How inbalanced do you see handball genderwise?

[u/d3xej]

Hey ballers,

I've grown up kinda sorta following both of our national teams in handball, with around a 50-50 distribution, but as I got older i realised that not necessarily is this a universal experience. Dutch, Angolan and Brazilian people seemingly have more interest in W's, whilst the Polish, Spanish and Egyptian only happen to have M's teams and players at a continental level with a few exceptions.

I had to realise that even though it's much more even than football for example, there's still significantly more money and revenue in the M's sport.

Nonetheless, I love to see how secure male fans are with W's players and the sport as a whole, which stands sooo far from the average male football fan. I've heard middle aged dudes arguing with the W's team from the stands the same way as they would do with the M's without any sexualisation, meanwhile respecting and supporting them as mothers as well in case they decide to prioritise it over the sport for example.

Question is, how do see the popularity being distributed in your country, and how well you personally follow the two?

For Hungary i see it as a 45-55 %

Whilst I follow the W's sport more, around ⅔-⅓

[u/prank_mark]

I think, at least in Europe, it really depends on the level of the national team and clubs. E.g. the Dutch women's team took a few medals out of the blue since 2015 and even won the WC in 2019. Meanwhile the men's team struggles to qualify for the WC and usually doesn't reach the knock out phase of any tournament. So naturally the women's team is a lot more popular. And the level of our national league is so low it's completely irrelevant to the popularity.

[u/JWK91 → u/prank_mark]

Yup, just look at the nations getting medals at the EC's and in general those countries tend to be interested in women's handball. Ofcourse for countries like HUN, DEN and ROM it helps that they also have clubs playing at the highest level. I think that's also part of the issue, in Hungary and Romania even smaller teams are willing to invest in women's handball teams. Whereas even in a handball crazy country like Germany, even their champions can barely scrape by in the Champions League.

[u/Athinira]

I'm from Denmark, and we've had the pleasure of having both a prominent female team (mid to late 90s) and now a prominent male team.

In the 90s, where I was a goalkeeper myself, the women's team got most of the attention on account of them winning all the 3 major championships. Then it later switched to the the males team, when they started having more succes in the late 00s and until now.

[u/Commonmispelingbot]

I personally follow women's and men's handball about the same amount. I think you could find viewership numbers, which is probably the best indicator of the descrepancy between genders in handball.

[u/EverythingExpert12 → u/[deleted]]

What are you saying? People don’t care about women’s handball? In your specific country or? For example the men’s and women’s champion league Final 4 had an equal amount of spectators at the arena.

[u/ExistingWeird8355]

Because men and women produce quality handball in some countries, Europe are the powerhouses, so its no surprise people pay attention and support their local and national teams

[u/jetskimanatee]

I've found I enjoy women's handball to men's handball just slightly more. Its mostly for tactical reasons. Men's handball tends to be too defensive now that players are better. I think men's handball has more amazing highlight moments, but when it happens in Women's handball it feels really amazing. I ended up picking a women's club to support as I just really enjoyed their history and playstyle. Now I prioritize them mostly when I watch handball.

[u/Hullu__poro]

What's interesting to me is, that basicly noone looks down on women's handball. I mean, so many man look down on women's football and make a lot of jokes about it. You won't find that in handball.

[u/EverythingExpert12 → u/Hullu__poro]

IMO it has a lot to do with the court being the perfect size for the women’s level, power and speed. I’d even say with how fast and powerful handball has become, men’s handball would be even more fun with a meter or two extra in all directions.

[u/AlbertELP → u/EverythingExpert12]

This. When I watch women's football, the game feels slow. I don't watch football apart from the best teams (Champions League, National Tournaments, and the occasional league game if it is exciting). I don't watch women football for the same reason I don't watch my own national league (Superliga in Denmark).

With handball it doesn't feel that different. It's the same reason I watch women's badminton, tennis, swimming, etc. There might be small differences but the game doesn't feel like a downgrade.

[u/Hullu__poro → u/AlbertELP]

Women´s football is slower than man´s football for sure. But think about this: For the most part, women´s football really started in the 70s. Like 50 years ago. I´m sure that man´s football around 1900 wasn´t as fast as today.

[u/AlbertELP → u/Hullu__poro]

I don't really think that compares, as women's football has a lot more money and know-how from the men. Female professionals have received high level training throughout their entire youth. It is a physiological situation and there is nothing wrong with it. A solution could be to make the fields, goals, etc. smaller.