h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Handball as it is explained above is a sport popular in Ireland, the U.S.A., Canada, Mexico and less so in Argentina and Wales.

However, world-wide there are various different games that are quite close to Handball in method and playing practise. Peloté, Jai-Alai, Eton Fives, Fistball and the one-wall game of Northern France and Belgium spring to mind.

It is in the final game mentioned above that I would see some sort of future for handball. Surely, the one common thread going through all these games is the simple one of hitting a ball against a wall with your hand. The differences come in with ball type, court size, amount of walls (and a roof) etc.

Perhaps, if we could have some sort of world council of handball type games where a unifying one-wall code was adopted we could then look on our sport as one that could go on to much bigger and better things. After all, if you get rid of the extra walls/roof/big gloves you're left with probably the easiest game in the world for two people to play without having to invest in equipment (any ball does really) and locate a court (hello, a wall isn't a hard thing to find these days). A game that could take over the world?