Fans were in for a shock last Monday when The New York Times (a prestigious American-based newspaper) ran a long-read feature on their favourite sport. 🤩
The sport in question? None other than korfball!
What is korfball?
Taking its name from the Dutch word for basket (korf), this is a mixed-gender sport played between two teams of eight players each.
Invented in 1902 by Nico Broekhuysen, a Dutch schoolteacher, the game’s objective is to manage to get a ball through a netless basket that’s mounted three and a half metres off the ground.
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Although korfball (or korfbal in Dutch) bears a few similarities to basketball, it’s thought that the game owes its origins to the Swedish sport of ringboll.
Korfball: bridging the gender divide in popular sports
A key point in The New York Times’ article was the unique way in which korfball approached gender dynamics in sport.
Unlike many other sports that were originally designed to be played by members of one gender, korfball is one of the handful of sports that were invented with mixed-gender teammates in mind.
The New York Times lauds this progressive aspect of the game, noting that it helps offset physical characteristics (such as height) that may otherwise leave the playing field unequal.
As gender in sports has become a relatively hot topic in recent years, it’s interesting to see if games like korfball will see an uptick in their popularity.
What do you think of The New York Times reporting on korfball’s progressiveness? Tell us all about it in the comments below!
Image: Korfball/Wikimedia Commons/CC4.0
