Horseball is a sport played on horseback where a ball is handled and goals are scored by shooting it through a hoop with a diameter of 1m. The sport is a combination of polo, rugby, netball, and basketball. It is one of the ten disciplines officially recognized by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI); in 2015 the (FIHB) and the International University Sports Federation (FISU) signed memorandums of understanding with the FEI.[1]
The origin of Horseball was an invention of the French Army Captain Clave, a show jumping world champion. It's based in “Pato”, the Argentine national sport, played since the 1600. The idea was to have a game which would improve the partnership between Horse & Rider, could be played on a standard riding manège and would be fun to play. It was developed further by a group of Frenchman who set up a commission under the presidency of Jean Paul Depons, a riding Instructor and rugby player in the Bordeaux region. It was this group who regularised the rules of Horseball in France. In the late 1970s, the French Horse Federation (FFE) accepted Horseball as a discipline and it became popular quite quickly, especially in the regions of Provence, Midi and the Loire Valley. Although the rules were established in 1978 in France, the international development started only in early 90's and in 1992 the International Commission of Horseball was set up with France, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Portugal and the first European Cup was held at the Salon De Cheval in Paris in December of that year. Austria joined soon after.
Horseball is a highly spectacular equestrian sport that can be defined as a mix of "basketball and rugby on horseback".It is a fast action team game played on horseback based on attack and defense with the objective of scoring goals. Each team has four players, plus two substitutes (6 in total), and they must make a minimum of three passes between three different players before scoring. Players can be substituted at any break of play. The ball is a size 4 football (size 3 for the Ladies game) encased in a harness with 6 leather handles to enable picking up. The ball cannot be held for more than 10 seconds by any player, so they have to pass the ball between them when they make an attack which makes it a real team game. When the ball falls to the ground a player must pick it up in motion without dismounting or changing pace, this action is called "ramassage", the French term for picking up the ball. There is a strict priority to this in the interests of safety. The players score by throwing the ball through a 1m. diameter vertical hoop 3.5m from the ground to the bottom and hung 1m. into the pitch, which stands at each end as the goal. The game is normally played on an equestrian surface, in a rectangular pitch that is approximately 65 meters by 25 meters (approximately 215 feet by 80 feet). Each game lasts 20 minutes, made up of 2 x10 minute halves with a 3minute half time when the teams change ends. The team that scores the most goals win.
There are several international competitions organized by the FIHB: the European Championship, the World Championship, and the clubs FIHB Champions League
The European Senior Championship is the older international tournament, the first was in 1992 in Paris. This is a mixed-sex teams tournament. There have been seventeen editions of this tournament with Saint-Lô 2013 (France), being the latest.France is the only national team to have won this tournament, the Portuguese team has the most Silver, and Belgium the most Bronze. Currently the titles are: Gold for France, Silver for Spain and Bronze for Portugal. The European Lady Championship is the female only tournament, the first was in 2003 in Abano Terme 2003 (Italy). There have been eight editions of this tournament with Saint-Lô 2013 (France), being the latest.France is again the only national team to have won this tournament, tied for most silver are Belgium, Germany and Spain, and tied with the most bronze are Belgium, Great Britain and Spain. Currently the titles are: Gold for France, Silver for Spain and Bronze for Belgium.
The European Under-16 Championship is the youth tournament with mixed-sex teams, the first was in 2004 in Lamotte-Beuvron 2004 (France). There have been ten editions of this tournament with Saint-Lô 2013 (France), being the latest.France have been beaten to the gold twice by Spain in this tournament but still have the most golds. Spain have most silver and Italy have most bronze. Currently the titles are: Gold for France, Silver for Portugal and Bronze for Spain.
The World Championship (senior mixed teams), has been held twice.The first was at Ponte de Lima in 2008. The teams that played in the championship were Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, Spain. This was won by France, Spain got Silver, and Portugal Bronze. The second edition was held in 2012 in Montpellier and the team competing were, Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Portugal, Spain. The results were France with Gold, Spain got Silver, and Portugal Bronze.
The club level competition organized by the International Horseball Federation is the FIHB Chambions League. This is competed between the top club from the four highest ranked European nations. This competition began in 2007 in Stockholm, Sweden, and was won by Chambly Horse-Ball (from France), the Portuguese team Sporting Clube de Portugal CEJC got Silver and Caramel from Belgium got Bronze. There have been 7 editions of this competition and
In 2010 was held in Portugal the first Four Nations Cup won by the National French team, Portugal got silver and Spain got bronze.[2]