(Guy who really wants to talk about the Sri Lankan Handball Team): You know what that makes me think of? The Sri Lankan Handball Team.
In 2004, a group of 23 men from Sri Lanka became Sri Lanka’s first and only handball team, and therefore its national handball team. They played two games—one a 36–2 drubbing in Sri Lanka and one a blowout/shutout combo in Wittislingen, Germany, the latter the first of a ten-game tournament. They did not play the last nine games of the tournament. All 23 of them left the country early in the morning before the next game, most if not all heading into Italy where better financial prospects awaited for themselves and, by extension, for their families.
It’s a story that’s gotten a little inflated over time—a lot of sites telling about this will say that no one from the team was ever seen again, which isn’t true—but it did happen. 23 guys got together, learned to play handball passably enough to get invited to Germany as part of a cultural exchange, and used the opportunity to get the hell out of Sri Lanka. MEL Magazine ran the full story a year or two ago, even interviewing a couple guys from the team. It’s a good story. Nothing like harmless immigration fraud.
Anyway, got thinking of those guys on the “things that have never been found” train of thought this afternoon. The team didn’t really disappear, and most of the time when people disappear, it’s very bad. But when people disappear of their own volition, and for noble motives? That’s fun. It’s nice to have some mystery now and then.
