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History |
Handball is one of the oldest sports in mankind’s sports history. It appears in ancient Greek amphorae but its birth is estimated to be even older. The most significant finding, which confirms the existence of Handball in the ancientry is a 3rd B.C. century small bronze statute, discovered in Dodoni, which simulates a boy with a sphere in his hands. Moreover, in the Egyptian Osiris’s tombs, there are paintings aged from 2000 B.C. where priests appear to hit the ball with their hands. Even in Homer’s epic Odyssey there is a reference about a game that was based on the ball exchange.
Handball’s worldwide paternity is “the apple of discord” between Czechia with “Hazena”, Denmark with “Haandbold” and Germany with “Torball”. The first official men’s match took place between students, in Sakova’s Sports Academy during 1907.The same year the first women team was gathered by Kristov and the first match took place in 1908.
Although handball was familiar to the Europeans with a variety of field dimensions, its first appearance in front of massive crowd was in the Olympic games of 1936 in Berlin. By then, it was played in a regular football field, with eleven players.
After then, it reappeared in the Olympic Games of Munich in 1972 as part of the regular program, but this time was played with 7 players and in indoor halls with dimensions 40m X 20m and goals 3m X 2m (h).
In Greece, handball was first played in 1922 with 11 players in a football field. The first Greek clubs to gather teams was Ethnikos, Panellinios, Near East, Neoi Virona, Panathinaikos, AEK, Apollon, A.E. Chalkida, A.E Ellinoroson. Its first short life period ends in 1931 and it reappears during the 50s as part of the official school games schedule in Thessalonica.
However the important date –for many, the birth date- for handball in Greece is considered the 13th of February 1977, when the first official handball tournament took place in Amyndeo Florina. The participants were 4 men teams (Amyndas, NELE Amyndeou, Gymnasium Amyndeou, Ethnikos Kozanis) and 2 women teams (Amyndas, Gymnasium Amyndeou). The spring of the same year another tournament took place in Athens, this time with the participation of Panellinios and Telamon Salaminas. The first tournaments to include participants from all parts of Greece took place during September of 1977 in Athens and during 1978 in Katerini, with the participation of 12 teams. The tournaments winners were Filippos Verias and Amyndas Amyndeou respectively.
In 1979 the Hellenic Handball Federation was recognized as an independent federation-until then handball was under the aegis of S.E.G.A.S -and organized the first official championship, which was won by the team Ionikos Neas Filadelfias.
Since then, Handball in Greece had a rapid development. Today, the HHF has more than 200 member clubs and more than 30.000 registered active players of various ages.
The geographic dispersal of handball in Greece nowadays is also remarkable, as a lot of teams come from not-urban areas such as Imathia, Arta, Peloponesse, Thessalia, Mytilini, Florina, Krete, Thrace.
Finally, the Greek handball has started reaping the fruits of its development efforts, as many club teams have remarkable presence in the European Cups while the National Teams of all ages have more than encouraging results in official and unofficial tournaments.
The next and the biggest challenge for the Greek Handball is the forthcoming Olympic games in Athens, were our Men’s and Women’s national teams will try to have a remarkable presence which will confirm the rapid development of this sport in Greece, especially in the last 3 years. The current Administration Board of HHF under the presidency of Mr. St. Ageloudis, has focused its efforts on this goal, but at the same time is also concerned about all the other aspects of the sport.
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