Handball

Grudaire

Does anyone here actually play handball (yes it is a part of the GAA as is rounders) or have an interest in it.

It's just a question, as the two main sports of the GAA Football and Hurling tend to vastly overshadow the other sports of the GAA. Any opinions??

gucci

yeah i used to play a bit while at school and college. people who love handball LIVE handball!! theyre crazilly obsessed with how great a game it is. in fairness it is a brilliant game, a simple game to pick up and play but a very difficult game to master!!

kevmy

Yep I played it when I was young. Our primary school had an old handball alley complex about 4 courts built of stone around 1930. We used to play soccer in them mostly but played handball sometimes. The shams used to come down often enough to play it as well they were big into it. We also had a new courts in our secondary school but there were only two and they had to be shared with squash.
I think the reason that handball doesn't get its due in the GAA is that is a semi-pro game. There is good money to be made on the tour in America (which is run outside of the GAA's jurisdiction).

megadodge

Gucci, being one of those people myself I have to agree that people who are into handball are absolutely obsessed with it and it is a magnificent game, better than hurling IMO and that's saying something.

Without getting too deep into the political side of it, handball doesn't get any publicity because the people running the game are virtually useless ! The fact that it is also not a big money generator would also put it low down on the list of priorities of many of the GAA bigwigs, as witnessed by the outrageous behaviour of PACT (the company that run Croke Park stadium) in trying to demolish the handball alleys in Croker without replacing them. They tried every lowdown trick in the book to get away with it but met with much sterner resistance than expected.

Kevmy, there isn't really good money to be made in the US. Paul Brady (two-time world champ) won $50k in the biggest tourney ever in 2004, but since then there has been a breakdown in the Pro Tour (which usually only had top prizes of $3 - $5k at best) so these boys that travel back and forth are doing so at a loss in general. And anyway it's only the very elite that played in those tours, the 99.99% of other players don't get paid - ever !

Grudaire

True, but also as a player, we can't blame the GAA for everything can we?

Check out:

http://dublin.handball.gaa.ie

It's the new dublin site....

thirdmantackle

over 200 handball clubs in Ireland

thats over three times the number of squash clubs in the country
and twice the number of tennis clubs

yet a tenth of the publicity or public knowledge about the sport

kevmy

megadodge wrote:

Kevmy, there isn't really good money to be made in the US. Paul Brady (two-time world champ) won $50k in the biggest tourney ever in 2004, but since then there has been a breakdown in the Pro Tour (which usually only had top prizes of $3 - $5k at best) so these boys that travel back and forth are doing so at a loss in general. And anyway it's only the very elite that played in those tours, the 99.99% of other players don't get paid - ever !

Well perhaps there is not good money to be made (I ain't an expert). I heard of Brady winning the 50K and I understand there is only an elite making any money at all from it. Just saying that it doesn't really fit the stance that the GAA have taken for pay for play with footballer and hurlers. IMO I think that stance is correct (for the time being at least) but having people making money from a lesser known, lesser played, lesser advertised, lesser profitable and lesser followed game has to rankle some other GAA players at some level

Grudaire

kevmy wrote:

having people making money from a lesser known, lesser played, lesser advertised, lesser profitable and lesser followed game has to rankle some other GAA players at some level

Luckily they haven't heard about it....! Has the GAA taken on too much by having so many sports, as it is we are wondering if they have lost the PR battle against soccer in terms of football, how can they expect to promote all sports

thirdmantackle

Handball is officially part of the GAA

ladies football and camógie are not

go figure

axer

I play a fair bit of handball. It really is the perfect game on so many levels.

I think the GAA have a negative impact on handball and I would love to see the Irish Handball Association pull out of the GAA. Not sure if it is possible though. Handball does not get the funding from the GAA that its supposed to get.

I am on a Handball county board. While those that run the handball association do a great job and are doing it voluntarily, they afraid of taking on the GAA and getting what they are supposed to be getting. For a long time there the handball association did not even have a promotion administrator. I believe this position has now been filled.

Grudaire

axer wrote:

I am on a Handball county board. While those that run the handball association do a great job and are doing it voluntarily, they afraid of taking on the GAA and getting what they are supposed to be getting. For a long time there the handball association did not even have a promotion administrator. I believe this position has now been filled.

Afraid to take on the GAA??! What about the protest at the Congress over the objection the the alcohol licence?! The news may have implied that it was a protest over the opening of Croke Park, but it was about the Handball centre. They're not afraid, just just not great at it.

megadodge

[Before starting I'll state two things - 1. I am not from Dublin nor do I live there 2. Broadly speaking I am very much a GAA supporter.]

I'll repeat - those that run handball at the highest level in this country are virtually USELESS !! They are in the back pocket of the GAA and are afraid of their lives to open their mouths to them. They're just a bunch of old fogeys doing the same old same old and all the time this brilliant game is dying on it's feet.

They were prepared to let PACT knock the Croke Park Handball Centre to the ground with a vague "promise" that it would be replaced "sometime in the future" with a new handball centre. Where were the handballers going to play in the meantime ??? Only for the actual local handballers and residents who use the centre objecting strenuously and just flat out not letting themselves get bullied there would now be NO HANDBALL in Dublin.

The most annoying thing of all was that the rest of the handball world outside Dubling behaved as if they didn't give a damn (although I will admit that misinformation from those on high had a certain amount to do with it).

I was stunned at the apathy there was around the country from the handball community. Maybe it's this kind of attitude that has handball in the poor state it's in !!

Kevmy, there's plenty of money to be made from playing football in the U.S. by the same players who get paid nothing in Ireland. Actually, just like handball !!

And the whole amateur ethos is certainly open to interpretation, when you consider how much managers get paid !!

thirdmantackle

thing is, that handball centre is owned by the handballers of Ireland, not Dublin handball or anybody else

the handball community paid subs for it to be built back in 1960s and 70s

surely 5-6 courts could have been incorporated into the new croke partk structure without much intrusion if those in the GAA cared about it?

markens2

As someone who plays, coaches and administrates in handball I'm going to explain where I stand.
It is a fooking joke.
The president of the IHC is a joker.
Does nothing progressive.
90000 was spent on staff last year.
We had one member of staff.
Does Lorcain deserve this much for his lack of work.
We flew out a rake of officials to Canada for the worlds and hardly enough players.
The national end of things is a disaster.
The fastest growing part of handball(intervarsities) gets a tiny amount of funding somewhere in the region of 635 a year.
It is a great game with great people at the grass roots but a shower of knob ends at the top.
Hopefully this will change today if Walter O'Connor becomes president.

markens2

Also Paul Brady won the senior all Ireland championship yesterday.
Beat Eoin Kennedy in the final.

Seamus O'Carroll won the Minor against Ciaran Neary

Just more proof that the National Executive is useless.
Where was the national coverage of this.

axer

markens2 wrote:

Hopefully this will change today if Walter O'Connor becomes president.

Not sure if it is good to have a president who attempts to buy his way into power i.e. the ulster open.

markens2

That's my arse.
Walter did put a lot of money into and he gets abuse for it.
He's givin back to the game that he got so much from.
I suppose You'd prefer somebody who will make no changes.

axer

markens2 wrote:

That's my arse.
Walter did put a lot of money into and he gets abuse for it.
He's givin back to the game that he got so much from.

So do you think it is no coincidence that he happens to be running for president and then sponsors a major prize tournament in the same year?

markens2 wrote:

I suppose You'd prefer somebody who will make no changes.

What makes you think that? Did you not read my other posts? I would love to see someone take over that would fight for handball and make the necessary changes BUT I would be suspicious of someone who tries to buy his way in.

axer

The FBD Irish Nationals finals will be featured on OB Sport on RTE Two at 8.30 p.m. this evening.

markens2

Tony Hannon wins with 43 votes to 42 against Walter.
This decision is pending an appeal over the validit of a vote and the validity of the other candidates nominations.
Walter did put money into the Ulster Open.
He also spoke about how he sees handball progressing and it is this reason more than any that I would support him

axer

markens2 wrote:

Tony Hannon wins with 43 votes to 42 against Walter.
This decision is pending an appeal over the validit of a vote and the validity of the other candidates nominations.
Walter did put money into the Ulster Open.
He also spoke about how he sees handball progressing and it is this reason more than any that I would support him

According to handball head office, it is official that Tony Hannon was elected president. I hope things start to change in the Irish handball world with the new president. I wonder did the sponsorship of the Ulster Open go against him.

markens2

The truth is really coming out.
Looks like a vote fixing scam.
Walter was robbed by a dictatorial group of has beens.
Please contact Lorcan O'Ruairc for further details on
lorcan@handball.ie

axer

markens2 wrote:

The truth is really coming out.
Looks like a vote fixing scam.
Walter was robbed by a dictatorial group of has beens.
Please contact Lorcan O'Ruairc for further details on
lorcan@handball.ie

Ok, i'd say there was something in it but from what I read it was only one or two votes that should or should not have been counted. If Walter is so great how come he wasn't a clear winner?
Secondly, How late were the two others in entering their nominations?
Is he just shouting technicalities in order to win?

HollowMan

What club do you play with Axer?

gucci

Way to dig up an old post there 12months!

wannabecop

Lol how about now any fresher in ur minds I'm from belfast 21 wondering anyone know anything about handball here played some in school but haven't for years and anyone know where I would start to get back into it

Clareman

Wow, Zombie thread (twice). www.gaahandball.ie has a handy map here of all courts/clubs on the island.

popebenny16

think i posted this about handball before, but it shows where it lies in some peoples priorities. my brother in law has an all ireland handball medal, from his teenage/early twenties years so proabaly at minor or under 21 level. I just found it one day in his house and when I saked how come he never mentioned winning it it said "ah sure its only handball" :eek:

nobody else in his family talks about it, but the fact that he was on the set dancers who won the Senior All Ireland Scor back in the day always gets talked about.