Tuesday, December 20, 2011

EHF Referee Course in Dublin

The IOHA will host a EHF Referee Course in Dublin in January 2012.The course will be lead by Allan Lund and it will run in St Columbas Hall in Rathfarnham, Dublin 16 on Sunday 8 January. The course will be €15 to all participants and it will begin at 10am until 2.30pm.
Registration will take place on the day prior to the course. All Olympic Handball clubs are asked to send up to 3 delegates to take part in this course.
For more information or to register your interest please email ioha@olympichandball.org

Thursday, December 08, 2011

EHF CAN Teaching Video Library now online

The EHF CAN is pleased to announce that the EHF teaching video library is available now on http://activities.eurohandball.com/teaching-videos
The EHF teaching videos are available in the following categories:

1. Minihandball
2. Basic Handball
3. Alternative Games
4. Beach Handball
5. Wheelchair Handball
All videos can be viewed online and/or downloaded.
Based on the advice and conception preparation by both the EHF Methods Commission and the EHF Beach Handball Commission, the EHF video archive will be continuously enhanced in order to serve the needs of the target groups such as teachers, mini, youth and Beach Handball coaches.
Furthermore, related EHF print publications are also available as e-books or PDF files on activities.eurohandball.com  under 'Expert Corner'

Sunday, December 04, 2011

Women World Cup 2011 underway

Do not miss the action with top women handball.  2011 IHF woemn world cup underway in Brazilall info on http://www.ihf.info/.
Mathces can be catch online on various websites such as www.sportlemon.tv and other.

Friday, December 02, 2011

Tom O’Brannagáin has stepped down as Coach of the Irish Men’s National Team

The IOHA website reports the news that Tom is not longer part of the coaching staff of the National Men's Team.
http://www.olympichandball.org/2011/11/29/thank-you-tom/

Women's Olympic Handball -2nd open event

The second women handball open day  will take place at 2 pm on Saturday 10th December in Loughlinstown Leisure Centre
All players, beginners and girls over the age of 14 are invited to attend the event.
 For more information please contact Astra Handball Club at astra@astrahandball.com or  or Lisa at
development@olympichandball.org .

Monday, November 07, 2011

Challenge Trophy results

http://www.eurohandball.com/article/14332
IHF/EHF Men’s Challenge Trophy – Group A results
4 November 2011
Georgia vs. England 31:25
Faroe Islands vs. Ireland 30:20
5 November 2011
England vs. Faroe Islands 22:40
Ireland vs. Georgia 21:37
6 November 2011
Georgia vs. Faroe Islands 21:23
England vs. Ireland 29:24
All Star Team
Goalkeeper: Gaga Samkurashvili (GEO)
Left Wing: Hogni Klain Olsen (FAR)
Left Back: Irakli Chikovani (GEO)
Middle Back: Steffan Meyer (IRL)
Line Player: Daniel Coggins (ENG)
Right Back: Christopher O Reilly (IRL)
Right Wing: Johan Hansen (FAR)

Sunday, November 06, 2011

More handball on SETANTA

EHF Marketing announces TV deal in IrelandEuropean Handball Federation (EHF) and the marketing arm of the EHF, EHF Marketing GmbH, have announced a one-year deal to show the VELUX EHF Champions League in the Irish market.
The agreement, with Setanta Ireland, will see the TV station show every ‘Match of the Week’ on Setanta Ireland or Setanta Sport 1, all magazine reports and the highlight of the European club handball season, the VELUX EHF FINAL4 at the LANXESS arena, Cologne from 26-27 May 2012.
http://www.eurohandball.com/article/14276
Sunday 20/11/11
16.00 Füchse Berlin v BM Atletico Madrid on Setanta Ireland
Sunday 27/11/11
16.00 MKB Veszprém KC v Füchse Berlin channel TBC
Sunday 04/12/11
16.15 Montpellier Agglomeration HB v THW Kiel on Setanta Sports 1

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Some little change in the comments area

A change is due in the comments area: anonymous comments are still permitted, but no comment will be published before I review them.

WHY: I know that a certain amount of people is just lazy and do not bother to put their name, but too many times the “anonymous” option was used to post free insults, or comments that could have been constructive but were written just as insults.
WHAT HAPPEN NOW: as said above all comments will be reviewed by me before publishing. I prefer this option to remove comments post publication because that is proven not efficient.
WHY DO I STII LEAVE THE ANONYMOUS OPTION: because of the laziness of people, because I need to leave the freedom of expression, because people can simply use a false name to go around the issue.
ALL ABOUT ME: yes, the weak part is that now I have a stronger control on the comments. But hey, I had it before, I could have remove any comment. Just now I’m quicker in acting
WHAT YOU CAN DO: just express your opinion without going down the road of “they are a useless bunch of idiots” road. And if possible back up your opinion with information and data.
I: I will do my best to get things flowing nicely freely and respectfully.



Sunday, October 16, 2011

Women’s bring a Buddy Day

The IOHA will host a women’s only Buddy Day on Sunday 23 October in UCD. Women who both play and don’t play Handball are encouraged to come along with a buddy. There will be a host of activities on the day that will include a taster session for women who have never played before.
The day will kick off with a men’s game at 11am and this will be followed at 1pm with the women’s only session until 3pm. There will be a chance then to grab some refreshments on campus. The day will end with a final men’s game at 3pm!
For more information please email Lisa at development@olympichandball.org

Monday, October 10, 2011

Ireland had the honor to play Andorra for their first international game

The Irish team had the honor to play Andorra last weekend in their first even international match.
Andorra is a small county between Spain and France with a population of just about 85.000 people, and since last May it is the 50th country to join the EHF family. Andorra have been training for 3 months for this game and the team plays in the Catalan league in Spain.
More at the link http://www.eurohandball.com/article/14246

Thursday, October 06, 2011

Handball ON AIR

Handball has now a regular slot on the radio. Tune on 103.2 (Dublin City FM)  every Thursday at 7pm.
Sean Buckley will be ON AIR with updates from the Handball community.
Sean is a journalist and former DCU and Ireland handball players.

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Ladies only All ages 5-a-side

North Kildare Handball organised the FIRST Ladies only All ages 5-a-side friendly tournament!
Date is Saturday 24th of September,
time is 1pm to 4pm,
venue is sport hall of NUI Maynooth,
contribution of €2 towards hall expenses.
Idea is - give matches to youngsters , make stronger relations between players, bring social aspect into sport
Format is - all players will make equal teams, play 10 min matches, 5-a-side.
Tea and coffee will be provided in the end but everybody is welcome to bring something for tea and share :)

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Some Summer news

Astra Handball Club get special greetings
Astra HC is a bit closer to the world handball starts after getting  "best of luck" wishes from IHF president Dr Hassan Moustafa. Susanne Schubert, former Astra player and offical, was at the Men's Junior Handball World Championship and in good company. with her was Dr Hassan Moustafa (IHF president), Martin Heuberger (newly appointed Coach of the German Senior teams), Xatziioannou Pantelis (Greek Handball Federation Vice President) and Heiner Brand (former German Senior teams coach).




North Kildare Handball exports player to Germany.I believe it is a first time in the history of Irish handball that a player born and bread in Ireland move to Germany to play handball (and not for other reason as studying or working).
Starting with this coming season Chris O'Reilly is a Wittenberge PHC player.
Chris started playing handball with the North Kildare Handball Club, based in Maynooth.
Last season Chris played for the UCD college team, giving a strong contribution to the college team to reach the senior men's final. Chris was the top scorer for the season with almost 90 goals.

EHF Challenge Cup Round 2 group stage have been finalised.
The top Irish Team Dublin International  will fight its way to the next round in Malta between the 30th of September and the 2nd of October.
DI has a real chance to make it to the next round as all the other teams in the group are at winnig range.
ENG  London GD HC
ENG  Ruislip Eagles HC
IRL   Dublin International HC
MLT Aloysians ProMinent

Monday, July 04, 2011

IHF/EHF 2011 Men's Challenge Trophy

Seems that the IOHA official website forgot to report the news:
Ireland will host one of the two groups stages of the Challenge Trophy 2011.
Here some extract from the EHF website.
The IHF/EHF Challenge Trophy is played in two tournaments, which will take place from 04 to 06 November 2011 and will be carried out in Ireland (Limerick) and in Malta.
Groups
A draw based on the seeding of teams took place and divided the teams to the two venues.
Group 1 in Ireland
  • Georgia
  • Faroe Islands
  • England
  • Ireland
Group 2 in Malta
  • Moldova
  • Azerbaijan
  • Scotland
  • Malta
The winners of the two events will go through to a final match, which will be played in the Pionir Arena, Belgrade (SRB), on Thursday 19 January 2012 within the framework of the EHF EURO 2012.

Age limit

Per the decision of the EHF Executive Committee there is an age limit: only players that are 23 years old or younger (born 1988 or later) are eligible to participate.

Referees and coaching course

On the occasion of the two IHF/EHF 2011 Men's Challenge Trophy tournaments, a referee course and a coaching course will be organised at both venues.

http://www.eurohandball.com/article/014025/IHF%2fEHF+2011+Men/'s+Challenge+Trophy

Saturday, June 18, 2011

EHF publish new Club ranking

Once again Astra HC (ladies) and Dublin International boost Irish Handball in the EHF ranking.
Full ranking in the documents folder on right sidebar.




Friday, May 27, 2011

EHF Champions League LIVE on Setanta

Following negotiations between Setanta Sports and EHF Marketing, Setanta Sports have confirmed that they will broadcast the Final of the EHF Final4 weekend from Cologne, Germany this Sunday May 29th.

And if you miss it, you can catch it later at 9pm on EUROSPORT2

Monday, May 23, 2011

Summer 2011 Handball Open Sessions in UCD

As every year there will be Olympic Handball summer sessions in UCD from June to September, feel free to drop in to any of the following sessions:
Thursdays - 7pm - 9pm in hall B -

June 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th

 July 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th
August 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th
September 1st

 As these are not UCD OHC events with players form several different teams in Dublin a small fee for the hall reservation has to be charged each player (shouldn't be more than 5eur per session)!

Monday, May 16, 2011

All-Ireland without the IOHA

For the last few years the IOHA has offered little or no services to primary schools outside of Dublin. No All-Ireland competition was staged in 2010 and not intended this year by the IOHA. At this stage almost all handball playing primary schools in Galway, Sligo and Kildare have decided not to register with the IOHA. Meanwhile, the association has refused to accept affiliations from Meath, for reasons unknown to anyone but the IOHA Board of Management. Consequently, the IOHA has lost around 50 handball playing primary schools from these 4 counties, a big loss by any standard and particularly for a small body like the IOHA. One wonders if this loss has been duly reported to the Sports Council and the European Handball Federation. Perhaps such downsizing is a part of the great plan: bringing a leaner, meaner IOHA into the 21st Century.
Fortunately, few of us echo the view that the IOHA is more important than handball. At the end of last year representatives of the Galway, Kildare, Meath and Sligo competitions decided to stage their own All-Ireland Championships irrespective of the IOHA. After some consideration, it was decided not to invite Dublin schools as their participation might earn them punitive action from the IOHA. It was agreed that Kildare and Sligo would provide the venues while Meath offered to sponsor trophies and medals. The girls’ competition was held on Wednesday 4 May in Maynooth College and the boys’ competition on Thursday 5 May in the Sligo Regional Leisure Centre.
Unfortunately, the Galway champions were unable to travel to Maynooth for the day, so it was left to the other 3 counties to battle it out for the girls’ title. The girls from St. Joseph’s in Navan were the undisputed winners, recording comfortable victories in all their games, including the final against Scoil Ui Fhiaich from Kildare. The results were as follows:
Group Matches
Meath 8- 2 Kildare
Sligo 1 - 10 Meath
Kildare 14 - 1 Sligo

Final
Meath 6 - 2 Kildare

Final Table
Winners St. Joseph’s, Meath
Runners-up Scoil Ui Fhiaich, Kildare
3rd place Sligo School Project, Sligo


All teams turned up for the boys’ competition: Kentstown from Meath; Oranmore from Galway; Highpark from Sligo and San Carlo from Kildare. In the gold medal match Oranmore overcame Kentstown while in the 3rd place play-off San Carlo edged out Highpark.
Group Matches
Sligo 3 - 11 Galway
Meath 9 - 5 Kildare
Galway 11 - 4 Meath
Kildare 5 - 5 Sligo
Sligo 8 - 9 Meath
Galway 10 - 1 Kildare

3rd Place Match
Kildare 6 - 4 Sligo

Final
Galway 11 - 6 Meath

Final Table
Winners Oranmore, Galway
Runners-up Kentstown, Meath
3rd place San Carlo, Kildare
4th place Highpark, Sligo

Friday, May 13, 2011

Is Irish handball....Irish?

After sniffing around the IOHA pages (yes, once every a few months I do that to check what they are up to) I realized that the future of handball in Ireland doesn’t seems to be in Ireland at all.
A few weeks ago I published a post to thanks those people in Ireland that day after day are working to keep handball alive.
In one of my latest post someone pointed out how the main figures in the IOHA board showed a total lack of interest in Senior Handball.
What I found recently is a note on the IOHA facebookpage saying that for the first time the IOHA honorary membership was given to two people.
You can read more yourself at this link.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Irish-Olympic-Handball-Association/130456927021610#!/notes/irish-olympic-handball-association/irish-olympic-handball-association-confers-1st-honorary-membership/202945766412170
Let’s be clear that I do not want to discredit these two good and charitable people. Despite, I do believe that almost nobody in Ireland actually knows them? Have they done more than Olena, Conal, Robert, Andres, ……? Just to say, 4-5 of the most talented players in the national team came from Olena’s and Robert’s clubs. Both Robert and Olena were not invited to the AGM and pointed out as NON member. Hence my conclusions or doubts are: is the future of handball in Ireland…in Ireland at all?
I won’t go into details of what Olena, Robert, Andres, Conal have done for handball over the past 10-20 years, neither further comment on this matter. You can make up your mind and comment below if you wish.

Dublin International is Irish Champion 2011

Dublin International successfully defended its Irish Champion title by taking home victory vs. a very competitive UCD team. The college team played probably the best match of the season keeping the score close and the tension up for most of the game. A few mistakes permitted DI to open up a larger gap and secure the result, at which stage UCD gave space to all its players. The final score 33-23 gives honors to a truly skilful DI team, and over punish a bit a very competitive UCD team.

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

IOHA nominates New General Manager

The Irish Olympic Handball Association (IOHA) announced the appointment of Lúcás Ó'Ceallacháin as General Manager of the IOHA.

Ó'Ceallacháin has over 10 years experience in the sports sector and recently completed his MSc in Sport and Exercise Management at UCD. In addition to his MSc he holds qualifications in Sports Psychology, Sports Journalism, Athlete Performance Pathways, Coaching and Strength and Conditioning.
A former rugby international with Kazakhstan, Ó'Ceallacháin has worked extensively with rugby in countries where rugby is a minority sport, including Kazakhstan, Russia and Finland.

We wish the best of luck to Lúcás, and look forward to work with him on future projects

Senior League Men's Final

Dublin International will defend its Irish Champion title in the Final match of the Senior league vs a surprising and very much deserving UCD team.
UCD secured key victories vs Astra during the league and Lughnasa in the semifinal, and are today the best team to challenge the current champions.

Dublin International HC vs University College Dublin OHC
Match will be played on Sunday the 8th of May at 2.30pm in the Loughlinstown Leisure Centre.

Time for a new poll!


Last poll was asking about last year of handball. Answers indicated as 2010 was generally quite poor, showing how there is something wrong on how handball is managed in this country. It is true that handball in Ireland is a very small sport, with few and expensive venues available and no real interest outside the handball community. But because the community is so small, it should be easier to get everybody on board on a “all included” project. Instead the already small community got split in 2/3 smaller reality making overly difficult to organize any larger event.
The new poll ask the simple question should the IOHA address the root cause of this “clan culture” and work actively (and not via black mail as done presently) to bring together all the little and isolated Handball Community?

IOHA board still lives in the illusion

On the IOHA website appears a article that describe the IOHA Festival of handball a great success, in total harmony with the IOHA president view that “the IOHA board is more important than handball”. Surely from an organizational point of view the 3 days event went smoothly, giving the president plenty of chance to shake more important hands.. But from a handball point of view (played handball, the actual game) the even gave very different response.
Let’s look at ladies first. Ladies handball has been in free fall since 2008, when the IOHA board dismantled a perfectly working project with the Irish Selection team. “we have great plan for Irish ladies handball” was the motivation. But that statement is everything that followed. Astra HC worked hard to keep up the motivation and the standard of the games. But everything around was falling apart. Even the club directly controlled by the IOHA board have seen important losses, this club that was supposed to represent the future of ladies handball, can’t even field a team of 7 players. This declining reality came evident when Astra HC played Glasgow in the ladies event. The ladies teams that a bit more of one year ago brought shine to Irish handball with their performance in the EHF Challenge Cup, was easily defeated by the Scottish ladies. Over the last two years the IOHA failed or had no interested in organising a ladies league, and it was clear how the two seasons without playing competitive games had affected the entire Astra HC system, from players to coaches. Prospects for next year don’t look any better, with Astra HC still being the only club with a strong interest in developing ladies handball, but players have lost motivation, as nothing is really there for them to play for.
The National Men’s team is in a different space. Over the past 3-4 years a lot of money, time, resources have been invested on the Men’s teams. A new coaching staff was put together, with local and two European coaches. As often comes with a change in coaching the positive results came fast in the first year, driven by a radical change in mentality and improved fitness. But over the past 2 years the trend reversed and the limits of the coaching staff to provide further development are evident. The Board likes to shine the third place obtained in the Challenge trophy. Little relevance they give to the fact that the competition has drop in quality since it has been split in two by the EHF, and they seems not to consider that the team finds itself 15 goals behind Malta, and the most recent results put them behind Scotland as well. The team is young, sure, but the Far Oer players didn’t look any older, and the excuse of an older and more experienced Scottish side has been used for the past 11years. Where are the coaching staff limits? Despite one of the European coaches officially covers the role of head coach, the local counterpart is too influential in many key decisions. He brought within the national team his personal issue with local clubs, and left out young talents that disagreed with him. His influence is also clear on the layout of players on the pitch, copying his own club team layout and playing other players out of position. The “trials” sessions seems to be on invitation only, hence the local coach still keeps control. The German coaches haven’t seen any league match since they have been involved with Irish handball, no surprise they are and limited and easily controlled in their selection and too often put players out of position. Tactically the team showed little or no improvement, and often the wrong attach strategy is played vs the opposing defence, raising some question about the tactical awareness. Despite all this, this coaching staff is still the best thing that happened to the men’s team for the past 7 years. Some improvement can still be expected but personal and club level issues, should be left out of the national team giving to the coaches the possibility to work with the largest pool of players possible. Moreover the European coaching staff should get to know players better, by attending local matches and observe players how and where they play in their local club.

Friday, March 25, 2011

International Handball

International handball is back in Ireland.
(sorry for late post).
International Handball and Intervarsity are taking stage this weekend in Gormanston (co Meath).
Check the flier on the File Folder in the right sidebar for full programme of events.
Astra HC will play Glasgow on Saturday 26th at 4pm.
Check http://www.gormanstoncollege.ie/contact.html for direction.

Friday, March 04, 2011

North Kildare News

North kildare Handball Club has a new website:
http://www.kildarehandball.org/

Kildare Handball Finals
Finals for junior boys, junior girls, senior boys, senior girls (4 teams from San Carlo and 4 teams from Gaelscoil Ui Fhiaich) will be played on Monday 7th of March at 1.20pm in Confey . Medals and referees will be provided by NKildare Olympic Handball Club.

Monday, February 07, 2011

Junior Handball

Thank you to the organiser, coaches, parents and all participants to the Children's tournament held in Collinstown last Saturday the 5th.
In the tournament competed:
Four boys teams (Group B):
-Sligo (S)
-North Kildare+Terenure (NK+T)
-Muslim School 1 (MS1)
-Muslim School 2 (MS2)
Three girls teams (Group G):
-North Kildare (NK)
-Muslim School 1 (MS1)
-Muslim School 2 (MS2)
Results:
G: MS1 - NK 5:6
B: MS1 - S 9:4
G: MS1 - MS2 6:1
B: NK+T - MS2 7:2
G: NK - MS2 5:0
B: NK+T S 6:1
G: NK - MS1 9:4
B: MS1 - MS2 11:2
G: MS1 - MS2 6:4
B: S - MS2 6:5
B: MS1 - NK+T 5:6
G: NK - MS2 4:3

Monday, January 24, 2011

Recognitions 2010

Was checking the EHF website and I saw the 2010 ranking for Club teams. I thought that too often the good work of the handball community passed un-noticed and unrecognised. Ireland left the bottom line of the EHF Club ranking thanks to Dublin International and Astra.
The Irish Handball family should be grateful to all these players for giving to Ireland a higher profile.
So, I would like to use this post to say THANK YOU to a few people that in my opinion did something important to develop and give high profile to Handball in Ireland.
I would like other people to join me and add comments and more THANK YOU to more people.
-Robert Hamm, Conall Collier, Olena Karpenko and Andres Eiriksson for re-organising the National Competition for Junior and schools. THANK YOU.
-Lauren Sweeney for attending the EHF Youth Coaches Seminar and put once again Ireland on the map of Europen Handball. THANK YOU.
-The Astra Ladies team for coming back from the EHF Challenge Cup with EHF ranking points that moved Ireland from the bottom of the ranking, leaving behind ENG and SCO and others. THANK YOU.
-The Dublin International Men's team for coming back from the EHF Challenge Cup with an hystoric win that boosted Ireland further up in the EHF ranking. THANK YOU. and Thank you for keeping an Irish Team in relevant EHF competitions for the 4th year in a row.
(EHF ranking in Files Folder box on right sidebar. Dub Int, Astra, and Ireland Women all have EHF points)










Friday, January 14, 2011

Sweden - Men’s Handball World Championship

Men’s Handball World Championship
13th – 30th January 2011

LIVEHANDBALL.TV is the official online broadcaster for the 22nd Men’s Handball World Championship:
Every game LIVE from Sweden with LIVEHANDBALL.TV which will also feature on-demand Highlights of every game.

Saturday, January 08, 2011

IOHA General Manager

As announced in October 2010 the Irish Olympic Handball Association signed a development agreement with the European Handball Federation.
Alongside the Scottish Handball Association, the IOHA is amongst the 1st to benefit from this "Infrastructure Support Program".
The 1st step in this 3 year program is the recruitment of a General Manager for the Irish Olympic Handball Association.
See file for the job description and application process for the GM position in the Document Box section on right sidebar.
Applications must be received by 5 p.m. on the 5th of February 2011

Monday, January 03, 2011

Little updates

-New poll published on left sidebar.
-Link to the Galway Olimpic Handball Association added to the Links and Map section.
-Calendar updated with new schedule (DCU joined the senior men and Senior Ladies restructuring).

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