- Czech handball
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Czech handball - the field
Czech handball (to the letter called national handball in Czech) is an outdoor ball game which was created in 1905 in Prague and up to this date is played. This sport is very similar to the Team handball.
History
The Czech handball was first mentioned by Vaclav Karas, a teacher a Prague, in a sports journal in Brno in 1905. Soon after, rule changes were effected by other teachers, by the name of Klenka and Kristof. Thanks to Kristof, the first Czech handball association was established (in Prague) and the rules were made public in 1908.
Students from Russia and Yugoslavia, who had become acquainted with Czech handball in Prague, brought this sport to their countries. In Yugoslavia, the sport expanded very fast, and became very popular. Czech teachers were teaching the Czech handball in Russian middle schools and there was a competition with 14 teams in Charkov in 1915, but efforts to expand the sport ended after the October Revolution.
In 1921, the Czechoslovakian Association of Handball and Women's Sports became a member of the International Women's Sports Federation. In this federation, the rules of Czech handball were made official (in those times, there was also one similar sport, Field handball in Germany. Some international federations preferred Czech handball, others preferred Field handball). The first international matches were played.
The first women's Czech handball world cup was organised in 1930. Czechoslovakians won this competition, Yugoslavia came in second, and Poland was third.
The second world cup was held in London in 1934, but only two teams participated: Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Yugoslavians won the match 6-4 and became the champions. After this event, the IWSF was abolished.
Czech handball became very popular during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in WWII. The sport was originally Czech, so most people understood its play as a show of patriotism. In early 40s, there were 25,884 players in Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
In 1947, there was a plan by the International Handball Federation to promote the expansion of Team handball, and there were no more new foreign countries where Czech handball would be played.
In 1954, there were 26,125 registered players in 447 clubs, the largest number of registered player to date.
Since 1941, a men's and women's 1st league have been competing. There is also the men's 2nd league and regional championships.
Rules
More or less, there are very similar rules to the Team handball, but there are also some very different things. Here is the list of the main differences:
- size of the field: 45 × 30 meters
- size of the goal: height 240 cm, width 200 cm
- size of the ball: 580 to 605 mm
- the field is divided into 3 areas: defence third, middle third, offense third
- players are called: goalkeeper (1), defender (1), halfbacks (2), forwards (3)
- the player can't hold the ball longer than 2 seconds, he can throw the ball upon the head or bounce ball back off ground - max. 2 times, no limits in steps
- shooting on the goal is made in front of the goal area - leaning out or jumping is possible, but the fall has to be outside the goal area
- goalkeeper and defender can step in the own goal area, forwards can step in the opponent's goal area, but they can't shoot from there
- defender and halfbacks can't step in the offense third, forwards can't step in the defense third, and there are some more rules for crossing between the thirds
- the player can be sent off for 5 or 10 minutes
External links
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