International Amateur Handball Federation

The International Amateur Handball Federation (IAHF) was the administrative and controlling body for handball and field handball. IAHF was responsible for the organisation of handball's major international tournaments, notably the World Men's Handball Championship, which commenced in 1938, and the World Men's Outdoor Handball Championship, which commenced in 1938. The organization was dissolved after World War II.[2]

International Amateur Handball Federation
AbbreviationIAHF
PredecessorInternational Association of Athletics Federations
Successor
Formation4 August 1928; 95 years ago (1928-08-04); during the Summer Olympics
Founded atAmsterdam, Netherlands
Dissolved1946; 78 years ago (1946)
TypeInternational Sports Federation
HeadquartersMunich, Germany
Coordinates48°09′21″N 11°30′41″E / 48.15597°N 11.5114813°E / 48.15597; 11.5114813[1]
Region
Worldwide
Fields

History edit

On 13 September 1925 the first international field handball game between Germany and Austria happened. Because of this event, uniform rules and an international association were desired.

In 1926, the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF, now known as World Athletics) created a commission to govern all ball games played with the hands, such as field-handball, court-handball, volleyball and basketball.[3] In the same year the first international field handball rules were created in The Hague.[4]

Two years later during the 1928 Summer Olympics the IAAF invited national representatives to create an independent federation.[5] Representatives from 11 countries founded the International Amateur Handball Federation on 4th of August 1928 in Amsterdam.[3][6] The later IOC president Avery Brundage and Lauri Pihkala how invented Pesäpallo were founding members.[4][7]

The International Olympic Committee recognized handball as Olympic sport in 1933.[8] Three years later during the 1936 Summer Olympics field handball had its first and last appearance at the Summer Olympics. At this point IAHF had 23 members.[4]

In 1938 the first Outdoor and Indoor World Men's Handball Championship were organized by the IAHF.

In 1946 the successor the International Handball Federation was founded by Denmark and Sweden.[4]

Basketball edit

In 1934, oversight of basketball was transferred to the Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBB, now abbreviated FIBA).

Volleyball edit

The first (failed) attempt to create an independent volleyball federation at the 1934 IAHF congress in Stockholm. During a friendly match between the Czech and French national teams on 26 August 1946 the two nations and Poland created a document to create an international federation. The following year 14 nations founded the FIVB in Paris between 18 and 20 April.[9]

Presidents edit

Name Country Start End Comment
1. Franz-Paul Lang   Germany 1928 1931 President of Deutschen Sportbehörde für Athletik
interim Karl Ritter von Halt   Germany 1931 1934 IOC Member
2. Karl Ritter von Halt   Germany 1934 1938 IOC Member
3. Richard Herrmann   Germany 1938 1941 Head of the Handball and Basketball department of NSRL[10]
4. unknown

Members edit

Following counties were member of the IAHF as of the 4th IAHF-Congress:[11][12]

Country Since Until Federation
  Argentina between 1930 and 1934 Argentine Basketball Confederation
  Austria 4 August 1928 Austrian Handball Federation
  Belgium 30 August 1934 13 August 1936
  Brazil before 1930 Brazilian Sports Confederation
  Canada 4 August 1928 Amateur Athletic Union of Canada
  Czechoslovakia 4 August 1928 Ceskoslovensky Svaz Hazené
  Denmark 4 August 1928 Danish Athletics Federation
  Egypt before 1930 Union Egyptienne des Sociétés Sportives
  Estonia 30 August 1934 Estonia Handball Association
  Finland 4 August 1928 13 August 1936
  France 4 August 1928 French Athletics Federation (1930)
French Handball Federation of Metz (1936)
  Germany 4 August 1928 German Athletics Association (1930)
NSRL (1936)
  Greece 4 August 1928 between 1930 and 1934 Hellenic Amateur Athletic Association
  Haiti 30 August 1934 Fédération Haïtienne de Ballon à la Main Amateur
  Hungary before 1930 Hungarian Handball Federation
  Ireland 4 August 1928 Irish Amateur Handball Association
  Japan before 1930 Japan Association of Athletics Federations
  Luxembourg 30 August 1934 Luxembourg Athletics Federation
  Netherlands 30 August 1934 Netherlands Handball Association
  Poland before 1930 Polski Zwiazek Gier Sportowych
  Portugal 13 August 1936 Associacao Lisbonense de Hand-Ball
  Romania before 1930 Romanian Athletics Federation (1930)
Romanian Handball Federation (1936)
  Sweden 4 August 1928 Swedish Athletics Association (1930)
Swedish Handball Federation (1936)
   Switzerland between 1930 and 1934[a] Swiss Gymnastics Federation (1929-1939)
Schweizerischer Handballausschuss (1939-1946)
  United States 4 August 1928 Amateur Athletic Union of the United States
  Uruguay 30 August 1934 Centro Athletico «Gimnasia y Deportes»
  Yugoslavia 30 August 1934 13 August 1936
  1. ^ According to a swiss source from 1952 they joined already in 1929.[13]

References edit

  1. ^ "Adresses des Fédérations Internationales Sportives" [Addresses of the international sport federations] (PDF; 13,4 MB). Bulletin officiel du Comité International Olympique (in Swiss French). 9 (25). Lausanne: International Olympic Committee (IOC): 5. April 1934. OCLC 313543287. Archived from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020 – via Olympic World Library. {{cite journal}}: External link in |via= (help)
  2. ^ Krieger, Jörg; Duckworth, Austin (2021). "Annexation or fertile inclusion? The origins of handball's international organisational structures". Sport in History. 42 (2): 235–256. doi:10.1080/17460263.2021.1927810. ISSN 1746-0263. S2CID 236363980.
  3. ^ a b "The History of FIBA and international Basketball". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on 3 January 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d "Handball sport history?". Sports Comet. Archived from the original on 30 May 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  5. ^ "Section 19 Handball". Handbook of the International Amateur Athletic Federation 1927-1928. Västerås: 51. October 1928. Retrieved 4 May 2020 – via Issuu.
  6. ^ "Handball-Bundesliga". Die Welt der 80er (in German). Archived from the original on 5 September 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  7. ^ Backlund, Jens (11 August 2010). "11-Man Team handball in Finland". Archived from the original on 11 February 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  8. ^ "Die Geschichte des Handballsports". Sportego (in German). Archived from the original on 11 February 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  9. ^ "Chronological Highlights". Fédération Internationale de Volleyball. Archived from the original on 11 February 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  10. ^ Eggers, Erik (2007). Handball – Eine deutsche Domäne. Verlag Die Werkstatt. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-3-89533-558-7.
  11. ^ Annuaire (PDF) (in French). Berlin: IAHF. 1937. pp. 6–11.
  12. ^ "Die oberste Handballbehörde". Sporttagblatt (in German). 64 (108/109): 9–10. 13 April 1930.
  13. ^ h, h (2 May 1952). "Die Internationale Handball Federation". Oberländer Tagblatt (in Swiss High German): 6. Retrieved 1 May 2020 – via e-newspaperarchives.ch/.