Tonga's
pp. 24-25 · Read in the full issue
Handball- Tonga's new craze
From BETTY SANFT in Nukualofa Four years ago, soccer was started in Tonga and very quickly became a serious contender with rugby, especi ally as the women also took to it. At one stage, there were as many women’s teams registered as men’s.
They became an instant drawcard, but, after a couple of seasons, the novelty began to wear off and the women themselves began to realise that their physique couldn’t stand up to the speed and rigorous nature of the game and they were content to leave it to the men to carry on.
Then a miracle happened. A brand new game called handball appeared on the scene and overnight has be come the latest craze among Tonga’s; young women. It’s a direct transplant from the Munich Olympics to the; last remaining Polynesian kingdom oni the opposite side of the world.
The person responsible for this long-distance introduction to the game; is none other than King Taufa’ahaui Tupou IV himself. He and his con sort were on a private visit to the United Kingdom at the time of the Games and were among the millions of television viewers who watched! them. He came away with a positive idea that could work in the South Seas. He corresponded with many countries where handball is played and found that it was a cross between soccer and basketball, played by either] seven or nine-a-side. He chose the smaller and faster game and within a month a national committee was selected to organise this new sport through towns and villages.
January’s end marked handball’s gala opening when more than 3(D registered clubs, supporting more than 60 women’s teams paraded before
his Majesty and the national execu tive. Three weeks later, there were 80 teams representing well over 40 clubs registered with the association.
This is a fantastic rate of growth and the game has yet to be intro duced to the other islands in the group. All this takes place every Saturday in Tonga College’s rural setting, within easy distance of the capital, Nukualofa, where 12 courts have been marked out as the home of handball.
Overseas, handball is played by both sexes. Here in Tonga it has been tailored for women only. His Majesty believes that the sport in Tonga has prepared the men for the more vigorous contact games like rugby and soccer. The women on the other hand have played mostly basketball and volleyball and are more adapted by training and usage to the new sport where no footwork is permitted other than running and side-stepping and where everything depends on the skill and agility of the hands to bounce and pass the ball and score goals through posts similar to soccer.
The king maintained that if the men were to participate successfully in handball then the game should first be taught at school level to allow boys to grow up naturally with the sport and learn to stick meticu lously to the rules. He realises all too well the Islanders’ tendency to let games get out of hand with con sequent loss of temper and fighting.
He told players and spectators on opening day, “There is nothing in the rules of any sport in Tonga which permits any player to barge or use the knee, the head or fists to ram or fell another player. These rough and dirty tactics have evolved wholly on the local scene and have no part in the rules of sport. Because some referees are lax and fail to put an immediate stop to rough play when it occurs, the original rules of the game, which were intended to keep it clean and flowing, have become confused with these local issues lowering the standard and enjoyment of the game, for both players and spectators.”
Much to his audience’s amusement, he told them that if some placers in the name of sport were intent on killing each other off, then let them leave the sports field and choose the proper weapons for their illicit pur pose—a pair of guns for instance, and shoot it out; or bush knives to cut each other to pieces or clubs to beat each other to death. If others pre ferred fisticuffs, then let them put on boxing gloves under the eye of a referee and slog it out over 15 rounds until they had had enough. Rough justice indeed, but most effective.