Part 2: Chris O'Reilly journey as EHF commentor

Photo credit: Pawel Jakubowski Photography

As we could see in the first part of this interview, Chris embarked on his journey into the world of Irish handball with enthusiasm, determination, sacrifices, and a commitment that, despite the obstacles that he faced, he continued to play and improve his skills along the way. Now, it's time to dive into the enthralling narrative of how these early experiences and countless hours of dedication in his green Ireland have ultimately shaped him into the remarkable player, commentator, and person he is today.

Join us as we explore how these formative years paved the way for his remarkable evolution within the international handball community, and how the people and environments he encountered along the way have left an indelible mark on his incredible journey and personality.

Did you ever dream of playing handball in an advanced handball nation?

Yes, a good help for that was actually playing with Dublin International in my last 2 years while I was in college at UCD. They allowed me to play in the Challenge Cup, the European Cup Competition in Croatia. That was a great experience to play, and Dublin International was very good at that time. In Croatia, it was like a group phase played in one weekend, playing against the Croatian and the Ukrainian team, where we lost both of them by close single digits. We played against Olympia Club from the UK, and we beat them. So that was already kind of competing at a level that was pretty high and competing properly, so it wasn't just a team making up numbers but a team that could actually play at a good level against them.

So already through them, I had an idea of what was possible, and that's why, when I finished university, I went to Germany. A coach contacted me to come there; it was a lower division team that had a lot of ambition to go higher, and so I decided to go there. I thought of going 1 or 2 years to go play in Germany and then to move back. So at least for that 1 year I was kind of thinking,” Okay, this is like an experiment to see what is possible”, and I was 21 at that time to 22 and that showed that there was a possibility to go a little bit higher. Then I got injured and from there I thought that the chances were gone—not completely gone, but I was happy to focus on the working side of handball afterwards.

My ligament broke three times in four years, that was the end. After the 1st injury playing in the European qualification tournament in Israel, it happened in the 1st game against the host. So I had the surgery, and it was another qualification for another EURO, another step up in the European Championship qualifications, and we had our first home game in the European Championship qualifier in 2014 against Belgium and Estonia. Those games were only 7 months after the surgery, which was too early and usually not that soon, but I really rushed it, I rushed back to my first actual game. It was a bad idea, as it happened again six months later. It was a great experience as well. We played in DCU, and particularly in the 1st game against Belgium, another country that this year qualified for the world championship. We played probably the best 30 minutes of the Irish national team ever, who in reality were 25 goals better than us and half-time losing with 11–8, so we handled a proper game against them. In the end, we lost by 12 goals, which was still good. Those guys were playing professionally in France at a completely different level, but we did very well. That was the main motivation to come back. After that second and third time injury, I took the time to recover.

I never thought to play at a full-time professional level, just to see how high I could go with it, and mostly with the idea of helping the national team. However, as long as I can help the national team, I will keep doing it. If there was still a national team, I would still keep playing as long as they want me, as long as I could help the national team.

Were you ever thinking to become an EHF commentator, and how is it to jump from the field in commenting the big events of the handball world?

I don't think that I ever plan to do it. It’s one of those jobs where is always very interesting, like the idea of working in as a journalist, working in sport, but you never know how you can get into it. It was kind of good timing, I would say. That was good timing with the injury I had at the end of one year in Germany, the one that happened in Israel, because then I had the surgery again, I knew I was not playing handball. That year I considered going back home to Ireland.

Brian Campion, who I do the podcast with, was already living in Vienna; he moved when I moved to Germany, and he was working part-time for the EHF. He knew that they needed someone to work full time in the media department, so he recommended I try and go because they also needed somebody who knew the sport, was a native English speaker, and could also speak German. So this is quite a narrow thing. And then, when I got the injury, I thought, "Okay, this is a good chance,” so I had some interviews with them, and then I got the job and two weeks later moved to Vienna. I was working in the media department, working on social media as a journalist, writing, but not commenting, and was only after a while presenting some things for the federation.

Tomas O'Brannagain, who was doing the commentary, was basically just him, he thought that I should do it as well, and a certain time the people responsible for TV at EHF asked if I want to try it out. So I tried it, and then in my last year working for EHF full time, I was also doing commentary on the weekend, so a kind of extra job, and then I became a freelancer.

It was never a plan to do it. It’s like, if you plan to do it, it never works. It has to be a little bit in the right place at the right time. While for me, it was a kind of bad thing, that happened to me that led me to a positive thing. It was actually that injury that led to the opportunity to work for EHF in the first place, so that was a positive thing to come out of the terrible injury, for sure. It's more a thing of working hard; it's something that I have planned, just taking the opportunity and grabbing it. I would say that it’s one of those things, you can either talk or you can't talk, which is not something that needs training too much. I've done some training on it, but it's something that has to be there a little bit to begin with.

I wouldn’t change anything, it was really a positive accident.

How do you see the world of handball from the high performance compared with Ireland in the global context?

It's a completely different universe in the sense that what we see in the top 18 in the world Champions League, are at a completely different level because they are full-time professionals, and you know that they have committed their whole lives to being professionals. That is different, but the culture I think is very similar.

It's funny how down to earth most of the people in the handball world are and how accessible they are. For example, I had many opportunities to meet Cristina Neagu and talk to her for 2 hours interview. Where could you imagine that the greatest female player in the world or in any other sport would be that accessible? I think that is impossible.

So I think that the cultural side of it is very similar from the top to the bottom in terms of how players are with each other, in the Champions League as you do in the Irish League, English League. There are a lot of similarities everywhere in terms of how people behave, the good and the bad side of it.

Even at the World Championships, on both the men and women sides, you get a kind of glimpse into what could be for a nation like Ireland. The fact that you have teams from North America, Asia, and Africa competing where the level is at the some point unsure of where Ireland is right now or where it was 10 years ago. So you also see the struggles that they have, but also the opportunities to face very big teams.

The cultural side is very similar everywhere, and then the performance level. When you get to that very top step, you see how different it is, and you appreciate just how it is almost a different sport for those players that are at the very top.

Handball, I think, is great because you have different times when you get to see that cross-over between the professional, like the top professional and the amateur side of it.

At the word championship, with the lower teams that compete, you also see things like the Super Globe, which will be in November, and the Club World Championship. There you have teams from North America and Australia competing, who are basically just really committed amateurs, and they get a chance to play against the big teams.

This is a kind of romance of it, you see just how different the two worlds are, but the cultural side of it from top to bottom in every country, is very similar, and that is a very positive thing.

From all your experience at the international level as a player, what were the biggest lessons?

The biggest lesson would be how I would do it if I could plan everything from an Irish perspective, like how to build teams, clubs, and a national team from the beginning, because you see over the years what's missing and where deficiencies are.

Of course, you can't fix it by the time you're playing mid-20s or whatever, it's too late for you as a group of players. You can't go back and start training 10 times a week at the age of 13, not that it's 100% unnecessary, but you kind of see, where we need to make up either in technical ability or physical ability, or something else where that could potentially be done.

It's been a lot of thinking about that—a big lesson from playing these tournaments over the years. This is not something that I am able to put into practice yet. Maybe at some point in one day it would be nice to do that because it's a thing that these are lessons that can be applied directly to me and my life but are also kind to help the next generation. I'm a kind of realizing that it's not a million miles away, like you don't need to be a big handball nation to succeed in this sport in a way or another. You can see that in some of the nations that are progressing now, you can also see in the beach handball, which I think is going to be the next big thing. That's something that I would wish for Ireland to take the opportunity because where the indoor handball in order to have a successful national team, you need to have 16 players to compete at a certain level to have success over a number of years, in beach handball you need 10 players to have success in a short amount of time.

It's a kind of lesson about what I would do if I would have the opportunity to organize things from the bottom to the top. In relation to Ireland, that's probably the biggest lesson.

A proposal was offered in the media side together with Alex Kulesh and Brian Campion back in 2020. We had some small talks but no finalization of it from the board.

I wouldn't be even so worried about getting paid so much if I would do something like that. I would need to know if there is money committed to it, which is not necessary for me but to bring people into the table for it to make things happen. I know that there are a certain number of things that can be done with volunteers, but at a certain point, you also need to have financial support for the people involved. I would find it hard to convince other people that just because I did it and sacrificed all this time, you should do the same. What do we achieve with that? Nothing.

Which of the coaches and players that you played with and were coached by, impressed you the most and why?

You take a lot of things from every coach you have and every type of player you play with. The first group of coaches I had, I took a lot because we were all brothers—that's Tomas O'Bregannas, who was one of our coaches of the national team, and his younger brothers were playing together in the team with Tom, Oisin and Ciaran. They were incredible and inspiring for everyone because they drove this whole culture of sacrifice for the team. Without three of them, there would be no national team for an even longer period. It was their attitude and their sacrifice that also inspired the next generation of people to sacrifice everything, and that was like being led by Alex Kulesh, Julian Eberle and with me, we organized a lot of stuff together with Roman Abramenko, putting in our money. There were always these kinds of people who were doing so much, and their approach and sacrifice were very inspiring, because even though it might not be the right thing every single moment, you cannot argue with the sacrifice they put in. That's very inspiring!

There are two generations of people, and basically, without them, there would be no international presence for Ireland.

Behind them, I would say Toni Gerona, who was our coach for a couple of years, basically between Tomas and Roman; he's currently coaching the Serbia national team.

At the time, he was coaching Barcelona while at the same time coaching us. He was the one who opened our eyes to taking the next step and what it required to do it. He brought the level up in a short amount of time, which was quite eye-opening because the performance of the team was stronger than ever. However, the number of people involved dropped quite a bit because they couldn't keep up with the demands of it. It is difficult to get a big squad together because what was required to be part of it was too much for some people, which is totally understandable. Everyone had their lives, so it was a kind of sacrifice and commitment, but it was also another high-performance element to it. He was a brilliant coach and a really good person. It's shown afterward that he continued to have success as an international coach, and it's nice to know that he was part of the Irish team for even a couple of years, and he put in a lot of sacrifice to do that.

Since then and living abroad, there's no one in particular in terms of players, but more like every single player here in Sweden, Germany, and Austria. Just being exposed to that culture and knowing that the mass majority of the players are at a certain level and that they are able to do things—it's just a kind of being exposed to those players who have had handball at a high level as part of their lives since they were 6–7–8 years old. Even nowadays, playing for a team for fun with three trainings per week is possible if you can, and there are maybe 50 people in the club, but not everyone comes as everyone has their own lives. Are all those players who played at the top level now doing it just for fun, like myself. Even nowadays, playing in trainings with them is fascinating and inspiring to see how they play, the knowledge, and the handball culture that is within them.

The majority of the people who have inspired me the most are not necessary because of the handball skills, but because of those people that I mentioned at the beginning who were involved in the national team, because that is very inspiring.

Having your experience as an EHF commentator and now as the co-host of the (Un)-informed Handball Hour, what do you suggest for someone who would follow your path?

Nothing is going to guarantee it; it is a kind of circumstance, but also putting yourself in the position to do it, I would say, and being willing and brave to do it.

For example, the podcast that I've been doing for 6 years now, we started that with Brian and me, and then Alex joined after a year. We started that because, as soon as I became a freelancer, I stopped working for EHF. I had it in mind for quite a while, and so I just said to Brian “Let’s do it! We have access to people, let's try that”.

It became this thing that has grown very nicely and very naturally over the past 6 years and is one of those things that has no formula to do it, is something like you need to put yourself out there. I think now it's a lot easier. The entryway is a lot more open than it was before because of the opportunities that come up to get involved in the media side of things in handball, which wasn’t before. Also, because of social media as people can create their own content quite easily now.

You don't need to be working for a federation, now people are creating content from home because they want to do it. That, I think, is the entry way into it, and there are opportunities for freelancers to work, like as content creators or editors, journalists with EHF, and also when it comes to commentary. When I was doing it, it was a close house. 2 people were doing commentary for English countries. Tomas O'Brannagain was doing for the Championship League and 2 people were doing for the European Championship. Now has changed thankfully, and this year was an opportunity only for women to apply for the commentary, which is something importnat that had to be pushed for. I think that was an open call for everyone who wants to get involved, which is really positive. I hope they will continue doing that for everyone, especially younger people under 40.

I think that the door is very much open, but it is not always obvious how it could be done without those things, like asking people, to reach out to them and getting in touch with people who are happy to help with these things. I think that is the case with the podcast. Most of the first two years, we were doing it not to get money, we were doing it because we wanted to do it. We work in handball, we also want to do this and it became a kind of good brand-building name. From there, we had opportunities to work through it. I think that is like every other job: you need to do some unpaid work before the opportunities arise. It's not easy, that's for sure, and that's not a guarantee. To get a full-time job in journalism and broadcasting, it's a talent as well. So the things were like someone might like you, and you get in to ask to do it, and then that person or somebody else who is in charge does not like you, and then you are not doing it. You can't argue with that. If someone likes you, you get the job, if they don't, then “c’ est la vie”. I have experienced both the positive and negative sides of that, but I think that the door is very much open, is just not always obvious, and is something that tackles a little bit of sacrifice as well, just like handball.

What do you think is the biggest challenge for Irish handball in the future?

The biggest challenge and opportunity is establishing the sport at every age group and at every level. From primary schools into secondary schools to club teams at 12, 14, and 16 levels and creating a path to high performance. Whether that means playing for clubs at a high level or playing for a selection team and going abroad. I think that is the key thing to creating a path from 7-year-olds travelling for the first time up to people graduating from university and taking steps there. Every step along the way, a chance to play the sport however they want to, whether it's for fun once a week or whether is seriously every day of the week, I think that is the big challenge. I think that is not impossible, but it is something that is really necessary, so we should do whatever we can to fill every single step.

What are your future plans for handball? Do you consider returning to Irish handball?

I want to keep playing for as long as I can, that is a big part of it. I am 33 now, and I would like to play as long as my body allows me because I also realized that at a certain point it would not be possible any more. On the working side, I’m really fortunate to be working at almost every level now. Commentating on the European Championship final or Champions League finals, all the way down to doing a beach handball tournament in Holland or doing the English Cup finals. I’m always willing to do stuff at every level because I know what being a player at any level is like, and I think everyone deserves that. So I like being involved at any level.

In Irish handball, I’ve never not been involved in a way or another. Even I flew back for the terrible weather to play the Irish beach handball. When it comes to things like that, I always try to be involved, and I always make myself available when I can.

One thing that I would like to do in the future is commenting on the Olympics.

Do you have any words to say to the players and coaches that are playing in the Irish League?

Be nice to each other. You're all trying to do the same thing, and you're all trying to achieve the same thing. You have to get over yourself a little bit and be nicer to each other. Just sit down, have a coffee, and talk with each other. It will get better if you actually talk with each other and stop thinking that you're also special. None of us are that special.

What would be your advice for the children who are just discovering handball?

To try to enjoy it as much as possible and to play without coaches as well. Playing around without coaches, playing for fun, discovering the ball—that is what worked in the Faroe Islands. They played with themselves, they got a ball, they played around, and they just loved it, not because it was an organized activity.

Hopefully, they can discover the love for the ball, and anything else does not matter, they will discover it for themselves.

And here we are at the end of this insightful conversation. Do you want to be the next one sharing your story? Let us know.

Now going back to Chris O'Reilly's handball journey, is nothing short of extraordinary. From his humble beginnings to reaching the pinnacle of the handball world, he has left an indelible mark on Irish handball and beyond. His remarkable contributions to the sport go beyond mere achievements, as he has dedicated his time, resources, and unwavering support to the Irish handball community. His commitment to his country is truly commendable. Despite facing numerous challenges and even risking his health, he never wavered in his determination to give his best for Ireland. Being one of the many Irish players to make such sacrifices and achieve international recognition, he remains grounded and humble, acknowledging the impact of those who supported him along the way.

Chris O'Reilly's story serves as an inspiration to all of us. We can learn valuable lessons from his unwavering dedication, resilience, the belief that sport has the power to bring people together and from all his knowledge and advices. His journey exemplifies the spirit of togetherness that we should strive for in Irish handball and beyond.

We express our utmost admiration for Chris O'Reilly and the remarkable impact he has made on the handball and the willingness shown to keep helping Ireland in it's handball journey despite the situation that is facing today.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude for his invaluable time and assistance in making this possible, wholeheartedly wishing him a seamless and swift journey in reaching his target of becoming a commentator to the Olympics too. The hardwork, remarkable skills and dedication will undoubtedly shine.