Tony Hannon - Custodian of Irish Handball - Hogan Stand Interview by Michael McGee

Tony Hannon has travelled many a long and winding road in handball that eventually seen him reach the high office as President of the Irish Handball Council in 2008. His earliest memory in handball started when he played handball in the old 60 x 30 court in the fair green in the centre of Ballymote Co. Sligo. His father Michael introduced him to handball and was his coach. The Hannon family have a long and prominent involvement in handball. His father Michael was involved in handball all his life and played for Ballymote and Sligo for many years. He was also a handball official for club, county and provincial level and joint founder of the Connacht Handball Council in the early fifties.Tony’s brothers John & Michael also played for the club. Michael was a very good player at minor and junior level and later teamed up with the late Eamon Hannon (a first cousin) and were very impressive according to Tony.Eamon later played with Paddy Walsh to win an All-Ireland Junior title.Dessie Walsh a brother in law also represented Sligo winning the Junior Singles in 1951 and adding a National League and All-Ireland titles in 1966 and 1969. 

Surrounded by handball it came as no surprise that Hannon would follow in the same path as his father and brothers. Tony Hannon started playing at the tender age of 7. Growing up Hannon admired such handball players as Dessie Walsh & Marcus Henry of Sligo, Joey Maher Louth, and the Kirby brothers from Clare, Dick Lyng & Seamus Buggy Wexford, Connie Cleere and Paddy Hickey whom he described as great hardball players.

In Ballymote Hannon was lucky enough to have had the opportunity of seeing many great players and matches. Ballymote was the first court in Connacht to be roofed and floodlit. There was also a number of tournaments in the three wall open courts around the province. The Gael Linn proved to be an excellent 60 x 30 competition. Over 1000 players took part with the top 8 players playing off on the final day for the Gael Linn Cup. 

Hannon’s earliest achievement in handball came when he teamed up with club mate Martin Meehan to win the minor county doubles title.“It is the one I will always remember.” Hannon quite humbly mentioned that he was a better doubles player than a singles player. Hannon remembers Mickey Walsh of Roscommon as one of the top players at underage level in Connacht and at National level for over thirty years.Later Hannon would play with Walsh and win an All-Ireland Masters Doubles 60 x 30 title.Hannon would go on and win 3 more All-Ireland titles with Stephen French Masters 40 X 20 B doubles, Martin Bruen Masters 60 x 30 B doubles, and P.J. Moran Golden Masters A doubles together with a number of Garda national titles in a fine playing career.

While stationed in Kilrush Co. Clare in the early seventies he helped out with coaching in the local handball club and with fundraising to build a 40 x 20 court.In 1978 Hannon was transferred to Roscommon. Immediately he became involved again with Sligo. 

Tony Hannon’s first administrative post came in 1980 the same year as his father sadly passed away.He became club Secretary in Ballymote and also as Secretary Sligo Handball Board for a period of 3 years before throwing in his hat and resuming his playing career this time in the Roscommon colours where he was living at the time.In 1996 Hannon took over as club secretary in St. Coman’s a position he held for over 10 years. During that time also he also served as Roscommon County Chairman and also on Ard Comhairle of the Irish Handball Council. 

Tony Hannon became Irish Handball President in 2008 and has a hands on approach to the office. “Apart from the responsibility of running Irish Handball affairs there are numerous meetings, with our handball staff, Ard Comhairle, Coiste Bainisti, Provincial Councils, a number of GAA Nationals Committees and meetings.A conservative guess I would have to say I spend 2-3 days working for handball each week.”“The handball year goes from January to December. Every day he is in contact with National Handball Manager Chris Curran in Croke Park.There are many meetings, functions or launches to attend and at the weekend’s attending handball finals, tournaments and new court openings. In order to complete all of the above I spend many hours in my car getting from place to place.” 

Hannon is extremely pleased that handball has increased so much in popularity in the last 10 years. “There is no doubt that a lot of clubs and counties are doing trojan work in promoting handball. Great strides have been made in coaching and this is beginning to pay dividends” admitted Hannon. With handball now an integral part of the GAA family the Handball President wants all units to work together to make the GAA a better organization for everyone.The Irish Handball Council are in active negotiations with the parent body at present to secure a National Handball Centre in Dublin.There are structures being put into place in co-operation with the GAA in areas as coaching, training, promotion, marketing and development. 

Still the Roscommon man has concerns for the game in a number of different areas and admits handball is suffering in some County’s. “There is no doubt that this is a major concern and one we will have to address before it is to late for many clubs. Hardball and 60 x 30 are our national games and we must do whatever we can to preserve and promote them. In the last few months we have been working on our new 5 year strategic plan for handball and hopefully this will address these issues.”

The 40x 20 and One-Wall codesis the success story in handball and the Handball President has high hopesfor the One-Wall game because of its great potential and world wide appeal.The Handball President has confirmed that the I.H.C. will be continuing discussions with other European Federations on ways to promote the game.Looking into the future the Handball President would like to see more people participating with new and better facilities. Further international competitions and hopefully handball as an Olympic sport. 

Handball is up against other sports such as Rugby, Football, Hurling, Soccer but Hannon is confident that we can sell Handball as an excellent product. “It is an inexpensive sport, and can be played by male/female young and old for life and has an international dimension to it.” 

The St. Coman’s club man has seen many great matches over the years and has warm praise for the current underage and senior stars.“You have only to take note of their recent achievements at last October’s World Championships in Portland in particular our senior stars Paul Brady & Fiona Shannon who led by example. They are tremendous role models for all our young players.” Hannon is very pleased with the great work being done all over the country promoting handball by the County P.R.O.’s and Croke Park staff.“The World Championships have given handball a great boost and raised the profile of the game to a higher level. The task is to keep handball in the media spotlight and to broaden the base.”

The Handball President finished by saying that when his term of office comes to an end in 2011 that his hope will be he will have made a positive contribution to handball. That is already assured. Hannon has worked tirelessly since taken up the mantle of Irish Handball President. He is only the second Roscommon man to hold the position of Irish Handball President in its 86 year history. A Garda Juvenile Liaison Officer in Roscommon he somehow manages to juggle his time between family, work and handball.With Frances his wife giving him rock solid support along with the rest of the family, he is able to continue his work for Irish Handball in a very meticulous manner.

Leading by example and from the front the Roscommon man has undertaken many initiatives and guided the fortunes of Irish Handball. Already under his Presidency the game has never got as high as profile as in the last number of years. And with his undoubted drive and enthusiasm for the perfect game of handball you can be sure when he eventually hands over the reign to his successor in 15 months time, handball will be in even far greater shape to deliver into the second decade of this century. 

Hannon’s very approachable personality and his deep love for handball is clear for everyone to see. Already he is being considered as one of the great handball Presidents in handball history.Working diligently and with great drive, passion and enthusiasm he has endeared himself to all the Irish Handball fraternity. His endeavour has been his greatest asset and history will look favourably on his tenure. 

Irish Handball Manager Chris Curran articulated the sentiments off all the Irish handball fraternity when he said "Tony's sincerity and genuine love for the game of handball are attributes which will see him always command the respect and admiration of all involved within the sport. His forthright determination to see our sport reach much greater heights has delivered a very exciting and potentially unprecedented era of growth in the history of this great game. Despite having only taken up my own role in February 2009, I do believe Tony has effectively been one of the great Presidents of our Association." 

High praise indeed from the National Handball Manager and one richly deserved. A great debt of gratitude is owed to Tony Hannon for his generous giving of his time in helping handball to the forefront of the GAA and Irish Sport. History will look kindly on Tony Hannon’s Presidency.