History of Tchoukball
In this section, we’ll take a look at the history of tchoukball from the early days of its invention, the beginnings of international competitions, to where we are today!
Origins and Founder
Dr Hermann Brandt was an eminent Swiss biologist. It was through his research into the effects of physical activities that the idea of Tchoukball had its foundation.
Dr Brandt saw that many sports produced shocking injuries that stopped even the strongest of athletes from participating further. After discussing these concerns in the book ‘From Physical Education to Sport Through Biology’, Dr Brandt presented his award-winning paper ‘A Scientific Criticism of Team Games’. This won him the coveted ‘Thulin Prize’, presented at the University of Lisbon on August 16th 1970.
The name “tchoukball”
Within this paper, Dr Brandt explored ways in which to construct the perfect team game whilst paying heed to his key concern of reducing injury. The practical expression of his ideas, stemming from his critical study of existing games, is the game we have come to know as tchoukball. This strange-sounding name comes from the ‘tchouk’ sound of the ball rebounding from a tchoukball frame. Dr Brandt felt this would be universally accepted. He died in November, 1972, but not before he saw some of his high hopes realised.
1984: 1st World Championships
In the 1970s, John Andrews, the President of the International Physical Education Federation (FIEP) had travelled to Taiwan and introduced tchoukball. Since then, Taiwan had experienced huge growth in the sport with it becoming the 3rd sport of Taiwan with over 200 teams.
In 1984, Taiwan hosted the first World Tchoukball Championships, winning both categories: the beginning of a legacy that would see them unbeaten for 20 years. Liu Cheng-Fong became President of the FITB, our international federation, in the same year.
2000 onwards
Tchoukball continued to grow in the 1980s and 1990s in the UK, but sadly, due to the collapse of the World Championships in 1995 many players moved on. However, in Geneva in August 2000, a World Tournament was held to mark the 30th anniversary of tchoukball’s birth. Shortly afterwards, competitive matches restarted in the UK, with players from the East and the South of the country once again reunited.
On January 13th 2002, Tchoukball UK was formed. Just 8 months later, Great Britain hosted the World Championships in Loughborough which was a massive success, bringing together teams from 4 different continents.
The Modern Age
Tchoukball grew rapidly, transformed by the opportunities the internet and technology brought. It expanded into Africa, and cemented its presence in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Today it’s played in over 80 countries with over 50 members.
Our international competitions are live-streamed on dedicated courts, our social media is vibrant, creative and inclusive and our family of athletes, families and friends are passionate and welcoming to everyone.
The future of tchoukball is bright.
For a deep dive into the history of tchoukball with hundreds of press clippings and personal testimonies, check out Swiss Tchoukball’s dedicated history section, created and produced with Michel Favre, Dr Brandt’s friend and co-founder of tchoukball
(Acknowledgements from this section for the images from the Swiss Tchoukball Federation and photographer Mickaël Sauser)