The Rules of Women's Handball

introduction

Handball (also known as team handball, field handball, European handball, or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six players and a goalkeeper) pass and bounce a ball to throw it into the goal of the opposing team.

The game has a goal similar to but smaller than in association football, though handling the ball involves the players' hands rather than feet. The game has been played internationally since the 1920s.

Dimensions of a field of field handball played with 11 players at 1936 Summer Olympics compared to a football field. Dimensions of a field of field handball played with 11 players at 1936 Summer Olympics compared to a football field.

Team handball has origins reaching as far as antiquity: urania in ancient Greece, harpaston in ancient Rome, fangballspiel in medieval Germany as examples. There are also records of handball-like games in medieval France, and among the Inuit in Greenland, in the Middle Ages, and in Ancient Africa, primarily Egypt. By the 19th century, there existed similar games of haandbold from Denmark, hazena in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, gandbol in Ukraine, torball in Germany, as well as versions in Ireland and Uruguay.

The team handball game of today was formed by the end of the 19th century in northern Europe, primarily Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The Dane Holger Nielsen drew up the rules for modern handball (håndbold) in 1898 and published them in 1906, and R.N. Ernst did something similar in 1897.

Another set of team handball rules was published on 29 October 1917 by Max Heiser, Karl Schelenz and Erich Konigh from Germany. After 1919 these rules were improved by Karl Schelenz. The first international games were played under these rules, between Germany and Belgium for men in 1925 and between Germany and Austria for women in 1930.

In 1926, the Congress of the International Amateur Athletics Federation nominated a committee to draw up international rules for field handball. The International Amateur Handball Federation was formed in 1928. The International Handball Federation was formed in 1946

Men's field handball was played at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin at the request of Adolf Hitler[1]. It was removed, to return as team handball for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Women's team handball was added at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

The International Handball Federation organized the men's world championship in 1938 and every 4 (sometimes 3) years from World War II to 1995. Since the 1995 world championship in Iceland, the competition has been every two years. The women's world championship has been played since 1957. The IHF also organizes women's and men's junior world championships.

By February 2007, the IHF listed 159 member federations - approximately 1,130,000 teams and 31 million players, trainers, officials and referees.[2]Playing field

Handball is played on a court 40 meters long by 20 meters wide (40m x 20m), with a goal in the center of each end. The goals are surrounded by a near-semicircular area, called the zone or the crease, defined by a line six meters from the goal.

Only the defending goalkeeper is allowed inside this perimeter, and typically the defense aligns itself along this line and tries to protect this zone. However, the court players may catch and touch the ball in the air within it. As long as the player starts his jump outside the zone and releases the ball before he lands, the play is legal. If a player contacts the ground inside the goal perimeter he must take the most direct path out of it. Should a defender contact an attacker in the goal perimeter, his team is penalized with a direct attempt at the goal, with only one attacker on the seven-meter line and the defending goalkeeper involved.

There is also a dashed near-semicircular line nine meters from the goal, which marks the free-throw line. Play is restarted after a fault with all attacking players outside this line, and the defensive players at least three meters from the ball. Play restarts at the site of the fault unless the fault is inside this region, in which case play restarts at the nearest point on this nine meter line. After a goal, the team conceding the goal restarts the game with a pass off from center court. Once the player with the ball is under control the referee will blow his whistle to restart play. All players of the team which are restarting the play must be behind the line on their own half, or else the restarting throw will have to be retaken. Size and line pattern of a handball field. Size and line pattern of a handball field. Typical scene in a handball game. Typical scene in a handball game.

RULES

Duration

A standard match has two periods of 30 minutes with a 10 minute half-time. Teams may switch sides of the field, as well as benches.

Time Outs

Each team may call one time-out per period. The referee may call timeout for the following reasons:

* Injuries * Suspensions * Penalty Throws * Court cleaning * Ball thrown out of court

Scoring

A goal is scored when the ball completely crosses the line under the goals

Game Start

The game begins at center court, with a throw-off and a blow of the whistle by the referee. The team taking the throw-off must be on its side of the court, and the defending team must be no less than three meters from the thrower. The thrower tries to throw the ball to a member of his/her own team. Throw-offs occur after every goal. To allow for faster play, after a goal is scored, the game can resume before all opponents are back on their side of the court (the team taking the throw-off, however, must still be on its own half).

Possession

A player who is in possession of the ball may stand stationary for only three seconds and may only take three steps. They must then either shoot, pass or dribble the ball. Dribbling is similar to dribbling in basketball. As in basketball, the player can not have multiple series of dribbling. Once the player holds the ball with both hands after dribbling they must either shoot or pass.

Ball Advancement

The ball is moved down the field toward the goal by passing it between team members. A team member may stop, catch, throw, bounce and strike the ball in any direction, with any part of the body above the knees.

Normal league games are usually allowed to end in a draw, but in knockout tournaments, such as the Olympics, two extension periods of 5 minutes are played, and if they also end in a draw another two times 5 minutes has to be played. If each of these ends in a tie after the extra time the winner is determined by an individual shootout from the 7-meter line, where each team is given five shots. The rules of the shootout are similar to football shootouts, where, if a winner is not found within the first ten shots, the players return to the shooting, until one team has missed and the other scored. In two Olympic Finals of women's handball penalty shootouts had to be used - both of them with Denmark participating (against Hungary in 1996 and South Korea in 2004); in both, Denmark was the winner.

The usual formations of the defense are 6-0, when all the defense players line up between the 6 meter and 9 meter lines to form a wall; the 5-1, when one of the players cruises outside the 9 meter perimeter, usually targeting the center forwards while the other 5 line up on the six meter line; and the lesser common 4-2 when there are two such defenders out front. Very fast teams will also try a 3-3 formation which is close to a switching man-to-man style. The formations vary greatly from country to country and reflect each country's style of play. The usual attacking formation includes two wingmen, a left backcourt and a right backcourt who usually excel at high jumps and shooting over the defenders, a center backcourt who is the playmaker and the handball equivalent of a basketball point guard and the circle or pivot player, who tends to intermingle with the defense, setting picks and attempting to disrupt the defense formation.

The game is quite fast and includes body contact as the defenders try to stop the attackers from approaching the goal. Contact is only allowed when the defensive player is completely in front of the offensive player, ie. between the offensive player and the goal. Any contact from the side or especially from behind is considered dangerous and is usually met with penalties. When a defender successfully stops an attacking player, the play is stopped and restarted by the attacking team from the spot of the infraction or on the nine meter line. Unlike in basketball where players are allowed to commit only 5 fouls in a game (6 in the NBA), handball players are allowed an unlimited number of "faults," which are considered good defense and disruptive to the attacking team's rhythm.

Goals are quite common in handball; usually both teams score at least 20 goals each, and it is not uncommon to have a match end 33-31. This was not true in the earliest history of the game, when the scores were more akin to that of ice hockey. But, as offensive play has improved, particularly the use of counterattacks (fast breaks) after a failed attack from the other team, goal scoring has increased. Women's Handball - a jump shot. Women's Handball - a jump shot.

The official adult size ball is essentially a size 3 football ball for men and a size 2 ball for women, with the idea being that players be able to manipulate the ball with a single hand (though contact with both hands is allowed, except while dribbling). The ball is moved around by passing, running and dribbling, similar to basketball. A player may only hold the ball for three seconds and may only take three steps with the ball in hand (as in basketball, pivoting counts as steps taken) before he is required to pass, shoot or make a dribble. At any time taking more than three steps is considered travelling and results in a turnover. A player may dribble as many times as he wants (though since passing is faster it is the preferred method of attack) as long as during each dribble his hand contacts only the top of the ball. Therefore basketball-style carrying is completely prohibited, and results in a turnover. After the dribble is picked up, the player has the right to another three seconds or three steps. The ball must then be passed or shot as further holding or dribbling will result in a "double dribble" turnover and a free throw for the other team. Other offensive infractions that result in a turnover include, charging, setting an illegal screen, or carrying the ball into the six meter zone. [edit] Penalties Yellow card shown in a handball match. Yellow card shown in a handball match.

Penalties are given to players, in progressive format, for fouls that require more punishment than just a free-throw. "Actions" directed mainly at the opponent and not the ball (such as reaching around, holding, pushing, hitting, tripping, or jumping into opponent) as well as contact from the side or from behind a player are all considered illegal and subject to penalty. Any infraction that prevents a clear scoring opportunity, will result in a seven-meter penalty shot.

Typically the referee will give a warning yellow card for an illegal action, but if the contact was particularly dangerous the referee can forego the warning for an immediate two-minute suspension. A player can only get two warnings before receiving a two minute suspension. One player is only permitted three 2-minute suspensions; after that he/she will be shown the red card.

A red card results in an ejection from the game and a two minute penalty for the team. A player may receive a red card directly for particularly rough penalties. For instance any contact from behind during a fast break is now being treated with a red card. A red carded player has to leave the playing area completely. A player who is disqualified may be substituted with another player after the two minute penalty is served. A Coach/Official can also be penalized progressively. Any coach/official who receives a 2-minute suspension will have to pull out one of his players for two minutes - note: the player is not the one punished and can be substituted in again, because the main penalty is the team playing with a man less than the other.

If a player assaults a referee, an opponent or any other person, the referee can expel the player forming a cross over his head with his arms, which will tell the player that he/she will have to leave the game completely and his team will have to play a man down for the remainder of the game. This expulsion is the most severe penalty possible in handball.

After having lost the ball during an attack, the ball has to be laid down quickly or else the player not following this rule will face a 2-minute suspension. Also gesticulating or verbally questioning the referee's order, as well as arguing with the officials decisions, will normally result in a 2-minute suspension. If it is done in a very provocative way, a player can be given a second 2-minute suspension if he/she does not walk straight off the field to the bench after being given a suspension, or if the referee deems the tempo deliberately slow. Illegal subsitution, any substitution that does not take place in the specified substitution area or where the entering player enters before the exiting player exits is also punishable with a 2 minute suspension.

Tournaments

* EHF Champions League

* Handball at the Summer Olympics

* World Men's Handball Championship

* World Women's Handball Championship

* Handball at the Pan American Games

* American Handball Championship

* All Africa Games

* African Handball Nations Championship

* Asian Games

* Asian Handball Championship

* European Women's Handball Championship

* European Men's Handball Championship

* Handball-Bundesliga