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What is Korfball?
Described by London's Evening Standard as 'the sport for the new millennium',
Korfball is an exciting mixed team sport, accessible to both young and old, complete beginner or
international, that is increasing in popularity throughout the world.
The sport was the brainchild of Dutch school teacher Nico Broekhusen who founded Korfball in 1902.
Broekhusen searched far and wide, without success, for a team sport that both the
boys and girls in his school could play together on equal terms. He chose instead
to develop a sport of his own that would encourage both teamwork and co-operation.
The word 'korf' is simply Dutch for 'basket' and quite sensibly was not translated to English to avoid confusion with Basketball.
The sport is often described as a mix between Basketball and Netball since it has some elements of both but
in truth the sport is far more distinctive in its own right than that. Apart from the playing side,
the sport has an unrivalled social attraction that is inevitable in a truly mixed sport.
The International Korfball Federation was founded in 1933
and has helped the sport to spread its roots throughout the globe and in recent years
it has increased in popularity in many countries worldwide. It is now played in the Americas,
throughout Europe, South East Asia and Australasia.
Korfball has been a demonstration sport at the Olympic Games but has not yet made the step up to
full Olympic status due to the dominance of Holland and Belgium in International Competition.
However, it has been a part of the World Games (a multi-sport competition with about 45 sports
disciplines) since 1985. It is played by around 50 countries, from Armenia to Zimbabwe, USA to Japan, Russia to South Africa.
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The sport has existed in the UK for over 60 years with
Croydon being the country's oldest club, founded in 1946.
The sport is most popular in Southern England but has bases in most large cities, including Birmingham,
Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Kent, Leeds, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford and Sheffield.
The EKA Cup is played annually and all clubs in Britain are eligible to enter. Most universities also have teams and compete annually in the BUSA cup.
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In England, there is the English Korfball Premium League which has 8 teams from around the country and then each regional association has a number of regional leagues. Croydon compete in the first 3 divisions of the London Korfball Association. Most clubs also have junior teams that compete at national and regional level. There are around 80 clubs in the UK with around 3,000 players in total.
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How the game is played
There are 8 players in a Korfball team, 4 men and 4 women.
The 40m x 20m court is split into equal halves with 2 men and 2 women in each half. In each
team, one half attacks whilst the other defends matched against the attack and
defence of the opposing team. The groups switch ends and roles after 2 goals are scored
(by either side) thus requiring all players to have both attacking and defensive skills.
Korfball is normally played indoors in competition but during the Summer it is still
played outdoors on grass pitches in a more relaxed and fun spirit. There is also a beach korfball variant of the game
which is popular in Europe.
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The Key Rules
Same Sex Marking
The men defend men and women defend women. Indeed, it is against the rules, to hinder a player
of the opposite sex. Thus the game is not dominated by the stronger male counterparts
(such as in mixed doubles in tennis).
No running or dribbling with the ball - a key rule which ensures that there has to be co-operation between players, so you
cannot have a 'superstar' running around doing all the work while the others watch on.
Players have to create scoring chances through swift interplay via passing, movement
and team-work.
No physical contact
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No shooting whilst 'defended'
This is very much the key to the whole game. In sports like basketball and netball,
a tall player can dominate under the hoop as the ball is just served upto them for the
next score. Not so in Korfball.
Essentially, an attacker is considered to be 'defended' when an opponent of the
same sex fulfills the following 3 criteria:
1. They are between the attacker and the basket.
2. They are within arm's length of the attacker.
3. They are actively trying to block the ball.
So even if you are 7' tall you can only shoot in Korfball if you are 'free'
from your defender, which means you have to move and co-operate with your
team-mates to create scoring chances like everyone else.
Scoring
In Korfball a 'goal' is scored when the ball passes through the opponents' basket
which is mounted on a 3.5m post, itself mounted within the court as opposed to at
the end of it. Good shooting skills are essential and top players will be shooting
from as far away as 20 metres in a game. On average, a team would expect to score
between 10 - 20 goals in an hour long game.
Other rules
Of course there are other rules: free-passes and penalty shots for fouls and more.
The game had been modernised to allow substitutions and time-outs, but is still
very much guided by the principles of co-operation set out by its founder, Nico Broekhusen.
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