Handbolti vekur athygli á Íslandi - Ísland vekur athygli á handbolta

Það er ekki nóg með að góður árangur Íslendinga í handbolta veki athygli á landinu heldur hefur árangur þessa litla eyríkis vakið athygli á handbolta í löndum eins og Bandaríkjunum og Kanada þar sem annars er aldrei sýnt neitt frá þessari frábæru íþrótt. Eins og sagt hefur verið frá í íslensku blöðunum þá fjallaði bandaríska bressan stíft um árangur Íslendinga, og hér í Kanada hafa menn einnig tekið eftir okkur. Í The Province í dag var risamynd af Fúsa (og sagt frá því að hann hefði grátið eftir leikinn) og í alla vega þremur blöðum var eftirfarandi frásögn undir nafninu 'Stórkostlegasta íþrótt sem Kanada hefur aldrei heyrt um' (OK, greatest er ekki beinlínis stórkostlegasta, en það er ekki hægt að segja mesta).

 

The greatest sport Canada has never heard about

Bob Duff, Canwest News Service

Published: Sunday, August 24, 2008

BEIJING -- Ingimundur Ingimundurson spun the ball sideways to Snorri Gudjonson, who dished a behind-the-back pass to Olafur Stefansson.

Stepping quickly into the open, Stefansson made like Kobe Bryant, lofting skyward before rifling a shot past French netminder Thierry Omeyer.

What would you say to a game which combines the best elements of basketball, soccer, lacrosse and hockey?

In Canada, probably that you'd never heard of such a sport.

Welcome to team handball, the greatest game Canadians don't know about.

"This is a wonderful game," said Juan Carlos Pastor, coach of the bronze-medal team from Spain.

"It's so beautiful," added French left back Nicola Karabatic.

Among the final medals to be determined during these Beijing Olympic Games, history came perilously close to being made Sunday at the National Indoor Stadium, as a plucky group of Icelanders sought to become that country's first-ever gold medallists.

They came up short - losing a 28-23 decision to France in the gold-medal game - but they did deliver Iceland's fourth medal in Summer Games history and the first silver medal picked up by Iceland since Vihjalmur Einarsson was second in the men's triple jump at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

"I want to have an operation and have this medal put into my heart," Iceland pivot Sigfus Sigurdsson said.

Team handball, part of the Olympic program since the 1972 Summer Games in Munich, is played on a surface similar in size to a basketball court and with a ball slightly smaller than a soccer ball. The are six outfield players and a goaltender on each team and players are permitted to possess the ball no longer than three seconds and must dribble the ball while running with it.

Divided into two 30-minute halves, the object of the game is to move the ball quickly from end-to-end with precision passing and shoot it past the goalkeeper into nets similar in size to an indoor soccer goal.

Team handball players race around the court with the speed of an NBA game and move the ball with the precision and style of the Harlem Globetrotters. There's even an element of physical play similar to hockey.

It's rough out there. Just as Croatia's Mirko Alilovic, who was taking his country's 35-29 loss to the Spaniards in the bronze-medal game with difficulty, insisting he may, "Throw myself from a third-floor window," in despair.

Man-to-man marking defensive tactics much like those utilized in soccer are deployed in attempts to thwart attacks, but team handball has the element that critics insist soccer does not - offence.

They score goals and then some. In its semifinal game, Iceland downed Spain 36-30.

In fact, if the referee feels one team is using stalling tactics while ahead and not trying hard enough to score, he'll blow his whistle and turn the ball over to the other team.

Someone needs to tell NHL commissioner Gary Bettman about the rule.

Someone needs to tell Canadians about this great game.

In fact, many of you likely played the game in gym class as kids under the Canadianized name of borden ball. The name was derived after the game was picked up from German POWs who played it on the yard while being held at Camp Borden.

There are 31 million registered team handball players in the world. In Europe, team handball is the second-most popular team sport after soccer.

In Canada, it is about as popular as Swedes are with Don Cherry. And that's a shame, because we're really missing out on something here.

Canada is among the 146 member nations in the International Handball Federation, but the only time Canada has ever played it in the Olympics was in 1976, when both men's and women's teams were handed spots as host nation.

In 2005, the Canadian men qualified for the world championships in Tunisia and although the Canadians finished 23rd out of 24 teams, it marked the first time Canada had ever reached the event on merit.

The game is most popular in Quebec, where there are 5,000 registered team handball players, including 15 of the 18 members of Canada's national team. Goaltender Jonathan Leduc of Marieville, Que., centre back Alexis Bertrand of St. Jean-Chrysotome, Que. and left back Maxime Godin of La Prairie, Que. all play in a professional team handball league in France.

While there will never be a handball night in Canada, there definitely should be a place for team handball among the collective Canadian conscience.

If you ever get a chance to take in a game, do so. You'll enjoy it and you'll want to see more.

Guaranteed.

Victoria Times Colonist

Fálkaorðan bætist í orðusafnið

Athugasemdir

[Marinó Már Marinósson, 26.8.2008 kl. 08:25]

Nú ættu handboltafélög á Íslandi að fara í ferðalag um Kanada og kynna þessa íþrótt.   

[Hrannar Baldursson, 26.8.2008 kl. 09:22]

Snilldargrein og sérstaklega tilvitnun í Fúsa:

"I want to have an operation and have this medal put into my heart," Iceland pivot Sigfus Sigurdsson said.

[Sigrún Jónsdóttir, 26.8.2008 kl. 10:03]

Gaman að lesa um þetta Kristín.

[Marinó G. Njálsson, 26.8.2008 kl. 19:58]

Takk fyrir þetta, Kristín.

[alva (IP-tala skráð) 27.8.2008 kl. 00:13]

já, alveg frábært!!