Group: Oxford University Handball Club

Season to remember for Blues handball team
By PIERRE PURSEIGLE

Champions: The Blues celebrate a fantastic season
When the fi nal whistle was blown last Sunday at the Handball National Finals, a victorious Oxford side looked stunned for a split second before erupting in deafening cries of joy that will come to defi ne the Blues’ extraordinary season.

After their third consecutive victory in the British Universities Championships and an unprecedented third place in the British Cup, Oxford Handball went on to deliver a series of mammoth performances to win the England National League: a historic double that allows the Blues to enter the European League and vie with professional teams on the continental stage Very popular in the rest of Europe, North Africa and Asia, Handball is almost unheard of on these shores.

Yet, this Olympic sport is one of the most spectacular indoor games around. Fusing elements of football, basketball and rugby, handball requires an amazing combination of speed, physical strength and skills from fi eld players and goalkeepers alike as they strive to outscore their opponents on a 40mx20m court. A blend of pace, precision, and commitment is exactly what makes the Oxford squad the best handball team in this country.

On Saturday, the semi-fi nal that pitted the Blues against the London Great Danes HC undeniably produced the upset of the season and demonstrated that Oxford could beat any team in the land. Cambridge, Glasgow, Southampton, Nottingham and Manchester had previously experienced defeat at the hands of the mighty Blues but it took a gigantic collective effort to topple the Great Danes, the unbeaten and virtually unchallenged club that had imposed its mark on the game in the UK for many years.

Too many years, obviously, in the eyes of the Blues who had been beaten by the Londoners in the British Cup semi-fi nal a fortnight before. Unimpressed by a fearsome team that has been the only one so far to represent the UK in European competitions, Oxford proceeded to sap Great Danes’ line-up and reputation in a relentless fi ght that proved the highlight of the weekend.

While some fantastic handball was put on display for fans and novices alike by the four teams engaged in the fi nal tussle, Oxford’s semi-fi nal against Great Danes and the fi nal against Manchester University offered connoisseurs with two successive cliff-hangers. Trailing three goals behind at half-time in each match, the Blues clawed the games back to obtain fi nal victory: 24-23 in the semi-fi nal and 25-24 in the fi nal where Manchester managed to drag Oxford into extra-time.

When he walked onto the court on Saturday, founding-member and Captain Jo Koops probably did not expect that his club’s fi fth season would reap so much reward but led the victorious charge with characteristic gusto. An inspiring and forceful presence on the sideline and on the pitch, playercoach Tiago Cunha demonstrated impressive leadership and mastery of tactics.

Built around Karl Karlsson, its impregnable rock, Oxford’s defence also relied throughout the season on Richard Fisher, arguably the top goalkeeper in Britain They were further aided by the presence of Olivier Rival and Sebastian Engelstaedter in reserve, leaving Oxford’s opponents in despair with their ability to match Fisher’s level of performance.

Jiri Kindl and Nuno Fernandes, Oxford’s lethal pair of wingers, terrorised some of the UK’s best defences, while their accuracy and consistency played a critical role in this year’s successes.

Following the British Universities Championships where the Blues had demonstrated the cohesion that enabled them to achieve what no other university team had ever done, the retirement of Angolan sniper Hadjamar Oliveira, of veteran pivot and club legend Csaba Kozma as well as the injury of his successor Janosch Ortmann, were then set off by the arrival of four recruits of the highest calibre.

Guillem Torrens, Morgan Boar, Sami Kadi, and Peter Franko indeed brought their experience, strength and skills to a team whose fi ghting-spirit, embodied by Torben Tvedebrink’s performance against Cambridge, was to bring yet another trophy to Iffl ey.

Completed by the irreplaceable Castellan pair Pepe Gomez and Javi Martinez, our multinational motley crew sang its way back to Oxford, joyfully bringing to a close a 2005-2006 season in which the women’s team also proved a force to be reckoned with.

Ecstatic and overwhelmed with pride in what is essentially a fantastic group of athletes and friends, Pierre Purseigle in the heat of victory foolishly vowed to put off his long-overdue sportive retirement to see the Oxford Handball Club competing on the European stage to which it now belongs.

For more information about handball go to:

http://www.sportfocus.com/webpro/handball/

www.eurohandball.com

Group set up by Ace