Swiss Family Rubin: Lenny hails “unbelievable spirit”, following in father’s footsteps

Back in May 1995, the Switzerland men’s national team travelled to Iceland for the IHF Men’s World Championship where they were hoping to go one better than their fourth place finish two years earlier, in Sweden.

Unfortunately, they could not make a challenge for a medal in Reykjavik, eventually finishing in seventh spot with a team including Martin Rubin, who would finish a glittering national team career with 878 goals in 239 games, and an appearance at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Little did Martin know back in 1995 that his future son, Lenny, born the following year, would be in the next group of Swiss players to experience an IHF Men’s World Championship, but after the USA withdrew from the 2021 IHF Men’s World Championship due to COVID-19, the Swiss were next in line.

And so 24-year-old Lenny found himself on court at the Dr Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall in Giza, Egypt, lining up against Austria. 

After a sluggish start where they found themselves 3:0 behind, Switzerland managed to keep in touch until the break, going in at half-time 13:13, but it was the younger Rubin who had one of the biggest impacts in the match, scoring four goals in six minutes (34-40th minute) to put his side 19:15 ahead and they never looked back, winning 28:25.

“We weren’t that ready at the beginning; it was kind of strange as we were in a big arena with no spectators, and after that long travel also,” said the 24-year-old to ihf.info after the match.

“At half-time the coach just told us we had played good and that we had a chance to play [in the second half]. He gave us a lot of trust and confidence, so it was much easier to play after half-time because the match was going well. We then had some easy goals and that helped us come into the game. I thought we earnt the win.”

That coach is Michael Suter, who took time to praise the HSG Wetzlar player Rubin after the match and reflect on the break in world championship appearances for his nation.

“Lenny made one of his best games for Switzerland,” said Suter. “It’s means a lot [to be here]. The last time for Switzerland was in 1995 and I was 20 years old, so it was a long time ago, but now [again] it is possible, and I think we have earnt our place after we finished 16th at the European Championship in Sweden last year.”

The Swiss team are led by 37-year-old Andy Schmid, who plays his club handball for Rhein-Neckar Löwen, but the remainder of the squad can boast a number of 19-year-olds and those in their early 20s, a mix of experience and youth which has already had results.

“The team are very good, but we are very young and not very experienced, plus, for all players, it’s their first world championship,” said the 2,05m Rubin, who scored six times in total against Austria.

“It’s really cool that we can play here, and we can gain a lot of experience in Egypt and want to get as much experience as possible. Even though we are young and not that experienced, we have an unbelievable spirit, but we need that we are given some time for all the expectations. 

“We are feeling extremely good to have our first win at a world championship.”

So one question remains, at the Rubin family dinner table, does this now mean that father Martin, who will move from coaching Wacker Thun after 14 years to BSV Bern next season, cannot brag anymore about being the only one sitting down to eat who has played at a world championship?

“Yes, this is really good,” laughs Lenny. “My father has always made a lot of jokes saying that his generation was able to play those tournaments and have that experience, so I am very, very happy now to be able to play on this stage and have these experiences myself now. I am overwhelmingly happy.

“Actually, I had no time to speak to my father  before coming,” he added. “We just got a call and the next day we already flew to Egypt. I had no time to see him, he was coaching in the evening so there was no time for a call.”