handball

Australian colloquial use, meaning to unilaterally give responsibility for a problem to someone else. Comes from Australian Football, where the "handball" is the fastest legitimate way to dispose the football. The receiving player gets no protection if they receive a handball, they are subject to immediate tackle. Often when players are about to be tackled they desperately handball to a teammate, solving their immediate problem but often putting the receiving player in the same difficulty. Where the receiver is put in physical danger, it is a "hospital handball". Also known as the "hand pass".

Ian didn't want to deal with the difficult project, so he handballed it to me.