History of Water Polo

As swimming became a popular recreation in England during the 1860s and 1870s, several water sports developed, roughly patterned after land sports. Among them were water football (or soccer), water rugby, water handball, and water polo, in which players rode on floating barrels, painted to look like horses, and struck the ball with a stick. Water rugby became the most popular of these sports, but somehow the water polo name became attached to it, and it's been attached ever since. As played in England, the object of the game was for a player to touch the ball, with both hands, at the goal end of the pool. The goaltender stood on the pool deck, ready to dive on any opponent who was about to score. Water polo quickly became a very rough sport, filled with underwater fights away from the ball, and it wasn't unusual for players to pass out for lack of air. In 1877, the sport was tamed in Scotland by the addition of goalposts. The Scots also replaced the original small, hard rubber ball with a soccer ball and adopted rules that prohibited taking the ball under the surface or "tackling" a player unless he had the ball. The Scottish game, which emphasized swimming speed, passing, and team work, spread to England during the early 1880s, to Hungary in 1889, to Austria and Germany in 1894, to France in 1895, and to Belgium in 1900. Water polo was the first team sport added to the Olympic program, in 1900.

Water Polo Rules

Water Polo is governed by FINA who set the rules of the game. The current rules are available at Water polo Rules

Spectors Guide to Water Polo

Water Polo on the Web

Links

IWPA

Governing body of Irish Water Polo

IWPA

AUSTRALIAN WATER POLO INC. WEBSITE

Australian Water Polo

Official web site of Australian Water Polo containing news on national teams, events, national league

US Water Polo

USA Water Polo

Official Site of USA Water Polo

H2O Polo

H2O Polo is an online, interactive community formed by water polo players for water polo players. The mission of H2O Polo is to use technology to encourage increased communication and contact among those playing the sport, at all levels, within the United States and internationally

H2O Polo

Coaching Water Polo

Coaching Water Polo This site is a forum for water polo coaches. Finding or devising new drills that are effective, interesting and fun is a constant difficult task for coaches! This site intends to provide an interactive place for coaches to contribute to and benefit from.

Coaching Information Coaches inservices sports science information for coaches