Kia ora koutou katoa e te whānau Aotearoa Handball!
I am penning this update in the aftermath of an epic National Club Champs hosted by NZHF at the fabulous ASB Sports Centre in Wellington. Fantastic to see so many players from around the country – and further afield – gather together to compete in an event jam-packed with top quality handball. Three years after the last time we were physically able to hold the event, it was massive to have over 160 players take part over the three days. There were some upsets and a number of monumental tight-fought clashes. My pick for the game of the tournament would have to be the Canterbury Quakes v Otago Uni Men’s Quarter-final, going to a 2nd round of penalties after the teams couldn’t be separated after extra time. A shame one of them had to be knocked out, but that’s the way handball goes.
Congratulations to the Canterbury Quakes HC for triumphing over Spartanz HC in the Women’s final, and to the Northern Aguilas HC for their win over Auckland HC in the Men’s final. Both games were hard fought, and it is tremendous to see that the spirit of handball is alive and well at the National Club Champs after the three year gap. Congratulations also to our other award winners from the tournament – the top goal scorers, the MVPs and the tournament teams – but most all, massive thanks to all those who took part or who came along to support and make it a truly memorable event. You can still catch up on all the action on our live YouTube Channel
Massive thanks the Wellington City Council for coming through with a generous grant to support the event, and to our partner the Goethe Institut for supplying Erima balls both to play with and as prizes, along with the uniforms for our official referees.
On that note, congratulations to our 19 ‘official’ referees recognised through the programme Antoine Desnos has been running over the past couple of months. Quality refereeing is a cornerstone of our game’s advancement, and it was great to see that number commit to getting their stripes, and translate their new skills to the whistle on court. Keep up the great work!
We now have the Regional Champs at Pioneer Stadium to look forward to on 1 and 2 October. I understand a couple of regions are struggling to get numbers, so if you are interested in taking part, even to represent another region, please get in touch – we really want this final official event on our 2022 calendar to be a success, and that requires players to get amongst it.
Of course, before then we have the NZHF AGM on Sunday 25 September at 7pm. A Zoom meet will be sent to all the Clubs and their voting reps ahead of the meeting. If you want to participate, please contact your Club for that link. A highlight of that meeting will be the chance for Clubs to vote in our very own photographer to the stars, Leonardo (Jun) Tanlayco as a life member of the New Zealand Handball Federation, recognising around 15 years of dedicated support to publicise our great sport.
That’s it for this month. As always, if you have any ideas about ways we can promote and develop NZ Handball, please get in touch – we’d love to hear from you.
Nga mihi
David Ireland
President, New Zealand Handball Federation