Handball, a History
Handball is a fast-paced team game that was first played in Scandinavia and Germany at the end of the 19th century.
A History of Handball
The modern game of handball was first played towards the end of the 19th century and the first set of modern rules were written by Max Heiser, Karl Schelenz and Erich Konigh from Germany. The first international games were played in 1925 for men and 1930 for women. This was traditionally played on a football (soccer) field with 11 players.
Field Handball was first introduced to the Olympics in 1936 in Berlin but not played again. Over time the indoor variant of handball became more popular with world championships held since 1938 for men and 1957 for women. The modern game as we know it today was introduced to the Olympics in 1972 in Munich for men and 1976 in Montreal for women.
The International Handball Federation was formed in 1946 and currently has 197 member federations including Little old New Zealand.