OLYMPIC PARK, RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil score their 34th goal of the evening and the home crowd bursts into rapture as they seal a tremendous victory!
No, you did not just read an excerpt from a vivid Neymar daydream. The Brazilian national football team has failed to deliver a single goal at the 2016 Olympics. Brazil managed a 0-0 draw against Iraq on Sunday evening that elicited a similar chorus of boos from the home contingent as their first outing, another stalemate against South Africa.
The Brazilian fans who saw the net ripple 34 times were, in fact, at the Future Arena in the Barra Olympic Park. They were enjoying a sport where handling on the edge of the area is positively encouraged. They were watching a competition that didn’t involve a single athlete who has one eye on his extremely well-paid job in Europe.
Of course, I’m referring to handball.
On Sunday afternoon, I witnessed a fervent home crowd will the Brazilian team to victory against Poland in a game that ended 34-32. Yes, that’s 66 goals in a one-hour game. There were incredible displays of athleticism, there were fights and there were thrilling pieces of tactical play.
Handball players frequently earn themselves a trip to the sin bin—at one point, the Polish goalkeeper was sent to the sidelines and was not able to be replaced, so the Brazilians had a open goal to aim at. This resulted in the Brazilian goalkeeper hurling the ball the entire length of the court to score—much to the delight of the assembled masses.
For those unfamiliar with the sport, handball takes place on a 40x20-metre indoor court, where two teams of seven players aim to throw the ball into the opposition net. Attacking players aren’t allowed within a six-metre radius of the goal, and players must dribble while running. In a basic reduction of its elements, it’s like water polo played on land.
The game is most popular in continental Europe, particularly in Germany, France, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
(Incidentally, legendary Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel was able to throw the ball past the halfway line of a football pitch with ease thanks to his handball experience. He played the game with his son Kasper, who also puts the transferable skills to good use with Premier League champions Leicester City.)
If you reside in the UK or the USA, you could be forgiven for being unfamiliar with handball. The United States have never come close to medalling in the discipline at the Olympics, having last participated at the 1996 Games, for which they qualified as hosts.
In Rio, handball is the only discipline in which the U.S. has no presence at all.
Handball does exist in the United States, with major universities such as Texas A&M and UCLA fielding teams. There’s also a College National Championships. However, the Twitter following for Texas A&M’s team gives an idea of its marginal appeal.
It’s a similar story in the UK. Before 2012, Team Great Britain had never qualified for the handball competition.
Such was the lack of interest in handball in Britain that the international team was disbanded in 2003. It was only reformed for the London Games, as they were obliged to enter a team as hosts. However, Team GB finished rock bottom, scoring less than half the goals of their opponents in four of five matches.
The lack of interest in the sport in the U.S. and UK is mildly perplexing. Those who were lucky enough to witness it at the London 2012 Games—this writer included—found it to be a fantastic spectator sport. And it’s no different at the current Olympiad:
It seems particularly remiss that it is not more popular in the USA, given the prominence of sports that share relatively similar skill sets: basketball and American football.
Imagine the potential of a team of undrafted college basketball players who were funnelled into handball. And Baltimore Ravens running back Justin Forsett seems to suggest that those who handle the ball on the gridiron could excel in the handball arena:
At the 2016 Games, it is the French who are poised for success in the men’s competition. They won their opener against Tunisia and stand in good stead to win their third consecutive Olympic gold. However, their next game is against Qatar, who have courted plenty of controversy for their approach to Olympic handball.
According to the Telegraph, the Qatari handball team are ranked 108th in the world. However, they are one of the favourites to pick up gold in the field of 13 teams in Rio.
The nation with a population of just 300,000 is exploiting a “naturalisation” loophole that allows them to recruit players of any nationality who have not represented their country in three years. Hence, they have been able to create an all-star team of sorts. Per the Telegraph:
Their roster for Rio features champions such as Bertrand Roine, a gold medal winner at the 2011 World Championships with France; Danijel Saric, a Bosnian-Serb ranked the world’s fifth best goalkeeper, and Montenegro’s Zarko Markovic, top scorer and the key to Qatar’s silver medal-winning campaign at the 2015 World Championships, which they hosted and which proved to be the first since their conception in 1938 when a non-European team won a medal.
It is even more controversial that some of the Qatari players are earning salaries exceeding €1 million. This is particularly galling in a sport where many players receive no salary and play part-time.
If the Qataris manage to triumph—beating favourites France and lauded hosts Brazil—it will be a highly contentious medal that will bring scrutiny to the current naturalisation rules.
Handball has also hit the headlines in Rio for a slightly more curious reason: Tennis player Juan Martin del Potro’s preparations for his first game involved being stuck in an elevator for 40 minutes. The Argentinian handball team eventually pried open the doors of his elevator and rescued him, as per the Associated Press).
While handball is making headlines in Brazil, it’s impact remains diminished in English-speaking nations. Make some time to watch the action from the Future Arena in Rio and you may see that this is an injustice.