Goalball was invented in 1946 by an Austrian Hanz Lorenzen and a German, Sett Reindle. It is a unique team sport for the visually impaired, played by 2 teams of 3 players. All players are blind-folded to enable blind, visually impaired and sighted athletes to compete together. The game is of 14 minutes duration (playing time) divided into 2 x 7 minute halves. The ball used (which is called a goalball), weighs 1.25 kg and contains noise bells. The object of the game is to roll the ball over the opponent's goal line using a bowling action.