When the lunch bell rings, children spill out onto the playground, racing to reserve the prime position for their favourite game. Every school has the footy crowd, only tackling each other when the teacher isn’t watching. For the kids who live and breathe soccer, any patch of turf will do, even if it means using a worn-out ball and sharing the space with a different group of students. The not-so-humble game of handball is a different kettle of fish. Hiding behind a facade of diligent students in perfect uniform is a fierce, hierarchical war.
The playing positions represent social standing. Ace is for the top dog, often the kid who owns the ball and manages to keep changing the rules to remain in the dominant position. More like a pack of cards than royal hierarchy, the King and Queen are mid-range social climbers, naively hoping to dethrone the person in Ace. It is common to find players rotating between the bottom of the barrel dunce and reserve positions, either due to lack of skill or a passive approach to the constant rule changes.
Admittedly, it’s difficult to keep up with the ever-morphing rules of the game but it helps to accept one’s place. Players are supposed to hit the ball rather than hold it but “grabs” or “grips” only ever get announced, or at least enforced, when someone of the lower order makes such an error. Everyone knows that a hitting it out or hitting a full or double demotes you, unless of course you know how to manipulate the situation through a range of creative loopholes.
Clever handball dictators of the past have designed a variety of strategies to remain at the helm. ‘Lines’ can mean play on, replay or out, depending on whether it affects the top dog. ‘Innos’ (interference), ‘indecent’, ‘slack serve’ or ‘rolls’ can all buy another chance when the right player makes the call, justifying the dominant kid’s insistence on remaining in Ace.
As with any social hierarchy, handball encourages all participants to feel temporarily empowered. “Service” is the demand which gives the player in Ace direction. This is a good way to begin, except of course when multiple players call it simultaneously. “Recall” resets the call for service. It continues… “Service”, Recall”, Service” until the passive kid in dunce sighs with defeat and the game resumes. The kid with a defeatist attitude just became a target for a quick, humiliating exit to the end of the reserve queue.
The leaders of the handball crowd should not be underestimated. These are the kids who will end up as our superiors in high paying executive roles before the age of 25. While there is a minimum threshold of physical skill required, ultimately the “My ball, my rules” assertion enforces their position of power; a metaphor for the inequalities of wider society. Play ball.
Metaphors and idioms used – children spill out onto the playground, live and breathe soccer, different kettle of fish, hierarchical war, top dog, dethrone, bottom of the barrel, dictators of the past, remain at the helm, became a target, play ball.
