Sport

One-wall blast from the past gains popularity

MENTION handball and most people will think of the 40x20 game that seems to have a greater following than any of the other codes. That mightn't be for long, however, as the one-wall version is making a new surge all over the country.

Many older followers of the game will recall that one-wall courts were dotted all over the country where boys and girls spent their summer evenings.

Even gables of family homesteads were used but, gradually, the indoor game took over and 40x20 and 60x40 became more popular.

Now there seems to be a swing back towards the 'traditional' version of handball. Many clubs around Ireland have built one-wall courts on local land and schools are also becoming deeply interested in erecting the facility for lunchtime exercise.

Recently, Loughmacrory spent over £1 million in building three covered one wall courts and have now launched the Lough One-Wall Tournament. There are many other such events on the annual rota.

The biggest is the Irish National Championships which attracts players from abroad. Conor McElduff (Breacach) won the men's open at Castlebar this month. He is a player who likes to mix his codes, having won the US Nationals 40x20 doubles title with Killian Carroll (Cork) in June.

Charly Shanks is another player who is highly successful in both 40x20 and One-Wall events while Croke Park Handball development officer Darragh Daly was last season's Ulster one-wall champion.