1970s Scottish Action

This photo by Arthur Kinloch appeared in the Glasgow Herald on 11 December 1979. It shows Billy Hayburn (centre with the ball), who then played for Allander and Scotland U21, and two unnamed defenders.

Billy Hayburn

The Hull Handball League (Part 5)

This photograph appeared in the Hull Daily Mail along with a short interview with Ron Lister. It shows the presentations at the Hull Handball Association Dance in the early '60s which was held at the Beverley Baths.

In the interview Mr Lister explained that football referees had been recruited to learn the rules of handball and officiate in the league which took place over the summer. It was felt that it was an ideal sport for football and rugby players to play in the closed season.

As in a previous Hull Daily Mail article, Mr Lister goes on to explain that the first international to be played by Great Britain was against Holland in 1959 and that this was followed up a year later by an international against Germany. However, this report gives further details, in that it confirms that the Germany international was also played in Hull at the Costello Stadium which is now the KC Stadium.

Scotland - England Internationals

This is a short report from the Glasgow Herald of Monday 6 May 1985 about the Scotland versus England Handball internationals which had taken place on the weekend before.

Salford (Ladies) v Ruislip (Ladies) 19 December 1983

This post is a short report from a match played 30 years ago between the Salford Ladies Handball Team and the Ruislip Ladies Handball Team who were known at the time by the sponsor name of Robert Jenkins Systems Handball. The report is from a London Association newsletter hence the lack of mention of the Salford players.

The game was a National League fixture which threw off at 4.30pm. The teams were lead out by Salford Majorettes and Ruislips' starting seven were

Sue Roberts (GK)
Dawn Bellis
Donna Anderson
Kim Walker
Janet Nichols
Christine Fitzgerald
Melanie Chowns

Fitzgerald opened the scoring for Ruislip and the first half found them exploiting a weak Salford defence but not being able to turn the superiority into the advantage that it should have been. When half-time came Ruislip were leading by six goals to three. The spectators were entertained at half-time by the Salford Majorettes who were a group of mainly 9 to 10 year olds. The second half continued much the same as the first with Ruislip continuing to dominate while playing in a relaxed manor throughout. While the team as a whole played sufficiently well, special mention goes to Sue Roberts in goal who save four penalties. The game ended in a 12-6 victory to the Londoners.

Ruislip Eagles

Graphite (Ruislip) Eagles Club badge from the 70s

The club website states the following: 

Ruislip Eagles Handball Club was formed in 1970 when they were based in the old South Ruislip Leisure centre. The Club have previously been known as Graphite Eagles (when sponsored by Graphite Equipment Ltd) and Robert Jenkins (Graphite were acquired by Robert Jenkins Systems and the name changed as a result of this).

The men’s and women’s teams were started and coached by Bill Holderness, a GB goalkeeper. The teams were largely made up of British players but gradually more and more overseas players joined the club and brought new skills and experience.

The club enjoyed a successful spell through the 1980s when many of their players were picked for the national team and the women won the league on several occasions alongside fierce rivals Wakefield.

The men also were involved with great competition with Brentwood and Liverpool but it was the women’s team who enjoyed the greater success. In 1982 the women became the 1st British team to win a match in a European Cup, beating the Belgian champions over two legs.

Both men’s and women’s teams have an international flavour with many nationalities playing in both teams.

The Hull Handball League (Part 4): Possibly the oldest club photo

As previously reported in Part 2 Crawford Sports were the Hull handball league champions in 1961. This photograph taken from the Hull Daily Mail shows the Crawford team lined up as follows: back row Roy Marshall, George Gardiner, Ray Riley, George Nesfield, Ray Sissons and Barry Fuller; front row Syd Cowan, Col Raper, George Pougher, Ronnie Bray and Terry O'Neill. The team took the name of the club sponsor Crawford Sports which was a sports shop based in East Hull.

Unless anyone knows of an older club photo of a British handball team photograph then this photo of Crawford Sports HC is the oldest one, albeit of a team that played the 11 a-side version of the game.

Crawford Sports HC

Coventry Handball Club

Coventry Handball Club is shaping up to be one of the 'Legacies of the Olympics' and Thursday is going to be the first occasion on which the club meets to train. It was reported on the BBC earlier today that this was Coventry's first ever club but records show that a club going by the name of Coventry made a brief appearance in organised leagues around 30 years ago.

The main source of information comes from the Midland Handball Association's handbook published in 1982. It lists the member clubs as Leicester Computers, Coventry, Leicester '73, Milton Keynes 1980, Olympia (Cannock), Salford and John Quinn Sheffield. Each club has details of officials, colours, match times and a brief history.

The entry for Coventry shows that the club had previously been known as Nuneaton Tech and Recreation Nuneation and that prominent club members were Frank Dillon, Mick Darlison and Chris Leadbetter. It records the home base as Coventry SC in Fairfax Street and club colours as white shirts, blue shorts (first choice), orange shirts, blue shorts (second choice).

The history section explains that the club could trace its roots to Nuneaton Tech, a club which had been founder members of the English National League and places its establishment as 1975 at the latest. In 1977 a 'B' team (Nuneaton Newdegate) was formed to play in the lower league. The team eventually broke away from Tech after sports centres were opened at Etone and Jubilee and the club was renamed Recreation Nuneaton. In 1980 Recreation won the English Second Division but they were apparently denied promotion due to reorganization of the leagues meaning that all teams had to go through regional qualifying. The final National League table for 1980/81 shows that the team finished sixth out of seven in a league which was won convincingly by Brentwood '72.

The Midland's Handbook then explains that the club moved to Coventry following a friendly against a Scottish team called Linwood and that the club started 1981/82 very well but that due to rule infringements had points deducted. They also went out of the British Cup in the first round losing 26-24 to Great Dane London. The Midland Directory was introduced for the 1982/83 season and finishes the piece on Coventry by saying that the club resigned its place in the National League position in 1982 to join the Midland League. This is verified by BHA publications which show Coventry in mid-table after six games of the '81/82 season but as not being in the league on publication of the final table.

The 1982/83 season proved to be the last for the club and shows that there may have still bee problems as records from the season show that Coventry were in the Midland League but the final standing only show four teams (Milton Keynes 1980, Olympia, Salford and John Quinn Sheffield). Despite this, the records show that Coventry were involved in an exciting cup tie in the first round of the British Cup. Playing Kirkby Select, a National League team, Coventry tied the game 20-20. Following extra time the game was still level at 22-22. It took a further period of extra-time for Kirkby to defeat Coventry 24-23.

1983 proved to be Coventry's final year. It is recorded in the November 1983 edition of the BHA publication 'Word is...' that the club came about from the 'considerable work done by Frank Dillion' and that following Frank's move to Saudi Arabia the club had folded.

So, 30 years after the former club embarked on its last season, the new club is about to embark on the first of what will hopefully be many.

Good luck Coventry Handball Club! Click to find out more about the new club.