26 April 1924 "Dev [De Valera] beat me decisively a couple of times" at handball. In 1925 the first All-Ireland Handball Congress was held and the All-Ireland Senior Softball and Hardball Championships were established In 1971 Comhairle Liathróid Láimhe na mBan was founded to administer the sport for female competitions. In 1998 the amalgamation of Comhairle Liathróid Láimhe na hÉireann and Comhairle Liathróid Láimhe na mBan saw a single national administration. The Irish Handball Council was rebranded as GAA Handball (Liathróid Láimhe C.L.G.) in 2009. Types of handball In Ireland, there are four forms or codes of handball. These include the two domestic codes: Softball (also known as 'big alley' or '60x30' from the playing court dimensions) is a code played in a large four-walled court measuring , played with a small 'Softball' rubber ball (typically red in colour). The code is played between June and October. Munster and South Leinster are regarded as strongholds, whilst Ulster's progress in the code is hampered by the limited number of courts in the Province. The ceiling is not used as an area of play within the softball code. Hardball (can also be known as '60x30' interchangeably with the softball code), played in the same court as Softball, but as the name suggests, with a much harder 'hardball' ball. Hardball is recognised as a traditional code of the game. The code is more difficult to play due to the ball being much harder than any of the others used in the other codes. As a result, there are currently much lower playing numbers in recent years than any of the other codes (On average between 2013 and 2017 inclusive there has been 34 entries between five grades (Senior, Minor, Intermediate, Junior and Masters Singles) nationally) and there are no grades offered in Ladies or Juvenile grades due to health and safety concerns. The ceiling is also not used as an area of play within the harball code. and two international as played in Ireland: 1-Wall (also known as 'Wallball') The 1-Wall code, as the name suggests, is played against a single wall measuring , with court lines marked out on both the wall and floor. It is played with a soft rubber ball (similar to a racquetball ball, softer than both a 4-Wall, Softball and Hardball ball) and can be played either indoors or outdoors. When serving or returning a ball, the ball