UK Edition
Welcome to korfball, the gender-equal sport set to sweep Britain
I am 48. The last time I played a team sport, Mrs Thatcher was in power. Yet, here I am wheezing around a pitch, being shown up by a 72-year-old and a 12-year-old - and loving every minute. My 6’4” boyfriend blunders by and, for once, I outplay him. Size isn’t important in korfball - the world’s only mixed-sex sport - meaning a short, flabby female may have the advantage over a towering jock.
This weekend, London’s Olympic Park will play host to the Legal & General England Korfball Finals. If your reaction is “korfwhat?” then, reader, get with the scene. Korfball is the gender-equal, socially-inclusive and hugely entertaining sport that is gaining a foothold in Britain’s schools and universities.
It was invented in 1902 by Dutch PE teacher Nico Broekhuysen, who wanted to create a game that both genders could play together. This was shocking at the time. Still more shocking is the fact that - over a century later - it remains the only Olympic-recognised team sport (despite not having full Olympic status) designed to be played in mixed teams.
Elite games continue to set men and women apart. The men’s decathlon has been contested at every Olympics since 1912, but there is still no women’s event. Men play five sets at tennis grand slams, women only three. Such imbalances have a knock-on effect for the rest of us: 1.5 million fewer women participate in sport in Britain each month.
We may be about to celebrate a glorious summer of women’s sport (football, netball, hockey, cricket, golf, rugby union), but wouldn’t this territory feel less male if there were activities in which we could compete on equal terms? Enter korfball.
As the South London Nomads teach me, the sport is a cross between netball and basketball, played on a bigger pitch, with the goalposts not quite at either end. There are two sides of eight, with only the marking being gendered (girls marking girls, chaps marking chaps). Everybody shoots, everybody defends.
Height and strength are not an advantage, as there is no dunking of the ball and no dribbling; players must pass. Every age and body shape can contribute. Fans talk of its being “physical chess” - for every move, there is a counter move, making brains as crucial as brawn.
You’re unlikely to see korfball at the Olympics in the near future - Dutch dominance means the result would be a foregone conclusion. However, it is the unofficial poster sport of the World Games (the contest for sports with Olympic ambitions, such as squash and lacrosse). It is played in seventy countries; Britain is seeded sixth for the World Championships in South Africa this August, with the Netherlands, Chinese Taipei and Belgium the top-ranking sides.
Korfball has been played here since the Second World War and has increased in popularity at universities over the last two decades. There are national, regional, and local leagues, in addition to social tournaments. Beyond the competitive level, it is mostly played by families: brothers and sisters competing together in children’s teams; teens, parents and grandparents in the over-13s.
The atmosphere is relaxed, with no yobbish shouting. Unless you count my own victory whoops when I score a goal, having been coached by England player Libby Thomas, 12, with the mantra: “Bend (knees), squeeze (arms), make a W (with your fingers), loopy (throw)!”
Charlotte Hooper, 7, is pink-cheeked and elated following her first game. Her mother, 46-year-old Tamara Burnell, has loved the sport since university, playing at international level for Scotland. “I work in a male-dominated sector of financial services,” she notes.
“Korfball kept me sane. At work, I was almost always the only woman in the room, and had to fight to be taken seriously. It was such a relief to go to korfball, where men and women were equal.” Burnell set up City tournaments, so the game could spread its magic. She now coaches juniors and has “never met a child who didn’t love it”.
The drop-out rate for teenage girls in sport generally is notoriously high. But here, friendships lead to continued enthusiasm and a lot of dating – korfball marriages are not uncommon. The sport ticks all the boxes required by the national curriculum (catching, running, competition, collaboration), plus the Department for Education’s guidelines that boys and girls not be treated differently.
Moreover, as referee and former British international Dave Bond, 62, argues: “As a big fish in a small pond, there’s a very real prospect that you could go on to represent your country.” The only question: why isn’t everyone at it?
Legal & General’s sponsorship reflects the passion of its head of personal investing, Dame Helena Morrissey. She is a “korfball mum,” her daughter is an Oxford University blue. “The sense of fairness that is forged between those playing korfball is like nothing I’ve witnessed,” she says.
“It’s hard to achieve progress in diversity and inclusion when it’s seen as something theoretical - or as a special-interest issue. Korfball brings the benefits of gender equality to life. It would be great to see it move into the mainstream.”
Well, it has acquired one new, middle-aged enthusiast. If korfball will have me, I’ll be back.
The Legal & General England Korfball Finals will be at the Copper Box, in the Olympic Park, June 1-2. Tickets at: englandkorfball.co.uk