Dear NZ Handball Community
The 2021 Indoor Handball season is upon us!
Following last month’s successful completion of the Queenstown Handball Tournament, Vic Uni’s Hallo Handball, and the Southern Shield, we were treated to the first major national event on the calendar, the Auckland Handball Open Champs hosted by Auckland Region Handball on 15 & 16 May at the AUT Stadium. Congratulations to the Auckland teams taking out both the Women’s round-robin title, and the hotly contested final of the Men’s division against Wellington. Congratulations also to Alex, Thomas, Qassim, Pepe, Katharina and the rest of the Auckland Region Handball organising committee for making the event such a well-run success. It was really encouraging for the state of New Zealand Handball to see so many younger players coming through (without wishing to downplay the presence of a smattering of veteran players taking part!), and there was some great quality handball on display – as well as some early-season rustiness! Having such a great turnout of players and supporters at the social event at O’Hagans half way through the tournament was testament to the wonderful collegiality our close-knit sport enjoys, so a great start to the indoor programme all round.
On 30 May we have the NZHF Junior Cup for the Under 23 male cohort, being run by NZHF at Wellington’s ASB Centre. With teams from Otago, Canterbury and Auckland plus two from Wellington, the event will provide another opportunity for our emerging talent from around the country to showcase their wares. Catch the action from 8am through to prizegiving at 3pm on the 30th.
At noon on the 30th there will be a brief pause in the Junior Cup programme for NZHF to hold an SGM to consider a proposed replacement constitution. There are some important updates proposed for the governing framework of our organisation that we hope will see us through the next decade or so, as we look to underpin our standing as a Sport NZ recognised National Sports Organisation. A notice of meeting has been circulated to members and key stakeholders providing details of the meeting and the proposed changes, but please contact the NZHF Secretary at secretary@handball.org.nz if you would like to know more.
On a less positive note we have made the hard decision to decline the Asian Handball Federation’s invitation for us to send a team to the Women’s Championships being held in South Korea in September. With the current state of the Covid pandemic and our own border controls the decision itself was a pretty easy one to make, but it is always disappointing to miss out on a rare opportunity for some international competition. The silver lining to that cloud is that we now have around 30 months for the women to prepare themselves for their next crack at the Asian Champs! We are still hopeful that the men’s team will have opportunity to take part in the next Men’s Asian Handball Champs likely to take place in January 2022. The squad has been putting in some great mahi with that goal in mind, but there are a few ducks that need to line up for us before we can lock that in.
That’s about it for now. At the Auckland Handball Open it was heartening to hear of all the great initiatives going on to grow handball in New Zealand – not just in the sleeping giant that is the Auckland Region, but in Wellington with the resurgence of the VUW Club in particular and all that they are doing (evidenced by them sending three teams to Auckland), Canterbury and Otago. To all the many volunteers putting in the hard yards to add depth and grow our wonderful sport, thank you, and keep up the great work.
All the best
David Ireland
President, New Zealand Handball Federation