Meri Kirihimete, Aotearoa handball whānau
Hard to believe we are nearly at the end of another year – and what an action-packed year it has been for New Zealand Handball!
First up, congratulations to our men’s junior and youth team’s for a fantastic showing at the IHF Trophy Oceania qualifiers held in the Cook Islands at the start of December. While the boys weren’t able to bring home the silverware they had hoped for, they still posted some very creditable results and can hold their heads high with our U18 youth team finishing 2nd, coming agonisingly close to top place with a one goal loss to winners Tahiti, and the U20 juniors finishing 3rd, also coming agonisingly close to finishing one place better with a one goal loss to New Caledonia. Many thanks and congratulations to Cook Islands Handball for hosting the tournament. The result for the U18 Team was good enough to secure them a spot at the 2023 IHF Men’s Youth World Championships to be held in Croatia, so possibly more action in store for them next year.
We wish Tahiti (Youth) and Australia (Juniors) all the best as they go on to represent Oceania at the intercontinental phase of the IHF Trophy next year.
The future of New Zealand Men’s handball is looking bright with the way our boys performed in the Cooks. Now that they have had a taste of success on the international stage, we hope all the members of both squads have a long handball career ahead of them, and will share their experiences to inspire their peers to get amongst it. Eyes now turn to our youth and junior women’s teams to prepare for the equivalent Oceania qualifiers next year, date and venue yet to be confirmed. Look out for more communications and expressions of interests to get involved in that in the New Year.
Sticking with the international theme, the Men’s Handball World Championships will be held in Poland and Sweden in January. While New Zealand didn’t quite make the cut to take part, I will be attending the finals weekend in my capacity as NZHF President to wave the flag for New Zealand Handball, so look out for me in the stands. For those of you having a flutter on that international event, please do so at TAB NZ. There is a surprising level of betting placed on handball games from New Zealand, and an even more surprising proportion of that is placed with overseas betting agencies. While NZHF does not wish to encourage gambling, we do benefit financially from handball revenue generated by TAB NZ, for which we are extremely grateful and is how we get to fund our development grants programme. Any bet placed on handball that is not made through the TAB in New Zealand represents money lost to growing the sport here.
On the subject of our development grant programme, a process plea for those looking for funding from us. We have had a few applications come through of late that relate to expenses that have already been incurred and initiatives implemented. While we encourage initiatives aimed at developing and promoting the sport and its players, and are committed to funding initiatives that meet our fairly wide criteria, we won’t usually fund things retrospectively. So for our Clubs and Regional Associations, if you have an idea for something that will develop handball, and it will cost some cash to make it happen, please talk to us about how we can help before you get too far down the track. That way we can help make sure we can maximise the impact of the funding we provide, and have opportunity to assist with whatever you have in mind. Contact Willy at treasurer@handball.org.nz if you want further information.
Looking back on the year that has been, it is encouraging to have been able to roll out a relatively full programme in 2022 after a couple of years of frustration, with all the major domestic tournaments ticked off: Queenstown in April, Auckland Open in May, the Wellington League from June to September, Auckland’s youth tournament in August, Club Champs in Wellington in September and Regionals in Christchurch in October, on top of the School leagues in Dunedin and lots of other handball being organised throughout the regions and green shoots developing in Bay of Plenty and Wanaka. And of course, the wildly successful beach programme saw our Men and Women compete on the Gold Coast over ANZAC weekend and the Men go on to the Beach World Champs in Crete and World Games in Alabama with a cheeky round of the European Beach circuit in France in between. We were also able to kick off our inaugural referees training course, giving us something to build on as we look to improve the quality of our play. The year ahead is shaping up to be just as big, with hopefully the days of COVID-19 disruptions consigned to the history books meaning we get a clear run at an uninterrupted programme in 2023.
Talking of planning for the year ahead, we had a well-attended region-wide strategy meet on 11 December, thanks to Billie from Spartanz HC for facilitating that. There are a few initiatives and strategies that will flow from that session aimed at ensuring Handball in New Zealand is able to move forward on an even better organised basis, so thanks to all who took part, both in terms of participation in the session and in anticipation of you helping to follow that through in 2023.
Last, a huge shout out to all our wonderful handball community for all you have done over the year to make handball Aotearoa as good as it has been. The year has not been without its challenges, but we continue to benefit from a fantastic cohort of hard-working volunteers throughout the country. Thanks for all that you do – and for all that you will continue to do!
Safe travels, and best wishes for the holiday season, whatever it may mean for you
David Ireland
President, New Zealand Handball Federation