Handball

History

Handball only became an official sport in 1920, but it derives from different sports from various times. There is evidence that points that games similar to handball were played in Ancient Greece, Rome and even in the Middle Ages. More recently, at the beginning of last century, the Danish played haadbold, the Czechs hazena, the Uruguayans the salon and the Irish, a sport very much similar to the handball played today.

However, all sports mentioned above are mere references, as the biggest influence that led to the invention of handball was raftball, a sport developed by a German gym teacher Max Heiser, which was heavily based on another German game: torball. In other words, it is difficult to know where the handball played today really comes from. Even basketball and football are quoted as reference.

With the official rules established by the German Gymnastics Federation, the sport started being played on football pitches, with 11 players on each side. This started to change in 1920, when a decree published by the director of the German Physical Education School made the sport official. However, it was the Swedish, who in 1924, started to play matches on indoor courts, because of the cold, using seven players on each side.

But it took a while for indoor handball to catch on. Traditionally, matches were played on pitches. Therefore, it was not until 1938, that the first handball world championship was held in Germany and the sport began to be played in the way that we know it today. After the Second World War, the International Handball Federation (IHF) was founded, the indoor handball world championship for men was held in 1954 and in 1957 for women. From then on, the outdoor variety of the sport started to be left aside and ended up being excluded from the 1966 world championship.

The first time handball was part of the Olympic programme was at the Games in Berlin in 1936. Hot favourites Germany scooped up the gold after a spectacular campaign. The home team beat the United States 29-1 and Hungary 22-0, twice. In the final, a tough match against Austria, but the Germans managed a 8-6 win.

In the last two editions of the Games, France in the men´s and Norway in the women’s topped the podium. Both the French and the Norwegians scooped up the gold at the Beijing (2008) and London (2012) Games.

Curiosities

South Korean underdog
Fan support is a controversial subject in sport. Some say that support makes all the difference, that it influences players’ performance, while there are athletes that swear that it does not matter to them. At the 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea’s women’s handball squad made the most of playing at home and finished the competition with a surprising win.

The South Korean squad isolated itself and engaged in intense preparation before the competition. However, until then, results were by no means encouraging. In the 1986 world championship, they drew one match and lost four, finishing the competition in a modest 11th position. Therefore, when they qualified in first place in Group A, beating Czechoslovakia and the United States, and losing only to Yugoslavia, everyone was surprised.

In the final round, which decided who won the medals, the South Koreans fulfilled their mission impossible. With two tight wins over Norway (23-20) and the Soviet Union (21-19), cheered on by the home fans, they surprised the world and scooped up the gold. Four years later in Barcelona, they did it again and brought the gold medal home once more.

See also

Confederação Brasileira de Handebol
Site: www.brasilhandebol.com.br
E-mail: sec@brasilhandebol.com.br
Federação Internacional de Handebol (IHF):http://www.ihf.info