Handball season still up in the air

No doubles on the horizon

While club football and hurling are nearing a return and rounders is already back, for another GAA code, handball, the picture is not nearly as clear.

Cavan has been particularly affected given that four juvenile players – U15 doubles pair Niall Magee and Matthew Smith and U16 pair Oliver McCrystal and Adam McKenna – had qualified for All-Ireland finals, which were due to be played the weekend after all GAA activity was scrapped.

The handball season is split into three main codes – 40x20, 60x30 and One-Wall (recently rebranded as wallball). In terms of coverage and crowds, 40x20 is the brand leader and it was that grade which was effectively scrapped just days before the annual Festival of Handball in Kingscourt, which was to include all of the main finals.

“It had a huge effect because we were only a week out from what is our biggest weekend of the year in terms of attendance, in terms of media coverage and exposing our sport. We were looking forward to a massive weekend of games over three days, it is a massive social event as well and has become a staple of our calendar,” says GAA Handball’s National Manager John Kelly.

“To have it cancelled at such short notice was a huge inconvenience to our players who had prepared all year, to the host club and also to ourselves, we had held a launch which went very well, we had got some good media coverage so for all that to stop so suddenly, it was hugely disruptive to everybody.

“The huge factor for us was the unknown. In handball, our Clár is packed and we are constantly moving on to other events but as the weeks went on, more and more events fell by the wayside.

“We came out of our 40x20 season with it unfinished, we headed into our One Wall season which was wiped out and we are now going into our 60x30 season. The major thing for us was that we couldn’t give answers to the stakeholders to say we would definitely be back on a certain date and that uncertainty caused a lot of confusion and certainly frustration.

“We rely heavily on one or two pinnacle weekends so to have those taken away from us was tough. There is a possibility we will be finishing out those finals in October or November but it won’t be the same as having them on that familiar date in March.”

Fast forward almost four months and handball has just released its return to play road map. One-on-one indoor training play will soon be allowed, competitive outdoor handball – which, in reality, is very limited – is permitted from July 20, with a return to competitive indoor handball at county level allowed from August 10.

The frustration Kelly speaks about is real. Handballers have seen more optimistic return-to-play protocols from other codes in the GAA family and some have voiced disquiet.

“The fact of the matter is handball is an indoor sport and football and hurling are outdoor sports. It’s a well-known medical fact that you are 19 times more likely to contract the virus indoors than you are outdoors so we were always going to be behind outdoor sports in coming back,” says Kelly.

“The difficulty with handball being a GAA sport is that our members saw other strands of the association going back and they were eager to go back themselves. However, last Friday was the first time that the government and Sport Ireland gave the clearance for indoor sports to come back at all.

“We have an onus to protect our members, our players and anyone involved in the sport. We have many aspects to think about, from our facilities to the age profile of some of our players. It’s not as clear cut as it may seem.

“I think with the nature of the pandemic and the death toll, 90% of people have been very understanding. While they have been frustrated, they have understood it. We have taken this decision based on medical advice from the HSE, the government and our major funders and partners in Sport Ireland the GAA.

“We didn’t take these decisions lightly.”

Also affected in Cavan was Paul Brady, who was due to defend his US Nationals title in America in June, while a large number of local players across all grades usually take part in the 60x30 championships.

The hope in handball circles is that the situation may improve, although at this juncture it appears unlikely that doubles handball will resume in the short term. It is understood, however, that the outstanding juvenile final will take place at some stage.