Handball is a sport that is well liked in Europe. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the podiums for both tournaments (men’s and women’s) were populated solely by European countries. But there is no history of it in this country, or at least, not much of it. A GB team entered the Olympics in 2012 for both genders as hosts, came last in their groups, and then disappeared again. Kind of.
While the men’s team shows up from time to time, even coming 4th in the International Handball Association’s “Emerging Nations Championship”, the women’s team has not reared their head in a while. The 2012 Olympics was their last game that wasn’t a friendly, and showing up on the GB website shows their last game that WAS a friendly was in 2017. Perhaps the site isn’t fully updated, but it’s hard to find data to contradict it.
With the European Championship starting today, an official Olympic qualifier, it seems sad that GB didn’t even enter qualifying, where much could be learned. The next chance will be the 2023 World Championships. The good news is that GB are entering qualifying for that, with a two-legged pre-qualifying match against Turkey (for some reason, both games are in Turkey. I mean Türkiye) being their first official matches in ten years.
Sports you would never have associated with Great Britain are gaining some strength here. Baseball/Softball is a big one, and basketball and ice hockey are seeing a resurgence too, while netball has also seen its prominence rise. So why not handball? The development of an entertaining, fast-paced sport in this country can only be beneficial for everyone, being an alternative to football, rugby and cricket, and shares with those sports the lack of a need for any complicated equipment. I’m not expecting GB to beat the Turks, but playing in games regularly will provide a foundation where they can get results.
Anyone promoting a more obscure sport in such a crowded landscape and representing us abroad deserves our full support, and I wish for the best for both British handball teams and everyone connected with the sport in future.
GB Games 