Ole Saue wonders why handball simply hasn’t caught on…
The handball team at University of East London was established in 2012 by Norwegian journalism student Sunniva Øvestebø Næss, who graduated from the university in 2014.
Described as ‘one of the newest, but most exciting clubs’ at the university on their own Facebook page, the team has failed to make its mark in university handball in London.
“At this handball club, we are facing some difficulties. We do not have the required equipment, which other teams have got,” says UEL handball coach Vicky Pudaruth. “We also need more than two hours per week to establish a team – I need more time to implement a playing style.”
Not only are they struggling with participants, but also due to some administrative difficulties, they failed to sign up for the English university league.
Pudaruth, originally from Mauritius in Africa, did some coaching courses back in his home country. He did a handball course arranged by the international handball federation from the Olympic Committee – and fell in love with the sport.
However, he feels there isn’t enough dedication to the sport in UEL.
“It will take minimum six months to make them a proper team. Many of them are starting at zero and know nothing about handball,” he says.
In November, UEL handball participated in a one-day-tournament in Leyton, but lost all games brutally.
Pudaruth would like to see more people giving handball a shot, but insists universities also have a lot of work to do in terms of promoting the fairly unknown sport.
“I have got the impression that handball is not very big in United Kingdom. Not many people know about it. When people choose sport, they automatically choose the mainstream sports like football, basketball and volleyball.
“Handball needs to be promoted. I do think so – I’ve been working at South Thames College, and handball is not famous there. They don’t know anything about handball,” he says.