why would
America’s self-proclaimed #1 Handball fan suddenly prefer to watch basketball over handball?  Do I really have to explain this? OK, the answer is:

In terms of entertainment value, meaningless games with no bearing whatsoever on a championship cannot even begin to compete with the compelling “do or die” nature of a playoff format.

I’d like to maintain that even defenders of the championship format won’t argue this point.  They might argue about the logistics and the fairness of playoffs, but nobody in their right mind should argue about the entertainment value.   Seriously, do you want to watch Balingen-Kiel with nothing on the line or game 5 of Kiel vs. Hamburg for the title?

However, entertainment value is not everything.  Although, arguably for a professional sports league it should be the most important thing.  But, since this is Europe there are other reasons to defend the Championship model.  Herewith are some of those reasons and a rebuttal as to why they aren’t valid.

1) It’s not the fairest way to determine a champion. Players could be injured at the end of the season and a team that was playing poorly earlier in the year could get “hot” and win the title.  Only a championship format will fairly reward a team for consistent performance.
Rebuttal: If every club knows the rules for determining the league winner before the season starts, then whatever method is used can be considered fair.  Furthermore, what can be fairer than to have two teams play each other in a best of 5 or best of 7?  Seriously, the likelihood that an inferior team is going to put together 4 upsets is pretty unlikely.  No, if you can beat the other team 4 times, then clearly you are the better team.

2) Europeans only care about their local teams and are not interested in watching other teams play.
Rebuttal: If you have two high quality teams going head to head in a playoff series people will watch and when they watch, if they have a pulse, they can’t help but get drawn in.  In the recent NBA playoffs, I found myself becoming a fan of the Memphis Grizzlies, an 8 seed that knocked off the 1 seed, San Antonio and then battled Oklahoma City to a game 7 final in the next round.  I knew absolutely nothing about that team prior to the playoffs, yet ended up making sure I saw everyone of their games.  Could the same thing happen in Handball?  You bet and I would probably put middle of the road HBL side like Grosswalstadt in that category.  Sure, their victory over Kiel in Kiel was interesting, but other than dropping Kiel down a notch what did it mean?  Now, imagine Grosswalstadt as an 8 seed that #1 seed Hamburg has to be wary of in a 5 or 7 game series.  Hey, that sounds interesting.  I’m going make sure I see that.

3) It’s too many games. The season is long as it is.  Adding playoff games will make it even longer.
Rebuttal: If you structure the league properly it won’t be too many games.  In particular, in order to properly stage playoffs, it will be necessary to shorten the regular season a couple of months.

4) Clubs that don’t make the playoffs will have fewer games and will lose revenue. With a shortened regular season clubs that don’t make the playoffs will have nothing going on for the last couple of months.  What will the players do and won’t that be devastating financially to those clubs?
Rebuttal: Well, I can’t argue about the fewer games.  That’s life in the big city.  The financial loss will not be devastating, however, if the league has revenue sharing for their TV contract.  Not all of the revenue would be shared 100% equally, so clubs and players would still have lots of incentives for winning and advancing in the playoffs.  As an aside, you might find it interesting to note that NBA players (especially those with high salaries) are ridiculously underpaid during the playoffs, making only a fraction more than their base salaries.  In theory, if money was their only object, many of them would be better off losing and relaxing on the
beach.

5) These playoffs would interfere with Champions League. If two clubs were going head to head and one of them was still in the Champions League it would give an unfair advantage to the team that wasn’t.
Rebuttal: No argument from me on this one.  This is why, if you re-read part 2, you’ll see where I highlight that Super League teams would not participate in the Champions League or National Cups.  You can’t do both and as I explained if there was a true Super League, you wouldn’t want to.  Don’t get me wrong as things are currently structured the Champions League is the best thing going.  Next weekend, I’m really looking forward to the semifinals and final.    Those games mean something as they are “do or die” and a championship is on the line.  Still, if I had my druthers, those 4 sides wouldn’t be playing 2 knockout games.  No, they’d be playing two best of 5 semifinal series.  And instead of watching the Bulls vs. the Heat or the Mavericks vs. the Thunder on TV every other night I’d be taking turns watching R-N L vs. Barca and Hamburg vs. Ciudad Real.  I can dream, can’t I?

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Contrasting approaches

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By coincidence, rather different ways of viewing similar problems have come up in the last couple of days.  One of the issues involved is the dilemma of ‘focus on national teams vs. supremacy of the club handball’.

This was highlighted when Heiner Brand gave a press conference in Germany apropos his switch from many years as the coach of the men’s national team to a multi-faceted position in the German Federation.  Here he will focus on the education of younger talents, coordination with regional federations, education for coaches, and coordination with research institutions among other things.  But in his statement, a noticeably frustrated Brand could not refrain from lashing out against many of the stakeholders in German handball, especially on the club side.

Brand described top clubs as business entities located in Germany but with little interest in the development of German handball (players).  He talked about Bundesliga representatives as naïve or ignorant, and he characterized the association of top European clubs as dangerous.  He repeated his insistence on a quota approach, i.e., a requirement for a certain number of German players on each Bundesliga club.  While he will need to bring people together and try to pull in the same direction when in his new job, his statements clearly seemed more polarizing than aimed at reconciling views.

On the same day in Sweden, the federation president, Hans Vestberg (known also as the top man at global giant Ericsson), proudly introduced a new approach with a very different mindset.  The Swedish Federation talked about making the men’s and women’s handball teams the most popular national teams in Sweden.  To that end, they have set up a new structure, with a business company, parallel to (but coordinated with) the Federation structure, which will coordinate the team development but also focus very strongly on the business, PR and marketing aspects. 

Not just have the 2+2 coaches of the national teams been made full-time employees, freed up from club duties, but a ‘managing director’ has been hired to oversee both the sports and the business side.  He is none other than Stefan Lovgren, one of the globally best known and respected ex-players of recent decades.  And there is most definitely no tension between the national team focus and the interest of the top clubs in the Swedish league.  If anything, the top clubs expect to benefit greatly from this strengthened focus on the national teams.

As I wrote in a recent article, the top clubs hope to become more competitive at the European level, both as a league and in terms of success for the individual clubs.  They hope to be stronger in their aspirations by following the same business-oriented approach now introduced in the spirit of Hans Vestberg and Stefan Lovgren.  And the team coaches, Ola Lindgren and Staffan Olsson, do not find reason to complain that the Swedish League, with a standard currently far from comparable to Bundesliga, is constituting an inadequate development basis for the new generation of young Swedish talents.

Finally, apropos contrasting approaches, I want to congratulate Zamalek (Egypt), Pinheiros (Brazil) and Southern Stars (Australia) for representing their countries and continents so honorably in the IHF Super Globe event that just finished.  They were third, fourth and fifth behind Kiel and Ciudad Real in the fair and serious part of the competition.  If this does not match the ranking that you have seen, this is because I count Valladolid, Veszprem and Yugoslavia All Stars separately, in their thinly disguised attempt to masquerade as representatives of Asian clubs.

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Did the EHF order the referees to keep Kiel out of the Final Four??

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Natural to react during the game, but not to bring accusations afterwards

Well, of course not!  In a certain other continent, this would not have been so surprising, if one thinks back to the scandal involving the qualifications for the 2008 Olympics, but surely not in Europe.   So when Kiel’s coach Alfred Gislason openly expressed this accusation to the media following the Kiel-Barcelona quarterfinal on May 1, the issue is not really whether his accusation had merit but why on earth is the EHF dealing with it in such a slow and bureaucratic manner!?

I know from experience that international and continental sports federations tend to be very formal and meticulous in dealing with disciplinary matters, and their regulations and procedures are often not set up to deal with urgent matters very swiftly.  And generally speaking, I have full respect for the concept of ‘due process’.  But here we are dealing with a matter that is both absolutely clear-cut and extremely serious.  There can be no doubt or dispute about what Gislason said.  And there can be no disagreement about how potentially damaging and completely unacceptable his action was.

Coaches are entitled to be frustrated after a key defeat and to have whatever opinions they want.  Up to a point, one can even tolerate some criticism of referees in public.  But there must be no tolerance for public statements that amount to asserting a complete lack of integrity on the part of the EHF, a pair of referees who deservedly enjoy a high reputation, and our sport as a whole!  For such extreme cases, special procedures must exist under which swift and serious punishment can be meted out.  Such a case just cannot be allowed to drag on!  

It is simply not good enough that the EHF after about ten days announced that “it has filed a claim with its Arbitration Tribunal”, and that after one more week there is no result and punishment.  In the meantime, Gislason is coaching Kiel in an IHF event, where he and his team are official representatives of Europe and the EHF!!  By comparison, in the context of NBA, NHL or the NFL, a decision and a suspension with immediate effect would have been in place within 24 hours.  The EHF, with its extensive competition activities and frequent matches, must ensure that an ’emergency procedure’ exists.  (And by the way, this kind of case illustrates why it is a bit awkward that the lowest level disciplinary body is labeled ‘Arbitration Tribunal’…).

I could stop there, because this is really the essence of the matter.  But it does cause me to comment on a couple of other aspects.

First, it has been rather interesting to read some of the comments in the German media.  Here one can find unbiased reports which recognize that Kiel played an unusually weak game against Barcelona, also when taking into account injury issues and other shortcomings of the line-up.  And it was also very clear that Omeyer had an extremely poor game, not just by his high standards but by any comparison.  Writers commented that Gislason, apparently like on several other occasions, had shown too much deference to his star goalie, not having the courage to take him out much earlier.  So it seems that it requires much less courage to blame it all on the referees and the EHF…

Second, there is one aspect of Gislason’s statement that may not have been given enough attention in media.  It may have its specific advantages to have a German-Spanish rivalry in the EHF club events, but it is rather doubtful that this is healthy and stimulating for the longer-term development.  Surely, the currently utopian idea of having eight countries from different parts of Europe represented in the quarter-finals would create even more widespread enthusiasm.  Football has a bit of an advantage in this respect, although admittedly precisely this year’s Europa League final causes similar grumbling.  Of course, the existing situation reflects a reality that nobody could quickly or easily change.  So one can only hope that economic circumstances will permit other leagues, or at least individual clubs, to increase their efforts to become more fully competitive.

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After the IHF Congress: time to plan ahead, not to celebrate

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Is IHF President Moustafa really polishing diamonds?

It might feel like the moment to celebrate, when the IHF President failed to gain approval for his attempt to legalize the autocracy he is so desperately seeking.  But I hope there will be reason to celebrate after the election Congress in 2013.  In the meantime, I simply want to thank those Congress delegates who realized how dangerous and inappropriate most of the By Law proposals were, and then had the good judgment and courage to vote against them.

The President, who undoubtedly had expected to be able to celebrate at this point, instead mumbled about “IHF still being in the middle of the road and having a long way to go”, a rather amazing statement from someone so supremely confident in his own views and methods”.  The IHF web site had previously reported his comments at the opening of the Congress: “handball is like a diamond, we only need to polish it to turn it into a brilliant”.  Well, he is in fact right in comparing our sport with a diamond, but regrettably he understands as little about doing the right things with handball as he appears to know about diamonds!

Turning a diamond into a brilliant is a long and difficult process that requires a true expert.  The process of blocking and faceting the stone can be compared with the need for setting goals and strategies for developing and managing world handball, something that the President has sadly failed to understand.  Instead we are running the risk that with his lack of skills he will be chopping the diamond into small pieces while taking his own cut.  And the marketing and selling of the jewel is also something best left for a real and honest expert.  After all, we are not dealing with cheap jewelry in a bazaar.

I have talked with several people who attended the Congress, and the chaos they describe actually makes it sound more like a bazaar.  The President, in his efforts to prioritize personal loyalty, is no longer surrounded by senior IHF employees and other persons who have the competence to manage a Congress, to run a Federation and, for example, to handle a complex document such as the By-Laws.  So the question is how long this state of affairs will be allowed to continue.  For how long will a well-paid and scared group of loyalists be able to resist the pressures of the decent and serious members of the handball family who are beginning to realize that it has gone too far, down the wrong road!?

It is not enough to protest and resist.  As has been seen on the political scene in a number of countries in recent months, it is important that better suited leaders are prepared to step forward, ready to take on important responsibilities and able to lead strongly in a better direction.  Two years, until the next election Congress, may seem like a long time.  But the moment to begin the planning and collaborating is now!

And it is equally important to ensure that the ways of the President are carefully scrutinized in the meantime.  The tendency to act as if the inappropriate By-Laws were already in place had clearly been noticed.  And it is difficult to believe that these tendencies will disappear unless they are checked and stopped.  But by whom!?  Well, most of the income of the IHF is generated, directly or indirectly, by a relatively limited number of countries, federations, leagues, clubs and players, who surely do not want the results of their efforts and talents squandered, instead of being put to use for global handball development in a systematic, efficient and fair manner.

P.S.  If you wonder about the choice of image above this article:  well, apart from the link to diamonds, it is all a question of percentages.   Like getting a sufficient share of the votes to defeat By-Law proposals and getting enough to win an election; but it is also a question of where does the revenue go:  to genuine development efforts, to effective promotion of handball, or into compensation for a select group of officials!?

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Commentary: USA Team Handball National Teams: Are there too many guys with short haircuts and accents? (Part 2: Dual Citizenship Athletes)

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Swedish-American Martin Clemens Axelsson and Norwegian-American  Karoline Borg are key members of the U.S. National Teams

Anyone who follows USA Team Handball’s excellent American’s Abroad updates has surely noticed that two groups of Americans (military members and dual citizens) are very well represented. In Part 1, I assessed that having a lot of military athletes on our National Teams isn’t a problem, but rather a symptom of a problem (thin talent pool). In part two, I’ll consider whether the same is true for dual citizenship athletes.
Dual Citizenship Athletes
USA Team Handball, since its inception has had dual citizenship athletes playing for its National Teams and certainly it isn’t the only sport to have sprinkled its roster with these dual citizen athletes. Notably, USA soccer, particularly in its development years in the 80s and 90s, has had its fair share of foreign imports. Additionally, a number of Handball nations (e.g. Spain) where there is no shortage of homegrown players have bolstered their roster with mercenaries (naturalized citizens) simply to improve their national team.
Until recently, however, dual citizen athletes have been a distinct minority on U.S. teams that have been overwhelmingly comprised of born and raised, domestic based players. Arguably, at no other time in the history of the sport in the U.S. have so many dual citizen athletes (e.g. El Zogby.Axelsson, Borg) played such pivotal roles on U.S. National Teams.
So, should we be concerned that we have too many guys with foreign accents?
Yes, for three reasons.
1) Again, this is a very clear indication that we have a thin talent pool. First off, let’s acknowledge that most dual citizens if presented a choice between 1) playing for the Handball nation where they’ve learned to play and spent most of their life or 2) playing for Team USA they are going to choose the Handball nation. Only, if they have no realistic prospects are they going to consider the U.S. option. There might be exceptions to this (perhaps, Adam El Zogby), but it’s a good rule of thumb. So, if a second tier (or third, or fourth or even lower caliber) player from Europe can make the U.S. team it’s probably a good indication that our homegrown talent pool is third tier (or lower). This isn’t all bad. Such players can still be huge contributors that can help us knock off the likes of Canada, Greenland and maybe even Brazil or Argentina someday. But, they are not likely to put us into the next echelon in the World Championships or Olympic Games.
2) Integrating dual citizenship athletes can be disruptive. It should also be noted that the integration of dual citizens on a national team can be a tricky business. I got a sense of this during my short stint on the U.S. National Team when we had tryouts for a couple of dual citizens from Norway and Sweden right before the World Championship in 1993. Both athletes that tried out were nice enough guys and experienced players, but there was also a little resentment with these “outsiders” potentially taking a roster spot from the born and raised Americans. As two outsiders amongst 15 players that had been practicing together for several months there were few integration problems. The only minor problem I recall was when they started conversing in Nordic to each other in front of their teammates. Never a polite move in any context and this was put to a halt with some friendly counseling.
As the current National Team structure has most players playing with clubs overseas, the context is clearly different from my stateside experience. And everything might be all hunky-dory now as relatively few athletes are competing for roster spots. As competition for National Team spots heats up, though, politics will undoubtedly enter the picture. Heck, I remember divisions and accusations of political favoritism based on geographical regions within the U.S. Those New York accents can take a while to get used, but add an even thicker one with an accompanying separate cultural identity and there could be real cohesion problems. An American citizen is an American, but let’s be clear that there’s no getting around the fact that there’s a big cultural identity difference between growing up in the U.S. and growing up in a foreign country. It doesn’t matter how well someone speaks English and how frequently they connect with relatives in the States, they’re going to be more culturally attuned to where they’ve lived. Fortunately, the U.S., more than any other country, is a melting pot of different cultures, so team integration of such a diverse group is still likely to occur. All things being equal, though, it’s simpler not to have such a diverse team.
3) Dual citizens are less likely to support development in the U.S. An ancillary benefit (at least a hoped for one, anyway) of athletes participating in National Team competitions is that those athletes will use that experience to support development of the sport in the U.S. Anyone who has been around the sport in the U.S. knows full well that is not always the case. In fact, it happens a lot less than we’d like it to. Still, it goes without saying that it’s even more unlikely that a dual citizen with stronger ties to another country will decide to move to the U.S permanently and become involved in development efforts. Also, not to be forgotten is the role model aspect of a local club member getting promoted to the National Team. This can inspire younger players to new heights with the thought, “well if he can do it, I can do it.”
Should anything be done to remedy this imbalance?
In many respects this problem can be resolved the same way the military athlete imbalance can be fixed. If we widen our domestic talent pool with better players then the standard for dual citizens getting consideration will be higher and accordingly there will be fewer of them.
While this should occur naturally I also think that USA Team Handball should have some policies that will indirectly boost opportunities for domestic players. Right now, with no U.S. based residence program it’s pretty much impossible for a domestic player to improve significantly as a player without moving to Europe. As such, by default, this has given the dual citizen athlete already conveniently living and acclimated to Europe a distinct advantage. While, I’m not advocating a return to the full-up residence programs of the 80’s and 90’s, I do think that some resources need to be spent on preparing domestic based athletes for overseas competition. (This is outlined in Part 3: A Framework for Creating U.S. National Team Success) In addition, more time and resources should be devoted to getting those domestic athletes on good clubs with strong training programs. A watchful eye should be kept on dual citizen athletes, but logically they will be more able to fend for themselves.
In the end, I’d like to see U.S. National Teams with a smattering of dual citizens playing key roles. Not because I don’t like dual citizens, but because I’d like to have the quality of our domestic players be such that only a few talented athletes can make the cut. And who knows, maybe I’m dreaming, but perhaps one day I’ll even get to read a German (or Danish, pick your country) commentary deploring the fact that they’ve lost a prized dual-citizen prospect to the Americans.
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IHF Congress rejected President’s attempt to legalize autocracy

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Proposed autocratic by-laws are rejected by the IHF Congress

 

A few days ago, I attempted to provoke by asking if the Congress participants would turn out to be ‘yes men’, ready to accept the shenanigans of the President, or if there would be enough people ready to stand up and resist.  I am now pleased to report that my expectations were too pessimistic.  There were enough delegates with good judgment and courage, so the proposals for By-Law changes were essentially rejected on those points were the effect would have been to centralize more power with the IHF at the expense of all other stakeholders and/or to give the President more personal power and authority.  These anti-democratic efforts were stopped.  As I had strongly emphasized on several occasions over the past year, this was a crucial issue for the well-being and the further development of our sport, so I must confess that I feel a good deal of personal satisfaction.

I will not get into a lot of detail, now that the proposals have been defeated.  But it is worth noting that the regulations that would have removed rights and instead placed constraints or requirements on continental/national federations, clubs/players, referees/coaches/officials and other stakeholder were dismissed.  Similarly, the Congress rejected the proposal to give the President a number of specfic new prerogatives (‘having political resonsibility for the Head Office, sole responsibility for implementation decisions taken by the Congress, Council and Executive Committee, controlling all financial transactions, handling the relations between all IHF stakeholders etc etc.).

While it is a relief that there are, after all, enough representatives from among our global handball family who are beginning to realize that the President’s inclinations and methods are simply going too far, this does not mean that one can now begin to relax.  On the contrary, this must be seen as just the first step in a broader and stronger effort to get the IHF back on the right track again, in a sound and democratic spirit, for the sake of the optimal development and success of handball.  I will come back to this theme in a separate article next week.

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IHF Congress: concerns about voting manipulation

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Reports from the IHF Congress in Cairo suggest that the IHF President is finding it surprisingly difficult to obtain the 2/3 majority that he needs to get his By-Laws proposals approved.  And, by some strange coincidence (?), at the same time the voting machinery is ‘malfunctioning’ and causing disputes!  Two years ago, at the Election Congress in Cairo, the IHF President insisted on the utilization of electronic voting, instead of secret voting through paper ballots.  With some hesitation on the part of the Congress participants, this was agreed, and this is now supposed to be the standard procedure.

But in the middle of today’s tense voting process, it appears that the electronic voting system did not function properly.  Much to everyone’s amazement, the IHF President then asked the participants to agree to open voting.  Why the simple method of secret voting with paper ballots could not be arranged was apparently not explained.  But the Congress participants refused to accept the suggestion of non-confidential voting.  So the President had to agree to try to get the electronic voting to function again.  But now it is being reported that it was then discovered that the electronic voting was monitored in such a way, that the President could observe the voting of each participant!  Of course this caused a major uproar.

At the moment when this is being written, it is not yet clear how the problems will be resolved and if/how the voting will continue.  There is now a suspicion on the part of some Congress participants, that the IHF regime may quickly try to fly in some additional participants who have not yet been present at the Congress, all with the intention to obtain some crucial additional votes.  Some people are also thinking back to the 2009 Congress in Cairo.  In retrospect, is there now reason to wonder if the voting took place in a proper fashion at this time?   And more generally, it boosts the suspicions as to why the President wants to organize criticial Congresses in locations where he might be in a position to ‘control the environment’ (short of preventing last week’s bombing in Marrakech)!   IHF:  such a wonderful ‘democracy’…!

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Are they all ‘yes men’ or do some IHF/EHF members have a bit of courage?

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There are different ways of showing courage or a lack thereof.  There is nothing funny about terrorist actions that leave more than a dozen people dead, as happened just a few days ago in Marrakech, the site of the IHF Congress that is about to open.  The attack was aimed at foreign visitors.  Clearly this raises questions about the wisdom of going ahead with such a high-visibility event as an international congress, attended by several hundred people from around the world.  No wonder that the IHF President quickly seemed eager to downplay the risks in public statements, instead emphasizing the determination of the Moroccan government, from the King down, to keep this a safe event.

That some member nations nevertheless announced their attention to cancel their participation is not what I suggest to be a lack of courage.  This may indeed be a very prudent decision, in the face of the IHF insistence to go ahead and ignore the risks.  It may have come too late, but the formal motion from Germany to adjourn the Congress and move it to the IHF Headquarters location of Basel at a slightly later date is absolutely reasonable.  So it might be more an indication of a lack of courage that not a sizeable number of Congress participants joined forces with the Germans and demanded that safety must be the top priority.

But, as I have noted in the context of seemingly quiet acceptance of inappropriate proposals and actions by the IHF in recent years, courage in terms of standing up for important principles and common sense is hard to find in global handball circles.  One conspicuous example, as I noted just a few days ago, is the EHF’s tactical decision to go along with the IHF regime’s proposed changes in the By-Laws.  These changes were deemed totally unacceptable to the EHF just one year ago, but suddenly there is absolutely no fighting spirit left.  The EHF points to one genuinely relevant concession that the IHF has made, namely regarding the rights to qualification events for World Championships and Olympic Games. 

But beyond that, the EHF is really not credible in trying to point to additional reasons.  The fact that the ‘EHF’ will not be obliged to change to ‘EHC’ when the IHF now insists on taking about continental CONFederations in the future is really impressive…  Bravo!  Congratulations, EHF to that great accomplishment!!  But even worse is the nonsense that it no longer should be so dangerous to allow the President to take a lot of vital decisions on his own between Executive meetings and between Council meetings…   How naïve can one be!?   It now says that the Executive or the Council must ratify such decisions retroactively.   But when we know that Council members are (almost literally) eating out of the hands of the President and that the Executive is so nicely loyal, what exactly does ‘ratify’ mean?  I think ‘rubberstamp’ would be the better word.  And who, other than the President, will even know about the decisions that should be submitted for rubberstamping?

So at least I see some courage, or at least a hint of ‘doing one’s duty’, when I see that 13 European federations have written to the EHF demanding a better explanation.  Perhaps I find it too politely worded and not forceful enough in its tone.  But at least it picks up on the right issues and it does amount to an attempt to ensure that a debate will be forthcoming.  I am not optimistic about the effect, even though I hope others will join in, but at least it shows that there are some supporters of global handball who are willing to follow through on their convictions.  Thank you for that!

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Uprisings and protests ‘everywhere’ else, but not in the IHF

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Following my article a few days ago about the serious problems in the proposed IHF By-Laws, which are being placed in front of the IHF Congress delegates this coming week, I have received several questions along the lines:  but how can it be that such terrible proposals seem likely to be accepted by the Congress?  And similarly, how can it be that there is an increasingly lack of patience and acceptance for the Mubaraks of this world, and yet someone acting in the same autocratic and outdated manner continues to be tolerated as a head of an international federation?

There are several explanations, mostly variations on the same theme:  it is possible for an organization to be democratic on paper but autocratic in reality.  Especially, if a large proportion of those who are entitled to vote are far removed from the inner circles and systematically kept uninformed about how the organization is managed and what it is NOT achieving.  Those voters can then be made to think that there is no need for change!

It has to be recognized that, outside Europe, handball is largely a new and rather unknown sport, being developed locally by people who have limited understanding for the history and the potential of handball, and also generally have a modest understanding of sports politics and international affairs.  Only about a dozen of the more than 110 non-European member federations could be seen as strong and well-developed by global standards.  Their representatives do not know more about the IHF rulers than they see in very limited media reports or by attending IHF congresses.  Moreover, as they have their travel to the Congress paid or subsidized by the IHF, this also encourages a sense of loyalty or obligation.

It would not have to be like this.  The IHF has continental federations, which are potentially in a position to have a very positive influence on their respective member countries.  But instead of educating and integrating their voting members, ensuring an unbiased understanding  of the issues that are being voted on, these continental entities and their elected bosses tend to act just as autocratically as the IHF regime, controlling and further isolating the individual members.  They have enough clout to be able to direct the votes of huge blocks of votes from their continents, on the basis of the false assumption that they act in everyone’s best interest.

But the problem is that often these continental ‘middle men’ are acting or directing more on the basis of their personal interests than for the benefit of the individual member countries.  While part of this tendency could be ascribed to human nature, it is exacerbated by the need for these continental bosses to stay on the good side of the IHF regime.  Their positions are very well remunerated, in fact quite excessively so, and there many advantages inherent in remaining appointed to these positions, such as comfortable attendance at major events, a modest workload and quite a bit of prestige.  In short, they cannot really ‘afford’ to lose their positions, so they are under considerable pressure to bring in the votes.

It is also worth pointing out that the continent of Europe is not without blame in this discussion.  A few days ago, I mentioned about the ‘realistic’ but very cynical decision of the European Handball Federation to refrain from opposing By-Law proposals which they fully recognize are very bad for the world of handball.  Similarly, some of the stronger member nations in Europe, whose traditions and knowledge of international handball easily enable them to distinguish between right and wrong, meekly stay on the side line, or even support the IHF regime, for selfish reasons or for fear of retribution.

In summary, it should not be surprising that conspicuously bad proposals can find support, even if they require the votes of a majority among some 160 countries.

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EHF Game of the Week (Quarter Finals): Barcelona at Kiel (Live webstreaming with English language commentary)

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Can Siarhei Rutenka and Barcelona hold off Kiel?

Last weekend’s first leg had two great matches and two duds.  The two duds were Hamburg-Chekov and Flensburg-Ciudad Real.  Hamburg and Ciudad Real both won by 14 goals, so barring turnarounds of epic proportions those two sides will formally punch their tickets for the Final Four in Cologne this weekend.

The two great matches were Montpellier’s 29-27 victory over Rhein-Neckar in Germany and Barcelona’s 27-25 victory over Kiel in Spain.  Montpellier’s victory in Germany was a mild surprise, so they will have the luxury of a two goal cushion at home.  This, of course, means they will still advance if there’s a draw or they lose by 1 goal.  If they should lose by 3 or more Rhein-Neckar will advance and in the event of a two goal loss the tiebreaker will be away goals.  While the 2 extra goals provide comfort anyone who’s seen Rhein-Neckar play this year knows they are more than capable of a road win in France.

The other matchup, Kiel hosting Barcelona is also a 2 goal margin, but this time the away team has the cushion.  The oddsmakers think it will go down to the wire as they’ve made Kiel a 2.5 goal favorite.

ehfTV will be broadcasting each of the matches live and will have English commentary with Tom O’Brannagain for the Kiel vs. Barcelona matchup.  Subject to the availability of the ehfTV on demand stream and the demands of the Ryan family household, I plan to do an audio commentary of the Montpellier – Rhein-Neckar match.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to post it Saturday afternoon in the states. Check back at the site for updates.

Match Schedule (Handicap point spread in parentheses)

Rhein-Neckar at Montpellier at (-1.5) (ehfTV: Saturday, 30 April: 5:00 PM CET, 11:00 AM
(U.S. East Coast)

On Demand link:  http://www.ehftv.com/ec/cl/men/2010-2011/video/001619

Audio files are below
1st half commentary starts at 18:20 on ehfTV Clock
2nd half commentary starts at 66:30 on ehfTV Clock

Barcelona at Kiel (-2.5) (ehfTV: Sunday, 1 May: 6:30 PM CET, 12:30 PM (U.S. East Coast)
Live Broadcast link:  http://www.ehftv.com/ec/cl/men/2010-11/live/high/001622

On Demand Broadcast Link:  http://www.ehftv.com/ec/cl/men/2010-11/video/001622

There is also a televised tape delayed broadcast on the MHz Network in the U.S. at 4:00 PM (U.S. East Coast) on Sunday, 1 May. For information on how you can watch MHZ see this link: http://www.mhznetworks.org/mhzworldview/carriage/

Note:  Chekhov-Hamburg is on Saturday and Ciudad Real-Flensburg is on Sunday.  I  recommend only checking the score halfway through the on-demand video, on the off chance that a miracle is taking place.

Audio recording links are below. Open the on demand video in one window and then click on the podcast link. I do a countdown of the ehfTV clock in the lower left hand of the screen. Pause the audio when I start the countdown and then play the video. Then unpause the audio when you get to the appropriate time on the clock.