MANY regard handball as a truly Irish game, but other countries also claim a long tradition of the sport.
America will argue that handball was played there are early as in Ireland, but whether or not that is true, there is proof that US President Abraham Lincoln was a keen competitor.
Last Tuesday marked the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and, in a magazine to mark the occasion,
the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution chose 101 objects from the museum's collection of 137 million as being of special importance in American history. Chosen was an old handball used by Lincoln. The handball is described as "a slightly misshapen handball", darkened by perspiration and age, once owned by Lincoln.
It is recorded that as a lawyer in Springfield, Illinois Lincoln played the game between cases.