Word is ... No.9

This post is the whole of issue 9 from November 1983 but the pages of most interest are probably 5 and 6 which have reports on EK82's Round 1 European games against Kiel.

East Kilbride Magazine no.4 1980

This is the final post of the East Kilbribe Club Magazine. Unfortunately this copy isn't as clear as the previous two, but is still worth reading for the account of the club trip to Scovlunde in Denmark.

East Kilbride Magazine no.3 1980

As promised - the third issue of the East Kilbride Handball Club Magazine from 1980. As with the previous post the pages are in order except for the first where the back page is on the left and the front page on the right.

East Kilbride Magazine no.2 1980

As requested by David of East Kilbride Handball Club, this post contains the full contents of the East Kilbride magazine no. 2 from 1980. The contents are in the correct order except for the first which has the back cover on the left and front cover on the right. I do not have a copy of no.1 but have copies of nos.3 and 4; both also from 1980. I'll scan these and post in the next few days.

Some BHA Leaflets

Not much to say about this post. It's just three A4 leaflets sent out by the BHA around 1982. The first is titled The History of Handball (2 sides), the second is called An Introduction to Olympic Handball (2 sides) and the last is Handball is.

Great Britian photos

This short post shows a couple of photos published in the BHA newsletter 'Handball News'. The newsletter isn't dated but seems to be from 1980. The photos are from a game which the team played on a trip to Yugoslavia and shows three of the stars of British handball at the time. The first photo shows Larry Beard (7) attempting a shot with Paul Dempsey looking on. Both players were stars of the Brentwood team of the late '70s and early '80s and were fixture in the British team. DEmpsey had originally played for Graphite (Ruislip) Eagles. The second photo shows Britain's best left-handed player of the time Billy Hayburn attempting a jump-shot. Hayburn, who was Scottish, also played for Brentwood but was in fact based in Nottingham.

The Bristol Tournament

The Bristol Tournament was the most popular tounament in the UK during the late '70s and through the '80s. The tournament named 'Inter' was usually held on the Saturday and Sunday of the May Spring Bank Holiday and brought together clubs from across Britain along with teams (usually four) from Europe. The six scans here are of programmes from four of the tournaments showing the high profile sponsorship that the weekend attracted. The event was the mastermind of Whitchurch Handball Club's Tim Rowbottom and the rise and fall of the tournament very much followed the fortunes of the club.

During the first few years the tournament was a ten-club male tournament and was won three years running (1978-1980) by Fortuna Geleen from the Netherlands. The tounament reached its peak in the mid-80s; the scan of the line up for 1984 shows a 6-team female tournament with three teams from Europe (Lugi fielded two teams) and 15 men's teams playing in a 10-team indoor tournament and the remaining 5 playing in a 5-team outdoor tournament. This reflects the fact that the event was so popular that there was a waiting list for participation in the main event. The popularity of the event is further supported by the fact that the tournament had been moved to the first weekend in June which made it easier to attract European participants since this was a holiday weekend in a number of countries.

By 1988 Bristol no longer had a club and the tournament was in danger of not taking place but such was the popularity of the event that officials from other clubs, particularly Keith Clark from Liverpool, helped Tim organise the event in the absence of local support.

The final scan shows the tournament winners from 1977 to 1987.