EHF looks back at successful third Refereeing Convention

The European Handball Federation staged the Heads of Refereeing Convention for the third time, after earlier editions in 2005 and 2022. Representations from 40 different countries, including for the first time Liechtenstein and Monaco, took part in the two-day convention in Austria's capital.

A total of 13 presentations from as many presenters touched on a range of topics, centred around three central themes: officiating line and trends, officiating technology, and best practices.

Apart from the fruitful discussions, the convention also served as an ideal networking opportunity among the many participants from different counties.

Looking back on the convention, the following conclusions were drawn: 

• further education and training specialising in the use of officiating technology (video replay) is necessary
• the regulations on the use and application of the officiating technology must not be static, as the process of technology is dynamic and the demand from the teams and media for more and more transparent referee decision-making; the EHF and IHF keep working closely together on the continuous development of these regulations
• all team sports in Europe are facing a decline in referee recruitment, and handball is no exception; joint efforts in the recruiting process should be planned 
• the development of the sport in Europe's top leagues brings referee professionalisation as a result: some national federations have moved in that direction, with Hungary offering referees professional contracts, Israel semi-professional contracts, and Denmark considering it
• the referee dropout should be looked into; a dual career education programme to motivate referees to stay involved with the sport
• beach handball officiating is an excellent tool for the development of referees also in indoor handball
• mental training should be included in all the young referee programme courses

all photos © 2024 Eva Manhart