About Us

Wirral Handball Club 2005/06

Wirral Handball Club (WHC) was formed in 1998 through the merger of Setia Handball Club (men), Birkenhead Ladies Handball Club and Wirral Mini Handball club. The merger was brought about to focus the activities of the 3 clubs into one single entity that would develop the sport across the borough for all age groups.

The men’s 1^st team competes at a national level in Division 1, in which they have competed regularly since 1974!! Of the current squad of 14 players, almost all have represented England or Great Britain at various levels and no fewer than 6 have captained their country including the Captain of the current England men’s side. The age of the first team squad ranges from 16-39, but youth is to the fore and 7 of the players are included in the Great Britain u-19 development programme, which is aiming towards the 2012 Olympic games in London.

The women’s senior team also competes at a National level in Division 1. Like the men’s team the first team squad is young, with all bar one of the player’s under 20 years. In the most recent England-Scotland internationals, Wirral provided 7 players for the England u-20 side.

At junior and mini level the club has a representative sides competing regionally. The u-11 Mini team is the only club that has been at every National Mini Championship since it began in 1995, finishing runners-up on two occasions and winning the ‘plate’ competition once. The junior section is the also very strong and competes regularly. The u-13 team has won the North West League Division 1 title for the past two years. The junior teams also compete Internationally and have played in tournaments in Belgium, Scotland, Croatia and Italy in recent years, including entry into the prestigious Interamnia in Teramo for the past two years.

In it previous guise as Birkenhead H.C the club won 3 consecutive men’s National Titles in the late 70’s and were Double winners in ’77. They were among the first British sides to compete in the European Champions Cup and last appeared in European competition in ’87 when they entered the IHF Cup (handballs equivalent of football’s EUFA cup). Despite no further silverware the Wirral has always been one of the big 4 clubs in the UK. Finishing runners-up on several occasions in recent years in all three major competitions, National League, British Cup and Super Cup.

In organisational terms the club is well respected and members have been asked to sit on national committee’s and executives. Even representing the sport nationally at Sports Council, British Olympic Association and Central Council for Physical Recreation meetings.

As well as playing and administrating, the club has also provided many national team coaches and managers. Plus providing several of the countries top referees. The UK’s current top couple are members of the club and have already officiated at several international matches.

The club has two main objectives:

· For all teams from junior to senior levels to compete at the highest level

· To develop and promote the sport throughout the borough.

Above is a map showing where we are located- Birkenhead Wirral. Our different age groups play in different sports centers around the Wirral, as each one accomodates our clubs different needs- this is explained more if you click on 'Our Clubs' on our links page (left) Unfortunatly, it becomes increasingly harder to get enough hours training in due to the high demand of the courts in these centers. We have to compete with the likes of netball, basketball, football, badmington and alike who have steady and often growing numbers of participants that can afford to pay for the increasing court costs. As stated in the article copied on the main page it is hard to compete with other sports to get any funding for Handball.

''Have a guess how much funding the entire sport of handball gets every year. Go on, have a guess. Well, it's all of £10,000. That's £7,000 from Sport England and £3,000 from Sport Scotland. And with that derisory sum they have to try to piece together a team to take on the world in six years' time.''

Our aim is to raise awarness for this fast paced, energetic, specticle of a sport and hopefully gain new interest and extra participants.

'but believe me when I say that, at the top level, it's one of the most exciting spectacles you can see in a sporting environment.''

Not only will you be part of a huge international scene, travel the world and meet new people, you will get fit and you will be part of the wirral handball network which is an instant portal to a great social life. Liverpool is the 2008 Capital of Culture, it boasts a fantastic night life, a diverce multicultural community and has everything you want in a city and its just 5minutes away. Surly we couldnt sell you our great city and club anymore. We are also the only club that caters for all ages ranging from 5 - 45. There are many opportunities to go into futher training and ref'ing and coach training courses. In the last two years alone our clubs have travelled to more than 5 countries in Europe, with another 2 on the way. For futher details please look at the reat of our cite to gain extra information on all that is available at our club.