Sport Features

Pierre and Mari, two students from France and Norway, share both a house and the love for handball.

Mari, 23, has played handball since she was 13, but was annoyed to find that the only handball team close to the University of Teesside campus is in Leeds.

“I’ve always been passionate about handball, and I didn’t want to throw it away even though I’m studying here in Middlesbrough.”

Pierre went to the Student Union and set up the club in November 2004. He persuaded his friends to come along, and now the club has 14 members on their list.

A fairly new team

Even though they've got just enough players for a proper game, seven players on each side, but they’ve only had one training session so far with all 14 turning up.

“Today we played six a side, seven is the best,. It would be great if we could get more than a full team, so we can have some players to change with.”

Ismail from France used to play professionally and his level of playing brings out the best out of the team.

Fast and furious games

Handball is played without any protective gear, and the most common injuries are fractured fingers, burn marks and bruising. The ball is hard and the force it’s thrown with can leave nasty marks, at least on the goal keeper.

The game itself is fast with lots of running up and down the court. It can also be very rough, with physical contact allowed. Some say it’s all about intimidation, scaring and shouting will put the other players off to your advantage.

There is a lack of equipment at the moment. The club’s just been granted some funding from the union to get some more balls, but the grant isn’t enough to buy goals, which is something that’s really needed.

“At the moment, we’re just using goal posts, and if you’re standing in goal and the ball is thrown at you and it might hit the wall behind you, bouncing back at your back.”

So the goal keeper, if they’re not super-good and catch all the balls, has to make sure they have to catch it on the rebound as well.

Similar rules to football

The rules for handball, or Olympic handball as it’s sometimes referred to, are simple. The sport was invented in Germany and made its way northwards to Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

In 1910 the International Football Association encouraged players to play handball out of season in order to stay fit. The rules in handball are similar to those in football, maybe as a consequence of the out of season footballers.

Each game is played in 30 minutes halves with a ten minute break at half-time. The team that scores the most goals wins. Players can hold the ball for no more than three seconds before passing, dribbling or shooting. They can not take more than three steps with the ball. Only the goalkeeper is allowed in the goal area.

Equipment hassles

When the team was first set up, they had nothing. No balls, no goals, nothing. The first training session was a bit improvised with the team using an in-door football to play with.

Mari had to get hold of friends in Norway to get her hands on some proper equipment.

“When people came over for the graduation last year, we managed to get some balls. We had people bring them over from Norway and France, so at least we’ve got some proper balls to play with.”

The handball is leather and has a circumference of between 58-60 cm for men and between 54-56 cm for women.

"We play by the basketball lines, but it's not really good. Some players play as if they're playing basketball as well, which handball isn't" Mari says.

International team

Even though the majority of the team are from outside the UK, the new recruits seem to British.

The majority of team members are from France, so French is the favoured language on court.

Mari understands French, but gets annoyed when the French-speaking members in the team are discussing tactics in French.

“When they’re arguing over faults I can pick up on some things, but when you’re on the same team and they’re deciding on the tactics in French, that’s really annoying!”

The more experienced players, i.e. those who know of the sport and maybe had played it in school, are all excited about this handball team. They all rave about the sport, but what is it that make it so special?

"It's indoors, that's always good, and in school I played it and always had to stand in goal. Now I can play out on the court and I can get my revenge on the goalkeepers. It's not very fun to have to stand in goal" says Sam, who has not really played since the teens.

"I've never played before, but I feel I picked it up really quick. I don't know the rules yet, but I'm sure I'll find out soon."

If you're a student and you want to have a go at handball, why not get in touch with Pierre on pierre.zunino@laposte.net or with Mari on marimyl@gmail.com. The team meet up twice a week, on Fridays and Sundays.