Referees Martin Hjortshøj and Jakob Hensen are presented with Tournament momentoesTHE Four Nations Tournament in Sheffield last month gave British Handball the chance to gain experience of staging a top level event - but it wasn’t just the governing body who benefitted from the event.
Two of the four referees at the Tournament - 20-year-old Martin Hjortshøj and 22-year-old Jakob Hensen from the Danish Handball Federation - were there as part of the European Handball Federation’s Young Referees Project (YRP), and were given three games to officiate as part of the link-up between the Danish Handball Federation and the British Handball Association.
The YRP focuses on the development and education of young referees around Europe and both Martin and Jakob made the journey to the north of England to experience what Britain has to offer the handball world.
“Last year we were the best two referees on the project in Denmark,” explained Aarhus University student Hjortshøj. “We were sent to the Partille Cup in Sweden last year and following that were then nominated to come to Britain for the Four Nations Tournament as part of the co-operation between the two associations.”
Both referees had played handball as youngsters and started to whistle at a young age with Martin making the step at 12 and Jakob at 14. They both progressed through the levels and, thanks to the project, are now able to travel around Europe to test their skills.
“We were really excited to come to England to whistle,” enthused Jakob.
“However, we weren’t nervous as we have refereed in this situation before - but as referees we are always very critical and are our own worst critics.”
The three games they officiated all featured Latvia – firstly against the Faroe Islands in the tournament opener – then against the hosts, Great Britain, before rounding up their tournament with the Latvians’ match against the Turkish U21 side.
“We knew that the British Handball Association are aiming for the London 2012 Olympics,” said Jakob, “so this competition was designed to be competitive and for them to create a good, competitive team.
“The Great Britain v Latvia match was a little surprising for us as Britain won by five goals,” said Martin.
“It was a very good match to whistle; the two teams played really well and the level was higher than our first match. There was also a very excited, good crowd, which was great and the match was tough for the players.
“It was really easy to communicate with the British team as some of their players and coaches speak Danish, so it made it easy to co-operate.”
The final match for the young refereeing pair was the 22-21 win by Latvia over the Turkish U21 side – a thrilling match that went right down to the final seconds and was a great spectacle for the neutral observer.
“The Latvia v Turkey game was very different then we expected,” said Jakob.
“The Turkish team had suffered quite a large loss in their first match and we had not expected such a close game - it was very exciting for the crowd, and for the referees!”
So with the tournament finished for Martin and Jakob, they were able to take a seat in the stands and see the British side win the tournament overall, despite losing against the Faroe Islands in a pulsating, final match.
But what did they think of the tournament overall?
“Throughout the tournament the teams were well behaved and good to referee,” said Martin. “There is no doubt that the facilities here in Sheffield are very professional and at a very high level for such a new handball association.
“This tournament was handled very well and was very well organised. As a referee you don’t want any distractions and the organisation here meant that we could just concentrate on our whistling and the court.”
So what next for the two young Danish men?
“We return to Denmark for a men’s First Division game,” said Jakob. “Our big objective for us is to do well in the next few games and maybe we will go to the next level up – but only if we are very good.”
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