A Short History of Water Polo By Kelvin Juba

Transcription

A Short History of Water Polo
By Kelvin Juba
Cover page info
Since 1998, Kelvin Juba has worked as a strategic swimming consultant for government
departments and international swimming organisations. In 1970, he wrote ‘All About Water
Polo’ which was published by Michael Josephs of London. Last year he completed
‘EightyYears of the European Swimming Championships’ which was launched in Budapest
during the European Championships 2006.
He played in the National Water Polo League in England in the mid 1960’s and after playing
for the Great Britain Under 21 team in 1966 became a member of the British senior water
polo squad in 1967. His club, Otter Swimming Club, played in the first national water polo
club final in the World. He has a degree in Physical Education and Masters degrees in
Business and History.
Acknowledgments
To the International Swimming Hall of Fame and International Olympic Committee
Photographic Archive for the use of photos.
To Bruce Wigo, author of ‘A History of USA Water Polo in the Olympic Games’ and the late
James R. Smith and family, authors of ‘A World Encyclopaedia of Water Polo’, two invaluable
sources of information.
ISBN number: 0-9544422-4-5
Edition: This is a limited edition for licensed LEN Water polo referees
© Kelvin Juba, HNI International and Ligue Europeenne De Natation
All photos by Giorgio Scala are credited to Deepblueye.com/G.Scala
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Contents
Introduction
Early water polo historiography
The early years
Water polo takes a foothold in Britain
Water polo is introduced to other countries
Water in the USA
Water polo in Hungary
Water polo spreads throughout the World
Olympic water polo
Women’s water polo
Equipment
Ball
Caps
Referee’s flags
Goal posts
The evolution of the game’s rules
Men’s European water polo championships
European Championship winners and winning teams- men’s
Women’s European water polo championships
European Championship winners and winning teams- women’s
European club water polo
Major championships
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Introduction
Water polo is one of the great games of the sporting constellation, and, over the years, it has
given players and spectators many hours of pleasure. It was originally introduced because
spectators at aquatic and water based events were becoming increasingly bored with water
tricks and other activities. It was therefore born with the spectator in mind.
Throughout its 140 year history, administrators have looked to keep water polo as free
flowing as possible but often close marking has slowed the game and made it difficult to give
the advantage to the attacker if he is playing within the rules.
The basic structure of water polo has remained much the same since the first set of rules
were written at the end of the 1880’s. However, the separate rules played in the USA made
standardisation difficult to impose until the Federation de Natation Amateur (FINA)
introduced the first set of internationally accepted laws in 1911.
It is difficult to be certain how many countries play the sport but it is likely to be in the
region of 100. In some countries, such as Malta, it was played outdoors in its original format
because there were no indoor pools and matches were therefore played in the sea out of
necessity.
Britain’s attempts to spread the sport were successful but by 1924, she had ceded her
domination of the game to other European countries and from the late 1930’s, Hungary
became the dominant country within the sport. It remained this way until the early 1960’s
since when no less than four nations- Hungary, Yugoslavia, Soviet Union and Italy have fought
for supremacy.
This is a short and not a detailed history. It therefore covers all of the Olympic tournaments,
the start of water polo in different countries, the development of equipment, key rule
changes, women’s water polo, and a brief description of the European Championships. It is
with a certain amount of regret that I only touch on the World Championships, the FINA World
Cup and the European Club Competitions. In a short book of this nature, it has not been
possible to mention all of the great players and teams of the past. Even if you are not
mentioned here, you know who you are and you will always be remembered for your
contribution to water polo.
I am particularly indebted to the International Olympic Committee Photographic Archives for
the provision of a number of photos that have possibly never been seen in the public sector
before and to the late James R.Smith and his family for his remarkable work, the
Encyclopaedia of Water Polo, which formed the basis for some of the information in ‘Water
polo spreads throughout the World’.
Ultimately LEN’s aim is that this should be a handy reference work for all those people who
are undertaking their referee’s licence.
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Early water polo historiography
The first real writing about water polo was the set of rules drawn up by William Wilson.
Wilson was born in London on 13th November 1844. His parents were Scottish and he lived in
Glasgow for many years working as a swimming teacher. In 1884, he became a swimming
writer and he has been attributed with the invention of football in water, later known as
water poloi. Wilson was also the writer of Swimming, Diving and How to Save Life, written in
1883. In this book, he mentions swimming records for the first time. He was also the first
person to write drill for life saving which he did in a series of articles for the North British
Daily Mail. He had practised this in Glasgow and used it on a competitive basis awarding
prizes for proficiency. This drill was later adopted by the newly formed Royal Life Saving
Societyii. No copy of Wilson’s original water polo rules exists today.
Two pioneers of the game- William Wilson (left) and
William Henry (right) (photos, International Swimming Hall of Fame)
In 1885, William Smith, a hardy Londoner who bathed in the sea on winter days off the coast
at Llandudno in Wales where he settled in 1877, compiled The Swimming Club Directory. It
was the first book of its kind and it included one of the first copies of the rules of water
poloiii. Smith went on to establish the first newspaper in the town, the Llandudno Advertiser.
He died on March 13th 1895. The book listed over 200 swimming clubs throughout Britain as
well as amateur and professional records. The first treatise on water polo, which was written
and published in Eastbourne, was written by Bretton and Gowland in 1895. Bretton was
county (area) water polo secretary in Sussex. By 1901, water polo writing had spread and Herr
Altenstein published a book, the Sport of Swimming, which contained a then, modern treatise
on water polo. It was referred to as ‘das englische waterpolo’.
Another mention of water polo comes in Sinclair and Henry’s Swimming, Badminton Library
(Longman’s Green and Co, London) in 1893. They devote a chapter to the sport and also
became the founders of the Royal Life Saving Society. Later, Henry became the oldest
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swimmer to win an Olympic medal when he won a bronze in the 4 x 200 metres freestyle
relay at the 1908 London Olympics. He was aged just 49! Henry along with Max Ritter (USA),
Hjalmar Johansson (Sweden) and George Hearn (Great Britain) drew up the first code of
conduct for Olympic swimming events in preparation for the 1908 London Olympicsiv.
In 1896, La Natation by Mn. G. de Saint-Clair (Libarie de la Socitie des gens de letters)
further showed that water polo writing had now become established in France although
Thomasv criticised the book for showing a water polo player standing in 3 feet of water in one
of the plates. He refers to the inconvenience of water polo in France being played in the sea.
Water polo was also covered in 1897 in the Encyclopaedia of Sport written by the Earl of
Suffolk and Berkshire in Britain (Lawrence and Bullen, London). There were two other early
references- the Art of Swimming, with notes on water polo and aids to life saving by John
Jarvis (Hutchinson and Co.,London), written in 1902 by the future Olympic swimming
champion, and in the 9th and 10th editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1902.
Drawing from ‘How to Swim’
In his book in 1901, How To Swim, Captain Davis Daltonvi, who claimed to be the Champion
Long-Distance Swimmer of the World, shows a drawing of water polo being played in the open
sea, the players taking part without the identification of caps. He writes: ‘The increasing
popularity of swimming as a sport is due in a great measure to the comparatively new game
of water polo- or football upon the water, as it was called when it was invented in England a
little more than a decade ago. In America the game, though newly imported, has already
won great favour. Every athletic club of importance is equipped with a tank, and the water
polo contests are among the best attended ‘events’ of the season’. Another water polo book
was written in 1901 by Gus Sundstrom.
L. De B.Handley, who was Captain of the New York Athletic Club’s Olympic Team of 1904,
writes in ‘Swimming and Watermanshipvii’, ‘Two styles of water polo are fostered in this
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country (the USA); the American or intercollegiate style game, played by the teams of the
Intercollegiate Swimming Association, and the international or soccer variety, officially
adopted by the Amateur Athletic Union for affiliated clubs. In general character they may be
said to present the difference which exists between rugby and association football’. He goes
on to state that he sees college water polo as essentially a competitive sport whilst soccer
water polo is more of a past-time. Eventually, the college version was superseded by what
was seen as the international version.
Captain D. Shepherd’s book ‘Water Polo: The Game and the Rules Explained’, published in
1930 by Chapman and Hall’s, handily contextualises early water polo writing over the first 50
years of the game. It contains photos which show packed crowds at the 1928 Olympics and in
a water polo match in Skegness, England. In 1934, Lajos Panczel wrote the first History of
Hungarian Water Polo or ‘A magyar vizipolo tortenete’. After this period, water polo entered
more common parlance among European countries.
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The Early Years
Water polo started as a result of British Victorian Society’s love of sports. It arose in England
and Scotland at around the same time. This is likely to have been just before 1870 when
informal games would have been played. The game appears to have developed along two
dimensions and these two dimensions eventually converged quite naturally.
The first strand was within swimming pools. Water polo was a by-product of the industrial
revolution in Britain. Britain was the first country to industrialise and the rapid
industrialisation of the country meant that many of the population who had previously worked
on farming and agriculture in the countryside moved to live in towns where they could work
in the newly built factories. This was an entirely new phenomenon and many of Britain’s
recently industrialised cities were unprepared for the working conditions that resulted. The
workers lived in unsanitary and overcrowded housing. The middle classes, employers and local
authorities recognised that they needed to do something to help the working classes.
Many working class people lived in back to back housing with no baths and no means of
washing. As a result, two Acts of Parliament were passed to encourage the building of
swimming pools by local authorities. During the 1830’s and 1840’s, Britain had a number of
private pools but the idea of public swimming baths and wash-houses was completely new.
The idea was to build baths where people could wash on the same site as well as using a
swimming pool. In 1846, the Public Baths and Wash-houses Act allowed local authorities to
build their own public swimming pools and a later Act, in 1875, gave local authorities the
power to borrow and raise money for these pools. The result was an explosion in bath building
and a subsequent opportunity for the development of the spiritual and physical health of the
working classes.
From the mid 1870’s, people were able to swim in their local pools for one old penny. The
pools were run on a ‘fill and empty’ principle. They would be filled with new water at the
start of the week and the water would become dirtier and dirtier as more and more people
used the pool throughout the week. Also, at the end of the week, the cost of a swim was
much cheaper because the water was much blacker. On a Saturday, men would arrive from
the factories for their weekly bath. The baths were small ‘slipper’ baths, so called because
when this type of bath was first built, richer people had them in their upstairs rooms at home
and they would just slip into and out of them. The slipper baths within public baths were
about 2 metres in length. Following their bath, the men would go for a swim in the adjacent
swimming pool and during the ‘rough and tumble’ of a swim often would end up at the end of
a session with a ball in the water.
No pools would have had goal posts in those days and the likelihood is that goals were scored
by placing the ball on the side very much like scoring a try in rugby today. The resulting game
was more likely to have been similar to rugby and the American Rules water polo that was
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later adopted, rather than a water soccer version that was developed through water carnivals
and which will be described later.
Dick Hodgson,viii a member of the 1924 and 1928 British Olympic teams, recounted how his
father had told him that he used to find his way to the wash houses following their local rugby
matches in Lancashire. After they had bathed following the match, the rugby team would
end up in the pool with a ball. They then used to split into two teams of 7 with 1 player being
the referee (a rugby team has 15 players) and would play a kind of rugby in water. A goal
would be scored by placing the ball on the side of the pool with two hands in much the same
way as a try is scored in an actual rugby match. It is likely that many such games were played
at this time.
The second strand is much more formally documented. It is a theme based on water carnivals.
The game had come about because spectators were becoming bored with the usual
entertainment at water carnivals and swimming galas. These consisted largely of racing for
bets, long diving (or plunging competitions as they later became known) and fancy or
scientific swimming as it was then called. This would be a little akin to synchronised
swimming. Games including tub racing, duck hunting, tag and the use of fancy diving were all
part of the water carnivals.
The name ‘water polo’ may have derived from these ad hoc events. Sachsix in The Complete
Swimmer commented: ‘Of the many team games that exist there is none less like polo than
the game in which swimmers indulge, and it is something of a mystery how its title came to
be adopted. Matches wherein the contestants sat astride a wooden horse or an inflated skin,
known as a mussock, and played a ball with a wooden bat, a double sided kayak paddle or
with the hand, have frequently taken place at seaside regattas and in some swimming baths,
and as such efforts had at any rate a resemblance to the real thing, they were dubbed water
polo. The Illustrated London News (Series 1, 1883, p.212) carries a picture of a match in this
format. The present game is presumably an indirect outcome of those amusing exhibitions
and the name appears to have clung to it, although swimming has taken the place of riding
and the ‘horses’, the one detail that provided an excuse for the title polo, have been
eliminated’.
The immediate predecessor was the swimming carnival game of water derby. In water derby,
men would mount wooden barrels with a wooden facsimile of a horses head and a horse’s tail
at the other end of the barrel. Often the name of a well known horse was added to the side
of the barrel. The idea was to knock an opponent off their barrel and then to bat the ball
along the surface as in the game of hockey. It was played at the seaside and the playing area
was normally demarcated by a flotilla of rowing boats around the area. It appears that the
close association of this game and polo with horses initially gave rise to the name of this game
and that slowly the name was transferred as the hand throwing game emergedx.
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Early water polo played with recognisable goals and the pitch
defined by rowing boats (Badminton Book of Swimming)
Sachsxi records that games based on a ball and goals developed as far apart as Aberdeen,
Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Stoke, Birmingham and The Clyde, near Glasgow. There must have
been countrywide interest. Water polo is not mentioned at all in editions of The Swimming
Record and Chronicle of Sporting Events, a magazine published throughout 1873 and 1874,
but within a few years, was part of the staple diet of every swimming gala.
On May 12th 1870xii, a committee was appointed by the Amateur Swimming Association, then
known as the London Swimming Association, to draw up a code of rules for the management
of the game of ‘football in water’. We are already beginning to build a picture of a similar
game, played with a ball, a goal, sometimes with bats, being played under a number of
names- water football, water polo, water derby, water baseball and aquatic polo. Although
this committee was established in 1870, it was not until 1885 that the Swimming Association
of Great Britain, the successor to the London Swimming Association recognised the game as
being under its jurisdictionxiii.
For a number of years, primitive forms of play were employed. There were no goal posts.
These were normally marked by a poolside wall, flags and the like. In the manner of rugby, a
goal was called ‘a touch down’ which was brought about by the player touching the ball down
with both hands and normally along the pool side or on a pontoon if the match was being
played in the sea. The goal keeper and one other player would stand on the side in front of
the goal and jump on the heads of an opposition player likely to score a goal or touch down.
This practice nearly ended in a fatal accident in Portsmouth where J.Magyar was pushed
under a pontoon in a game and it was some time before he was found unconscious under the
waterxiv. One of the difficulties is that there is a dearth of truly detailed match description
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for us to draw on. We can only read about the rules and match results and use some of these
details to frame our conclusions.
In 1874, at Crystal Palace in London, the first water football game was playedxv. In 1876, a
similar game was played under the name of water baseball. There were three players on each
side. Often during these early games, the ball would burst. Detailed reports remain of aquatic
handball matches played in the sea off the pier at Bournemouth. There were 7 players on
each side and the ‘goals were marked by four flags, moored at the west of the pier, 50 yards
apart’xvi. A week laterxvii, another game was played at the same venue and ‘twelve members
of the club proceeded in rowing galleys, and took up a position near their goals, which were
marked out by flags describing an oblong of 60 yards by 40 yards. All being ready, an India
rubber ball, evidently the inside of an ordinary football, was placed in the centre between
the parties, and a signal given, upon which both crew sprang with commendable ability from
their galleys and struck out for the ball of contention.’ Again, the ball burst. It is worth
recording for posterity some of the players that took part in this historic game- O.C.Mootham,
W.J. and E.Worth, F.T. Cutler, H.Nash, H.Harvey and J.A.Nethercoate.
It was Scotland that pushed for a more structured approach to the game- not the English. The
rules in Scotland were slightly different. They also did not have goal posts in Scotland’s
games, utilised little flags placed eight or ten feet apart for a goal and also played with a soft
India-rubber ball. The goalkeeper stood on the end of the bath, out of the water.
William Wilson, who claimed to be the founder of the game of water polo, was asked by his
club, Aberdeen, to create a set of rules for the game. These he completed in 1876. The game
was played with a pig’s bladder between the banks of the Dee and a score was made by
placing the ball on one bank or the other rather like a try in rugby. The following year, these
rules were used at the Bon Accord Swimming Festival held between the banks of the River
Dee in Aberdeen in 1877. Wilson can claim to have been a contributor and the person
responsible for structuring the game but the reality is that water polo arose from a variety of
sources and no one person could claim ownership of the sport, even at this early stage.
The next key game in England was played in 1883 with a match between Birmingham Leander
and All England. These matches were played for two years in succession and the following
year, the All England team met the Midlands Counties Aquatic Football Association which was
formed in the meantime. England won all of these matches. William Henry, later the founder
of the Royal Life Saving Society, played in these games and he spent a considerable amount of
time trying to persuade the Swimming Association of Great Britain, the forerunner of the
Amateur Swimming Association (of England), to recognise the game. Finally, in 1885, it did
recognise the sport and, in 1888, the first national championship in the World was introduced.
Burton Amateur Club defeated Otter Swimming Club 3-0 at the Old Lambeth Baths in London.
It wasn’t until 1964, some 76 years later, that Otter won the English Championship. In 1896,
Ravensbourne Swimming Club of London presented the Perpetual Challenge Shield for the
club winners on the occasion of their International Gala, the last shield having been won
outright by Osborne Swimming Club of Manchester in that year. This is thought to be the
oldest extant water polo trophy in the Worldxviii.
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The following year in 1889, encouraged by the Otter Club, one of the pioneers of the game,
the London Water Polo League, the first water polo league in the World was formed. By 1894,
the London League was fully established and on October 6th 1894, the London Illustrated News
(p.420)carried a picture of the London League finals at Westminster Baths.
In the early years, players had often employed breaststroke and over arm breaststroke to
move around the pool but the wider adoption of trudgeon increased mobility. Trudgeon was
a combination of modern front crawl arms and breaststroke legs and was introduced by the
Englishman, John Trudgen (City of London Baths Club) in the early 1880’s slightly before the
widespread introduction of water polo. Trudgen’s name was spelt with an ‘en’ but became
widely misused so as to be spelt with an ‘eon’. John Trudgen was born in Poplar in London on
3rd May 1852. In 1863, he went to Buenos Aires in Brazil with his parents. His father worked
for the engineering company, Blyth and Company which was based in the Isle of Dogs in East
London. Blyth’s sent Trudgen senior to Brazil and son, John, learnt ‘to trudge’ from the
ethnic populationxix. When he returned to England in 1868, he started winning races using the
new technique. Trudgen worked as a machinist at Woolwich Arsenal, known for founding the
famous Arsenal Football Club, from 1879 until he died on 2nd May 1902. The egg beater kick
employed by water polo players, particularly goal keepers, originated from this stroke.
John Trudgen
Water polo in countries other than the USA, also slowly started to move away from a rugby
style format to one more akin to soccer or football. Goals were now normally scored by
throwing the ball into a cage like goal of approximately 10 feet by 3 feet.
In 1890, the London League had the idea of a match between London and Glasgow but
Glasgow replied suggesting a match between Scotland and England. On July 28th 1890, the
first international match ever played took place at the Kensington Baths, London.
As this was the first international ever, it is worth recording the teams:
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England- F.Browne (Burton), goalkeeper, W.Carey(Amateur), H.Clark (Stroud Green), backs,
J.Genders (Nautilus) half back, J.Finegan (Liverpool Sefton) W.Henry (Zephyr) and J.Mayger
(Burton) captain, forwards.
Scotland- C.Donald (Edinburgh University), goalkeeper, G.Bryson (Dennistoun, Glasgow),
S.Cawood (Victoria, Glasgow) backs, A.Strauss (Southern) captain, half back, J.Bisland
(Leander), A.Whyte, (Victoria) and S.Capel (Dennistoun) forwards.
The referee for this milestone event was A.Sinclair from Ranelagh Harriers, England. England
was heavily defeated but one of the outcomes was the formation of the International Water
Polo Board and the introduction of commonly recognised rules. Scotland’s practice of having
the goalkeeper standing on the poolside ended. From now on, the goalkeeper was always in
the water. The first Board meeting took place in Liverpool in April 1892. Scotland also won
the second international but the gap was smaller. Finally in 1892 at the Westminster Baths,
Liverpool, England defeated Scotland 4-2. England proceeded to win all internationals against
Scotland until the First World War except for 1897 when Scotland won 2-1.
The meetings of the International Water Polo Board were somewhat spasmodic at this time.
For instance, in 1900, it was decided that it didn’t even need to meet at all.
Trophy for the longest running water polo championship in the World (Photo: Amateur
Swimming Association)
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Water polo takes a foothold in Britain
Water polo now started to spread within Great Britain. The counties (or areas within the
country) now began to be formed. The first county match was played in an open air bath at
Tunbridge Wells on July 26th 1890. It was organised by the London Water Polo League and was
played between Kent and Middlesex. E. J.Plumridge was the Kent Captain. ‘Plum’ was
significant because he was one of the hosts at the Thames Camping and Boating Association
at Walton-on-Thames. Overseas swimmers were often guests at the Association and it was
here, in 1908, during the course of the London Olympics, that the first discussions about the
possibilities of forming a World governing body (later to be called FINA) and, very possibly, a
European organisation (later to be LEN) started to take shape.
County organisations now began to mushroom. In 1890, Surrey was formed with Nautilus Club
being the driving force. Middlesex was formed in 1891. Water polo now became more
structured in the North of England. Lancashire played its first match in 1892; in the same
year, Yorkshire played Nottinghamshire. The London League toured the West of England and
introduced the game there. Ireland and Wales now also started to play international matches.
Sinclair xxcommented: ‘The pioneer work that was done in the eighties deserves recognition
for by reason of it the game has spread all over the World’.
University water polo now started to be played in 1891. A match was organised between
Oxford and Cambridge. This was played on October 16th during the Nautilus Club
Entertainment at the Old Crown Baths which were adjacent to Surrey Cricket Ground at the
Kennington Oval. There are no definitive records but this may have been the first university
game in the World. The Cambridge Review stated: ‘The Inter-Varsity water polo match, the
first of it’s kind, is fixed for next Friday at the Crown Baths, Kennington Oval at 7.20 p.m.
Owing to the want of a covered swimming bath at Cambridge, water polo can only be played
at the sheds, and at the close of a bad season like the present men are necessarily very much
out of practice. Our team will feel the loss of Muttlebury, who is unable to play, and our
opponents have a strong teamxxi.
The match was arranged by A.Masterman, President of Cambridge University Swimming Club
and Reverend E. Finch Smith. The teams were:
Oxford University- W.Hayter (goal keeper), Lord Ampthill, W.Fletcher (backs) R.Rowe (half
back), A.Langdon, A.Grant and E.Finch Smith (forwards)
Cambridge University- G.Picton (goalkeeper), A.Masterman, A.Jackson (backs), G.Franklyn
(half back), G.Elin, J.Guest and E.Newton (forwards)
The important factor about the team names above is the playing formation which in those
days was already beginning to follow the pattern of football. Oxford won 4-2 and playing for
Oxford that day was Lord Ampthill, later to become Acting Viceroy of India.
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There have been 107 annual matches since 1891, Cambridge winning 61, Oxford, 32 and 14
draws. Women’s water polo has been played 24 times starting in 1984, Cambridge winning 15
matches.
In those days, many well known people took part in water polo. Alexander Fleming, the
inventor of penicillin, played for his medical school team in London. Water polo was not just
limited to the middle classes. People of all social groups took part. According to the
Wikipedia web site, there have been other famous names since that date. Dancehall
musician, Sean Paul, played for Jamaica’s national team, former Finnish Prime Minister,
Paavo Lipponen, also played competitively as did US Olympic Committee Chair and US Major
Baseball League Commissioner, Peter Uberroth, who played for San Jose State University.
Over a period of time, there were gradual refinements to the rules. In 1879, a goal was still
scored by placing the ball on a float or in a boat. A team consisted of seven players; the goals
were also defined by flags. The size of the goal varied from place to place; and standing on
the bottom while playing was not allowed. At that time you could duck an opponent whether
they had the ball or not and swimming underwater was permissible. In 1883, the game had
been limited to twenty minutes. By 1887, goal posts were being used in Scotland and the
following year, the size of the goal was altered so that the deep end goal had a lower cross
bar than the shallow endxxii.
In 1888, Archibald Sinclair, who founded the London Water Polo League, William Henry,
T.Young and A.G. Hackett were appointed to a committee which drew up a revised set of
rules that, in many ways, were not too different to the rules in existence today.
In the early years, well known water polo players were also well known swimmers. Jim Handy
(1924), L.B.De Handley and Harry Hebner (1908, 1912 and 1920), Duke Kahanomoku (1932)
and Johnny Weissmuller, later to become Tarzan in the films, represented the US in both
sports, Weismuller winning a bronze medal in 1924. Kahanomoku, the Hawaian star, won the
Olympic 100 metres freestyle gold medal in 1912 and 1920. For Britain, Arthur Jarvis, 1900
swimming gold medal winner also won water polo gold as did Henry Taylor in 1908 and Paul
Radmilovic, won water polo golds in 1908, 1912 and 1920 as well as winning a swimming gold
in the relay.
The line drawings beneath in the Badminton Book of Swimming by Sinclair and Henry)xxiiishow
that most of the basic shots used in water polo started when the game was first formed and
have continued to this day. The breaststroke style back hand is no longer in use today in quite
the same format as breaststroke is not really employed in today’s much faster moving game
but the other shots remain the same or similar:
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The pass back
The overarm pass
The breaststroke pass
The shoulder throw
The back throw
The principle water polo passes
described
in the Badminton Book of Swimming
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Water polo is introduced to other countries
The USA was the next country to take up water polo, starting in 1888. The game was adopted
in Germany and Austria in 1894, France in 1895 and Hungary in 1899.
The game spread to Swedenxxiv in 1897 when a Diamond Jubilee gala was staged by the Royal
Life Saving Society at the East and West India Docks in London. The event was attended by
the Duke and Duchess of York, later to become King and Queen of England. The British royal
connection with water polo remains to this day with Prince William, future King, playing
water polo both at Eton and at St Andrew’s University.
The Swedes sent a team of divers and the British learnt more about diving at this event.
Reciprocally the British taught the Swedish how to play water polo. In 1898, when the Royal
Life Saving Society of Liverpool sent a team to Sweden, the Swedes fielded a team to play
them. During the early years, SKKC Stockholm and Neptune SC were the only teams playing
but the game gradually spread. SKKC were the first national champions and remained
champions until 1925. Erik Bergvall, later President of FINA, and Harold Julin were
responsible for much of the early development.
Water polo also moved to Belgium. Otter and Brussels Swimming Clubs now started to have
annual swimming events and one of the Brussels‘ team members, Victor Sonnemanns,xxv, who
was later to play in the first ever Olympic final, saw and liked water polo being played during
his visit. He was instrumental in the rules being translated into French.
In 1908, Mr F.Denny, a fluent French speaker, who had drawn up a memorandum of
understanding on amateurism between the French and British Swimming Associations in the
same year, argued without success that a French representative should be added to the
International Water Polo Boardxxvi
Page 16
Polo started in Japan in 1912. A group of English business men who had been water polo
players at home started the first club at the Kobe Rowing and Athletic Club. The American,
George Weed, who was a professor at Keio University in Tokyo became the coach to the first
all Japanese team. In 1925 Keio University graduates won the first national championship.
Following this, Japan finished fourth at the 1932 Olympic Games. Friederich Freud, the
former German coach started with a squad of 57 players in Osaka in 1938.
Britain’s old imperial connections also helped to spread water poloxxvii. Frank Sachs, who was
one of the original members of the Amateur Swimming Association Committee and a member
of Otter Swimming Club, recorded that water polo had by 1912 spread to Australia (as
reported beneath), New Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong and South Africa. In South Africa, the
game was already being played in East London, Eastern Province, Natal, Orange River Colony,
Transvaal, Western Province, De Beers Mine and Bloemfontein.
Water polo in the USA
John Robinson, an English professional swimming teacher employed by the Boston Athletic
Club, organised the first team in the USA in 1888 at the Boston Athletic Club. This team is
thought to be the USA’s first water polo team.xxviii Boston won their first game at the
Metropole Club at Providence, Rhode Island. Boston was quickly followed by New York,
Manhatten, Knickerbocker, Pittsburgh and Missouri Athletic Clubs in adopting water polo.
The game moved forward when Harold H.Reeder of the Knickerbocker Athletic Clubxxix devised
new rules for water polo in the USA. There were two periods of 8 minutes each with a five
minute interval at half time. The game in the US was a strong, more rugged style than in
Britain and the rest of the World where water polo was still reasonably sedate. The game
became so rough that games in open water were banned. Games were only allowed to be
staged in pools that were either 60 x 40 feet or 76 x 25 feetxxx. The concept of six players to
each side remained the same as in the rest of the World. There were two substitutes and the
ball was 7 inches in diameter. Goals were scored by placing the ball on a wooden board of
four feet by one foot which lay along each end of the poolxxxi. Harpers Weekly carried a
picture entitled ‘Water polo at the Manhatten Club’ by T. De Thulstrap on February 28th 1891
which clearly shows such a board in use.
There was much body contact and teams played with a semi inflated rubber ball. The
emphasis was on possession of the ball. A player couldn’t take the ball under the water unless
tackled by an opponent. This style differed from elsewhere in the World. Dribbling the ball
between the arms was utilised but players could also swim with the ball placed between their
legs. A tackled player could be forced under until he released the ball or fought off his
opponents. The game became known as soft ball water polo. Possibly, part of the reason why
different styles of water polo were being employed in the USA and Britain was that after
Robinson’s initial introduction, players from each country did not have the opportunity to see
Page 17
polo being played in the other country and were not fully party to one another’s rule changes.
Although international sports bodies recognised both types of games, it was only US teams
that took part at the St Louis Olympics in 1904 because no one else played this style of game.
The rules which other countries adopted became known as the ‘English rules’ in US water polo
parlance.
The Sportsman’s Show of 1899 provided the first real showcase for competitive swimming in
the USA. A 75 foot by 25 foot tank was sunk into the floor at Madison Square Garden. The
water polo matches drew the most interest because several of the principal characters on the
Knickerbocker and New York AC teams were leading figures in the ‘Crime of the Century’, a
murder trial taking place during the Show. Matches were also played at Boston Mechanics’
Hall where up to 14,000 people watched the games.
American softball water polo (photo, International Swimming Hall of Fame)
Theabove photo is of interest for a number of reasons. In the first place, it shows that water
polo could be played in quite narrow playing areas. Second, the style of overhead lighting
indicates that there was very little throwing of the ball, particularly high into the air. And
finally, the players are wearing caps but not costumes on the upper parts of their bodies as
would have been common at the time.
Water polo grew in popularity in California at the end of the First World War. Los Angeles
Athletic Club, the Olympic Club of San Francisco, the Venice Swimming Association and the
Pacific Coast, California led the way in forming clubs. California, where many high schools
Page 18
and clubs started to play, has been the major water polo playing area in the USA ever since.
Concerns about the style of game were raised when, in 1911, an enormous brawl took place
between New York and Chicago teamsxxxii.
As the US softball style of water polo started to lose some of its popularity, water basketball
flourished for a time. Water basketball was played as far afield as in Winnepegxxxiii in Canada.
S.E.Dean describes how he played in 1908 in the only pool in Winnepeg. A team was formed
consisting of British ex-pats from the J and C.Boy Warehouse, Friday Street, London. They
played on a small league basis with the YMCA and the Canadian Mounted Rifles. Two baskets
were made and a 5 a side game of basketball was designed. The driver for this was the fact
that the swimming pool itself was too small for other games.
The Swimming Magazine reports a description of water basketball in Mind and Body, a journal
devoted to physical education in the USAxxxiv, which was published in Milwaukee by T.Whitaker
of the Missouri Athletic Club, St Louis. It states: ‘With the abolishment of the old game of
American water polo, considered by many athletic authorities too rough for any but
swimmers who have had years of practice with all its intricacies, a new game has sprung into
being throughout the country, which combines all the recreative and muscle-building
features of the old game, minus its excessive roughness, at the same time retaining enough
of the personal encounters that the red blooded athlete craves. Water basketball is the new
game that has taken the west by storm. Almost any area is sufficient, providing the water is
over 6 ft. in depth. As a sport and developer of endurance and lung power it takes high rank,
necessitating, as it does, constant swimming for a period of five to eight minutes coupled
with some of the strenuousness of wrestling.
As played in the Missouri Athletic Club, ordinary basketball, backboards and baskets are
used, so suspended from the ceiling that the rims are 5 ft. above the surface of the water,
six men to a side, lining up as in basketball. The ball is tossed to the centres, starting the
play. The game is composed of two halves of eight minutes each with as much time between
halves as necessary. A fully inflated water polo or “soccer” ball is used. A player cannot hang
on to the side of the pool and play the ball, nor can he push off from the side of the pool
and receive the ball or tackle an opponent. A player with the ball can be tackled only by one
of the opposing side, until he releases the ball or gives it up. He is permitted to swim under
the water not more than 8 ft. The ball going out of bounds is given to the opposite side.
Fouls consist of: Tackling or interfering with a player who has not the ball, more than one
player tackling another, pushing off the side or hanging on to receive the ball, slugging,
gouging and other unnecessary rough play. All fouls entitle to a free throw from an 8 ft.
line; at no time until after the foul has been thrown can a player be interfered with.
The rules are simple. An increase in the attendance of the swimming pool, together with a
general improvement in the swimming ability of the players, will be one of the immediate
results of the introduction of the game’. Many of the rules were therefore similar in nature
to water polo.
Page 19
Gradually more and more US colleges started to play water polo games with a harder ball and
in 1937, the Federation de Natation Amateur (FINA) bought in a rule which required all teams
to play with the harder type of ball. The American Athletic Union banned soft ball water polo
in the same year.
Water polo in Hungary
The British not only invented the game of water polo but were also responsible for
promulgating its development among other countries. This paradigm was in line with the
thinking in Britain in the 1800’s where sports and past-times were activities to be exported
and encouraged for the good of everyone. This happened in so many sports and water polo
was no exception. Water polo first came to the attention of the Hungarians in 1896 when a
team from Polytechnic of London played Cercle de Natation Bruxelles in Vienna. At that time,
Hungary was part of the Austro-Hapsburg Empire.
Dr Arpad Fuzessery is credited with introducing the game into Hungary when he took a ball
and a rules booklet into Hungary in the winter of 1899xxxv. On July 30th 1899, the first match
was played at Siofok when the Hungarian Swimming Club (Magyar, MUE) played an exhibition
match. Later, Fuzessery encouraged the Austrians to come to play matches in Budapest to
promote the sport. Eventually, Hungary played its first international match against Austria in
Vienna. Some four years later, a national championship was introduced. This was won by
Balaton Swimming Club. MUE established control over the championship winning the national
title on numerous occasions in the period following 1904.
In 1910, the FTC (Ferencvaros Sports Club) team took the title. In the ensuing period, FTC,
coached by Erno Speisegger, and MTK, coached by Bela Komajadi, were the leading clubs.
FTC won the King of Saxony Trophy at a tournament in Dresden which further encouraged
interest.
FTC toured Britain in 1914 and it was during this tour that Hungarian water polo started to
establish a reputation. FTC won 4 out of their 6 matches. Meanwhile Komajdi started to build
MTK at the Csaszar Pool, his main star being the diminutive, Ferenc Keseru. They won the
Page 20
1923 championship. Hungary had lost a number of its best players during the First World War
and this hindered its progress in the Olympics.
It was Hungary that introduced the ‘wet pass’xxxvi. It also changed team formations. Centre
backs were encouraged to move forward into opponents’ penalty areas and to attack. In the
past, backs had tended to swim breaststroke or forms of breaststroke with front crawl over
arm in defending. The Hungarians had faster moving front crawl swimmers and a quick moving
centre back giving them a fourth attacker every time they attacked. This fast moving centre
back was aided by the ‘no moving rule’ which meant that no player could move after the
referee signalled a foul. This rule wasn’t changed until after the 1948 Olympics.
In 1929, Hungary introduced one of the most important tournaments ever, the Klebesburg
Cup. This was named after Count Klebesburg, the Hungarian Minister for Education. Sweden,
Belgium, Britain, Germany, Hungary and France competed for the first trophy. Hungary won
the tournament and after winning the tournament three times, it was agreed that Hungary
could keep the trophy. It was later replaced by the Horthy Cup, named after the Hungarian
regent.
Water polo spreads throughout the World
Water polo was introduced to Australia direct from Great Britain when, in 1892, the first
match was played in the dry dock on Cockatoo Island, Sydney. Teams played for the Horace
Bennet Shield, the Australian Premier League Championship from 1948 onwards. Australia
competed at its first Olympics in 1924. The game in Australia received a boost when several
of the Hungarian players remained in Australia after the 1956 Olympics and contributed to the
games’ development.
Fernand Feyaerts, who between 1898 and 1900 was responsible for the game’s development
in Belgium, was assisted in his work by Alphonse Delahaye and Maurice Blitz, both of whom
became international refereesxxxvii. The first national championship was held in 1904 and the
leading teams were Brussels Swimming Club, Cercle Natation de Bruxelles , Antwerpsche
Zwemclub, Gent Swimming Club and Cercle Royal de Natation de Bruxelles.
In the early years, regular games were held between Belgian and English teams who acted as
their advisers. Belgium’s early outstanding players were Joseph Pletincx, who was a medallist
in four Olympics in 1908, 1912, 1920 and 1924 and Gerard Blitz, who won medals in 1920 and
1924 and participated in 1928.
Water polo in Cuba goes right back to 1904 when it was first played in Havana on November
3rdxxxviiiagainst a team from the USA. The next recorded match was in 1933 when the YMCA
played against an unrecorded opponent. One of the best known people in Cuban water polo at
that time was Albert Amaya Cono.
Page 21
From 1959, Cuba steadily improved and two coaches came from overseas to strengthen their
teams- Bartolome Scavnisky from Czechoslovakia, and Kaoly Laky from Hungary. On January
28th 1964, a National Water Polo Commission was established with Amaya as the President.
Two years later, Cuba won its first gold medal at the Central-American games in Puerto Rico.
It won its first Pan-American Games medal- a silver, in 1971.
Czechoslovakia was an early water polo playing country, taking part at the 1920 Olympics. CH
Kosice has been the Czech’s outstanding team over a number of years.
In France, the Pupilles de Neptune of Lille was founded in 1895 and the Libellue de Paris in
1897. The first national championship was held in 1899 with Neptune winning over Libellue.
France’s first international came not that many years after the first internationals between
Scotland and England, at Joinville in 1890 when France played Belgium.
Marcel Beulque (Enfants de Neptune, Tourcoing), Maurice Laufray (Libellue), Maurice Drigny
(SCUF, Paris) and M. Merchez (Neptune, Lille) were the men responsible for the early
development. George Rigal played on the 1912 and 1920 Olympic teams as well as winning a
gold medal in 1924. Tourcoing won every French national championship from 1909 until 1951
which may be a record number of wins in any country. Alphonse Angella (France), 1960-1982,
served as FINA Water Polo Secretary and a member of the committee and had an important
hand in the development of water polo.
At about the same time as France, water polo was starting to be played in Germany. It was
first played in 1894 at the Borussia Club having been introduced by Fritz Kniesexxxix. Fritz
Droemer, a water polo pioneer, gave lectures on the sport throughout Germany and in 1898,
Ulrich Baer drew up a set of rules for water polo in Germany. The first national championship
was held in 1912 when Germania 1887 Berlin beat Schwaben Stuttgart 4-2.
Kurt Behrens encouraged his own club, Hellas of Magdeburg as well as Water Friends’ of
Hannover, Bavaria of Nuremburg and Mannheim to become involved in a scheme which
followed methods taught to them by the Hungarians. This eventually resulted in a plan to
develop a team for the 1928 Olympics. The German team which was comprised of players
from Hellas and Water Friends Clubs went on to win its first Olympic gold medal but Behrens
sadly died before the victory was completexl.
The English rules were first introduced in Germany in 1904 but were not fully understood and
there were many disputes. In 1911, FINA determined that all countries would play by the
same rules and the adoption of these rules in Germany helped to clear up many of these
confusions. In 1922, Germany, which following World War 1 was not a member of FINA,
decided to change. While players elsewhere lined up at the start of each half on their goal
line, matches in Germany were started with players scattered about the pitch with the two
captains tossing to determine which side would start. In 1924, Germany reverted to the
international rules.
The game was part introduced to Italy in 1900 by a Mr Sanders, a player from Britain. Water
polo was also part introduced by Leone Steensxli, who saw water polo being played by the
Page 22
Brussels Swimming and Water Polo Club. A match was arranged in the preceding year on
March 16th 1899 at the Diana Bath, Milan, under the title of ‘Il Water-Polo alla “Nettuno”, the
famous swimming society. Two articles under the titles of Nuova Fanfulla and La Capitale
show water polo being played on August 22nd and 23rd 1900 in a lake at Villa Borghese Gardens
in Rome starting at 5.30 p.m. organised by Rari Nantes Roma.
The Secretary of Rari Nantes Roma, Enrico Gualdi reported to the federal association on
water polo on November 20th 1900 and it was decided to organise the first Italian water polo
championship by the following year. Rari Nantes of Roma won the first championship in
September 1901. It appears that the championships were not fully recorded until 1912.
Genoa, Camogli, Napoli, Firenze (later Florentia) and Roma, all pre-fixed with Rari Nantes,
were among the leading clubs for most of the century. Giordano Goggida (Camogli) and
Cesare Rubini (Trieste) were outstanding players in Italy. Pro Recco, near Genoa, won its first
championship in 1959 and has stayed among Europe’s leading clubs for nearly 50 years. It won
the Italian Championship between 1959 and 1962 and 1964 and 1972 and then continued to
win the championship on and off before becoming perennial powerhouses in the European
Club Championship.
Water polo was played in Iceland in 1917xlii under the guidance of Eirikur Magnusson who
introduced it via the Gaiin Club. John Palsson, a member of the same club, then introduced
the game to Armann and Aegir in Reykjavik in 1927. Olafus Palsson travelled to Germany in
1930 to learn more about how the Olympic champions played and returned with further ideas
for developing the game. The first national championship was played on June 10th 1928.
Armann defeated Aegir, 3-0.
It was the British who also took the game to Malta where water polo was played around 1900.
It started with British military service teams that were stationed in Malta and eventually, in
1920, two Maltese teams were formed- Sliema United and Valletta. A joint service and civilian
committee was formed to run polo as the Maltese Swimming Federation was not formed until
1925. All games in Malta were played in the open sea until the 1980’s. Valletta won the first
eight national championships from 1920.
Again water polo was also introduced into the Netherlands by the British, their close
neighbours, who played exhibition games in 1900. HVGB Haarlem became the first national
champions in 1901. A.Jordior was responsible for much of the early development of the sport
and slightly later on, Jan De Vries, who later became President of FINA, played a considerable
role.
With the exception of 1928, 1944-45 and 1962, the Dutch National Club Championship has
been contested continuously over the last 106 years.
Water polo came to New Zealand at about the same time as Australia. The first international
was played against New South Wales with New Zealand winning, 4-2. The first teams in
Portugal were established between 1910 and 1912 with the regional championships being held
in Porto in 1917. This has not been recorded but it is possible that the British were also
involved with the introduction in Portugal, Britain has always had close ties with Porto and
Page 23
the sales of the drink, port. The first international was played in Lisbon with Spain defeating
Portugal 2-1 on August 8th 1926. It was another 19 years before another international was
played with the two teams drawingxliii.
Water polo had become established a little earlier in Spain. Bernard Picornell organised the
first team at Club Natacion in Barcelona. A British Navy team from HMS Baccante had played
Spain and been defeated 4-0 in 1908. The first Spanish game which was played on June 12th
1908 was an inter-club match. Picornell remained active in water polo until he was 81 and the
1992 Olympic water polo pool was named after him as well as the Trofeo Picornell. The first
national championships were held in 1912. CN Barcelona has a long history and in 1981,
coached by Hungarian star, Kalman Markovits, it won the European Champions Cup.
Interest in Singapore was stimulated when a team from Singapore defeated Japan on its way
back from the 1936 Olympics. The Japanese had stopped in Singapore on the way home.
Whilst water polo had been played on a friendly basis, it now really took off and eventually
the Singapore Swimming Association was formed in 1939.
The Soviet Union took a long time to become a World force. Water polo had started there
much earlier than many people realise. The first game was played in 1910 when V.Peslov
organised a match between St Petersburg and Moscow but the Soviet Union didn’t start
playing formally until 1925 when Moscow drew 2-2 with Leningrad in the first national
championship. Otto Shimanasky wrote the first Russian book on water polo in 1914 and years
later, a further book was written by Dr Andre Kistiakovsky of Moscow State Universityxliv.
In 1923, the FINA rules were adopted and water polo was included in the 1st Spartakaide in
1928. It wasn’t until 1952, however, that the Soviet’s entered the Olympics. From that point,
they made rapid progress. The first national championship in 1925 resulted in a win for
Moscow over Leningrad.
Water polo reached Yugoslavia at least by the late 1920’s although, at that time, the country
was in separate states. Jug Dubrovnik, one of Croatia’s most famous clubs was founded in
1923 and Partizan Belgrade of Serbia in 1946.
The following countries were playing water polo at least prior to these dates- Argentina, since
before it took part in its first Olympics in 1928; Brazil, 1920; Bulgaria, 1972; Chile, 1948;
Egypt, 1948; Greece, 1924; Guatamala, 1949; India, 1948; Iran, 1983; Israel, 1955;
Luxemburg, 1928;Mexico, 1952; China, 1959; Puerto Rico, 1973; Poland, 1981; Romania, 1952;
Switzerland, 1920; United Arab Republic, 1960; and Uruquay, 1936.
Page 24
Olympic water polo
1900
Four teams entered the first ever Olympic water polo competition at the Paris Olympicsxlv.
With its very presence at these games, water polo became the first team sport of the modern
Olympiad. Each of the national sides was represented by clubs. The Osborne Club of
Manchester represented Britain; the Brussels Club, Belgium; the Berlinerotters, Germany and
Libellule de Paris, Tritons Lillois and Pupilles de Neptune de Lilie, France. The referee was Mr
W.Lewis, a Welshman living in Paris. It is a matter of contention as to what was the winning
score. Sinclair stated that the match was won by Great Britain 20-1xlvi while Wallenchinsky
stated that the score was 7-2xlvii. Carrying the ball underwater was common in the match and
the final against Belgium was played in a somewhat light hearted manner.
George Wilkinson, who played for the Osborne Club, was 20 years old at the time of the
Olympics and he won his third gold medal when he was 32 years. The Osborne Club took him
to Paris without even giving him a trial beforehand. In 1903, he moved to Hyde, also near
Manchester, and captained the Hyde Seal Club. In 1912, he captained Britain’s team at the
Olympics.
Page 25
The record keeping was also somewhat haphazard. For instance, Pupilles de Neptune entered
a first and second team, one team receiving a bye. The second team made it to the semi
finals by beating Berliner Otter Swimming Club 3-2 in the first found whilst the first team
were knocked out 2-0 by Brussels Swimming and Water Polo Club and so finished fifth overall.
Charles Treffel, Favier and Leriche played for both teams to make up the sides. One or two
British players, including Thomas Burgess, played for different countries. Burgess played for
Libellue de Paris.
Osborne Swimming Club defeated Tritons Lillois, France, who finished last, 12-0 in the first
round, Pupilles de Neptune de Lille, 10-1 in the second round and then Brussels 7-2 in the
final.
The results were:
1
2
3
4
Osborne
Swimming
GBR Manchester
Swimming & Water Polo
BEL Brussels
FRA Libellule de Paris
FRA Pupilles de Neptune de Lilie
Final: GBR 7 – 2 BEL
W
L
PF
PA
3
0
29
3
2
1
0
1
1
1
9
4
1
8
12
5
Club,
Club,
1. GBR (Osborne)
Arthur Robertson, Thomas Coe, Eric Robinson, Peter Kemp, George Wilkinson, John Henry
Derbyshire, William Lister, William Henry, Robert Cranshaw, John Jarvis, F Stapleton, Victor
Lindberg
2. BEL (Brussels)
Albert Michant, Fernand Fayaerts, Henri Cohen, Victor de Behr, Oscar Grégoire, Victor
Sonnemans, Jean de Backer, Guillaume Séron, Georges Romas, A R Upton
3. FRA (Libellule de Paris)
Henri Peslier, Thomas Burgess, Alphonse Decuyper, Pesloy, Paul Vasseur, Jules Clévenot,
Louis Laufray
4. FRA (Pupilles de Neptune de Lille 2nd)
Louis Martin, Eugène Coulon, Fardelle Favier, Leriche, Charles Treffel, Désiré Merchez, Gellé,
Camelin, Fiolet, Louis Marc
5. GER (Berlin Otter)
Hans Aniol, Paul Gebauer, Max Hainle, Georg Hax, Gustav Lexau, Herbert von Petersdorff,
Fritz Schneider
6. FRA (Tritons Lillois)
Bertrand, Victor Cadet, Maurice Hochepied, Leclerq, Tisserand, Charles de Vendevill,
Verbecke
1904
The water polo in St Louis was played under American rules. The only teams taking part were
therefore from the US. Four teams were recorded as having taken part. The winners were
Page 26
New York AC, Chicago AC won the silver and Missouri AC, the bronze. Germany withdrew
when they realised that the American rules would be employed.
The 1904 Olympic matches were held in a specially constructed artificial lake that was
prepared for the World’s Fair which took place concurrently with the Olympics.
Three US players died of typhoid within a few weeks of the tournament. The possible cause
was the Olympics themselves. The artificial pond covered about 2 acres and, at one end,
there was a sewerage pipe which ran between the pond and the lifesavers’ house. Apparently
sewerage was pumped into the pond during the Olympic polo matches in full view of all the
spectators. Dogs and performing trick bears bathed in the pond early in the morning which
stirred up all of the muck. After the first day’s play, 7 of the New York Athletic Club team
were confined to bed.
James E.Sullivan, who later became famous for the Sullivan Athletic Award, was responsible
for the aquatic events and denied that the conditions were unhygienic for competitors.
The teams were:
Page 27
1. USA (New York Athletic Club)
David Bratton, George Van Cleaf, Leo Goodwin, Louis Handley, David Hesser, Joseph Ruddy,
James Steen
2. USA (Chicago Athletic Association)
Rex Beach, Jerome Steever, Edwin Paul Swatek, Charles Healy, Frank Kehoe, David
Hammond, William Tuttle
3. USA (Missouri Athletic Association)
John Meyers, Manfred Toeppen, Gwynne Evans, Amedee Reyburn, Fred Schreiner, Augustus
Goessling, William Orthwein
The 1904 Olympics (International Olympic Committee Photographic
Archive)
1908
Page 28
In the London Olympics held between July 13th and 25th, Britain won the water polo whilst
only having to play one match- the final. The matches were played under the international
rules recognised today. The competition was held in a pool that was especially built in the
centre of the stadium, White City, in Shepherd’s Bush which staged the athletics events.
Belgium beat the Netherlands 8-1 in the first roundxlviii. Five of the goals were scored by
F.Feyaerts. Hungary were drawn against Sweden but scratched. Austria and Britain were
given byes into the next round.
In the semi finals, Austria scratched against Britain and Belgium played Sweden. Meyboom
scored for Belgium within two minutes and despite Sweden equalising through their captain,
Hansson, Sweden were 4-2 down by half time. Both players were to score their respective
sides’ final two goals but Belgium ran out winners 4-2.
The final was now set between Britain and Belgium. Michant kept goal well for Belgium but
Britain were already 5-2 up at half time and eventually went on to win 9-2. Goal scorers in
order were: Wilkinson (GB), Forsyth (GB), Wilkinson (GB), Radmilovic (GB), Gregiore(B),
Fayaerts(B), Forsyth (GB) in the first half; Radmilovic, Forsyth, Wilkinson and Wilkinson(GB)
in the second.
Charles Smith, who played in goal for Britain, won 3 Olympic golds- 1908, 1912 and 1920- and
was a member of the 1924 team. He played in goal for Britain for 24 years from 1902 to 1926.
Fernard Feyaerts, (Belgium) was the tournament’s top scorer with 8 goals.
Page 29
Three members of the 1908 British Olympic winningteam.
Paul Radmilovic is in the centre, Charlie Smith on the left
(International Olympic Committee Photographic Archive)
The winning British team was:
C.Smith, Salford SC, goalkeeper and captain; 29 years; 6 feet 1¼ in., 16 st 8 lb; had played 9
times for England at this point
G.Nevison, Salford SC, back, 25 years; 5 ft. 8½ in; played 6 times for England
G.Cornet, Inverness SC, back, Scotland; 31 years; 6 ft. 3¼ in., 15 st 7lb; played 12 times for
Scotland
T.Thould, Weston-super-Mare, half back,; 22 years; 5 ft 10 in., 11 st 6 lb; played for England
in 1907
G.Wilkinson, Hyde Seal SC, Manchester, 5 ft 8 in., 12 st 8 lb; played 10 times for England
P.Radmilovic, Weston-super-Mare, 5 ft 11 in., 12 st; played 8 times for Wales
C.G.Forsyth, Salford SC; 5 ft 10½ in., 12 st; played 4 times for England
The United States had, by now, switched to the English rules. Louis de B.Handley, the Captain
of the New York Athletic Club, was responsible for encouraging this change. He arranged
Page 30
exhibition games under the English rules in the East and Midwest of the USA. The USA was
planning to send a team to London but a match in March 1908 prevented this. Amid violent
scenes in a match between Chicago and New York Athletic Clubs, players were taken
unconscious to hospital and the Amateur Athletic Union suspended water polo from its list of
Olympic sports.
With Hungary having scratched to Sweden and Austria to Britain, this curtailed the
programme for July 18th and the Emergency Committee, as it was called, met to arrange an
exhibition match for the final day on July 25th to blolster the programmexlix. The Committee
tried to organise a match between Britain and France but this couldn’t be arranged and, in
the end, a friendly match was organised between Polytechnic and Zephyr Swimming Clubs of
London. Zephyr no longer exists as a club but Polytechnic continues to play water polo to this
day.
The final results were:
W
L
1 GBR
1
0
2 BEL
2
1
3 SWE 0
1
4 HOL
0
1
F
9
18
4
1
A
2
14
8
8
1. GBR
Charles Smith, George Nevinson, George Cornet, Thomas Thould, George Wilkinson, Paul
Radmilovic, Charles Forsyth
2. BEL
Albert Michant, Herman Meyboom, Victor Boin, Joseph Pietincx, Fernand Feyaerts, Oscar
Grégoire, Herman Donners
3. SWE
Torsten Kumfeldt, Axel Runström, Harald Julin, Pontus Hansen, Gunnar Wennerström, Robert
Andersson, Erik Bengvall
4. NED
Johan Rühl, Johan Cortlever, Jan Hulswit, Eduard Meijer, Karel Meijer, Pieter Ooms, Bouke
Benehga
1912 Olympics
The Stockholm Olympics were played on a cup tie elimination system basis. 45 players from 6
nations participated. There was, however, an unusual regulation. Any of the teams that had
not played the second and third placed teams would have the right to play off with these
teams even if they had been beaten by a completely different team in the knock out phases.
In the first round, there were 3 matches, in the second round, one with a bye to the final for
the third team and, of course, the final match was between two teams.
Page 31
The matches were 3 minutes in each half with extra time being played if the result at full
time was a draw. Once again, the USA did not enter a team. The violet scenes of the preOlympics in 1908 repeated themselves and the Amateur Athletic Union withdrew its sanction
for the sport once again. This further hastened the end of American Rules or softball water
polo.
Preliminary rounds in 1912 in Stockholm- one of the earliest Olympic photographs.
Note, the spectators watching from the diving boards
The British team, which played their final trial match at the Queen’s Reservoir, Hyde,
Manchesterl on May 25th as a match between England and the other three countries- Wales,
Ireland and Scotland- were well used to cold outdoor water. On Sunday July 7th, Great Britain
beat Belgium 7-5. This match had originally been intended to be played the night before but
had to be postponed to the following day due to poor light. Radmilovic shot from all angles
and his all round game helped Britain. The two teams drew 4-4 in normal time and extra time
had to be played. Eventually Britain prevailed and referee, G.Wennerstrom’s whistle went
with Britain winning 7-5.
Page 32
The winning British team- the person situated in the front rown in the all white was Walter
Brickett,
the overall British team coach for swimming and water polo
On the following day on the Monday, Sweden defeated France, 7-2. Despite playing with the
sun in their faces, the Swedes turned round 4-0 up at half time and thanks to their forwards
Robert Andersson and Eric Bergquist always stayed in front. The match was refereed by
J.Hurd of Britain.
In the third match in Round 1, Austria played Hungary. Hungary started well and opened the
scoring but Austria equalised from the penalty spot. Hungary led 2-1 at half time. The game
became increasingly rough and two players from each side were ordered out. Austria drew
level 4-4 with a late penalty and in the last moments of the match, Otto Scheff won the
match 5-4 for Austria.
The semi final between Britain and Sweden was a tough match and the referee struggled to
control the game. Harald Julin, the Swedish back, was ordered out twice and Bergqvist was
also ordered out for being inside the two metre line. Britain went on to win 6-3 with goals
from Wilkinson, 3, Radmilovic, Bentham and Hill, both teams having retained the same
players as in Round One. Belgium unexpectedly beat France 4-1 in the other qualifying round.
Page 33
Matches for the silver and bronze medals were then played. Sweden defeated Austria 8-1 and
Belgium beat Austria 5-4 which resulted in a 2nd-3rd place match between Sweden and
Belgium. This match, which took place on 9th July, was won 4-2 by Sweden. In their final
match played 4 days later, Wilkinson and Radmilovic combined very well for Britain and the
British team went in 4-0 up to Austria. The second half saw this extended to 8-0 at the final
whistle. The match was refeered by Erik Bergvall of Sweden.
The results were:
W
L
1 GBR
3
0
2 SWE 3
1
3 BEL
3
2
4 AUT
1
3
5 HUN 0
2
6 FRA
0
2
Final: GBR 8 – 0 AUT
F
21
22
22
10
9
3
A
8
11
21
25
11
11
1. GBR
Charles Smith, George Cornet, Charles Bugbee, Arthur Hill, George Wilkinson, Paul
Radmilovic, Isaac Bentham
2. SWE
Torsten Kumfeldt, Harald Julin, Max Gumpel, Pontus Hanson, Wilhelm Andersson, Robert
Andersson, Erik Bergqvist
3. BEL
Albert Durant, Herman Donners, Victor Boin, Joseph Pletinckx, Oscar Grégoire, Herman
Meyboom, Félicien Courbet, Jean Hoffman, Pierre Nijs
4. AUT
Rudolf Buchfelder, Richard Manuel, Waiter Schachtitz, Otto Scheff, Josef Wagner, Ernst
Kovács, Hermann Buchfelder
5. HUN
Sándor Ádám, Lászlo Beleznai, Tibor Fazekas, Jenõ Hégner Tóth, Károly Rémi, János Wenk,
Imre Zachár
6. FRA
Gustave Prouvost, Gaston Vanlaere, Georges Rigal, Paul Louis Beulque, Jean Rodier, Jean
Thorailler, Henri Decoiu, Paul Vasseur
1920 Olympics
Three of the British players that were on the winning team before the First World War
returned to win again in Antwerp- Charles Smith, Charles Bugbee and Paul Radmilovic. Twelve
teams competed.
Page 34
The ‘canal’ playing area and boathouse at the 1920 Olympics
The aquatics events were watched by total of 64,682 spectators during the week in an
especially constructed but extremely cold part of an Antwerp Canal. Once again the criticism
was that the conditions were unhygienic and with the temperature being well beneath 60
degrees farenheit, were sometimes dangerous to participants. In the elimination round,
Spain drew 1-1 with Italy, Sweden beat Czechoslovakia 12-0, France beat Brazil 5-1 in a
replay after a previously played 1-1 draw and Belgium beat Switzerland 11-0. Italy then
forfeited the chance for a replay. Netherlands received a bye to the quarter finals. The semi
finals saw the USA beat Greece 7-0, Great Britain beat Spain 9-0, Sweden beat Brazil 7-3 and
Belgium beat Netherlands 2-1. The semi finals brought a 7-2 victory to Britain over the USA,
who not many years before had changed its playing format to that played elsewhere in the
World, and Belgium beat Switzerland 5-3.
Page 35
The Brazilian team (International Olympic Committee Photographic Archive)
Britain and Ireland won the final 3-2li but the win was unpopular with the spectators. At the
end of the match, the British team was attacked by Belgian supporters and had to be taken
away under the protection of armed guards. It was sometime before the British flag could be
raised at the victory ceremony. Britain and Australia protested to the Belgian officials and
threatened to withdraw the whole of the swimming team from the Olympicslii. The following
morning, the following apology appeared in the newspapers and in the swimming programme:
‘We beg the favour of a few lines in your esteemed journal in order to refer to an incident
which took place at the end of the today’s meeting (August 27th) at the Stade Nantique.
Immediately after the water polo match between England and Belgium, the British national
anthem was played and the Union Jack hoisted to the winners mast. A most painful scene
followed. Carried away by an exaggerated chauvinism, the public manifested its disapproval
most violently, and in spite of the efforts of officials, the scene continued for several
minutes’liii. The article was then followed by a short apology. This match was the end of
Britain’s winning sequence which, with the exception of 1904 where the competition was
played under a different format, stretched back to 1900.
Page 36
The popularity of water polo in these relatively early days was underlined by the size of the
crowd at this
1920 Antwerp Olympic match (International Olympic Committee Photographic Archive)
Britain’s Radmilovic won his third gold medal. Radmilovic, from Weston-super-Mare, scored
the winning goal in the final. In his career he won a fourth gold medal in 1908 as part of the 4
x200 metre freestyle relay team and later continued to play at the 1924 and 1928 Olympics. It
was generally considered that Belgium had been the better team in the final but, in the end,
the more experienced British team prevailed. Gerard Blitz was Belgian’s outstanding player.
Page 37
The 1920 Belgian silver medal team (International Olympic Committee Photographic Archive)
The USA team, which was coached by former 1900 Olympic silver medallist, Otto Wahle who
had emigrated from Austria, entered playing under the English Rules for the first time. This
was the most representative team the USA had so far fielded. Players from New York, Illinois,
Missouri and California were selected. The team trained together for the first time only in a
specially constructed 12 feet by 9 feet tank on board the Princess Matoika on the way overliv
and never really got going. Norman Ross, one of their team members, won 3 gold medals in
swimming.
Harry Hebner, Illinois, who also played on the US team, competed at 3 Olympics, winning the
100 metres backstroke in 1912 and, at the Opening Ceremony in 1920, became the first of
two water polo players to carry the Olympic flag.
Page 38
A third team which is unidentified from the 1920 Olympics
Emile Georges Drigny, who played for France, was one of the most significant officials ever in
World swimming.lv He was President of FINA between 1928 and 1932 and of LEN between 1938
and 1948. He founded the magazine, ‘Natation’ which was not only the French Swimming
Federation magazine but for eight years was the official magazine of FINA and LEN. He
organised the swimming at the 1924 Olympics and 1948 Olympics. He worked as a sports
journalist.
The results were:
1
2
3
4
W
L
GBR/IRL
3
0
BEL
4
1
SWE
4
1
USA
2
3
F
19
27
35
16
A
4
9
9
19
1. GBR & IRL
Charles Smith, Noel Purcell, Christopher Jones, Charles Bugbee, William Dean, Paul
Radmilovic, William Peacock
2. BEL
Albert Durant, Paul Gailly, Pierre Nijs, Joseph Pletinckx, Maurice Blitz, René Bauwens, Gérard
Blitz, Pierre de Win
Page 39
3. SWE
Theodor Nauman, Pontus Hansson, Max Gumpel, Torsten Kumfeldt, Viihelm Anderson, Nils
Backlund, Robert Andersson, Erik Andersson, Harald Julin, Enik Bergqvist
4. USA
Preston Steiger, Sophus Jensen, Michael McDermott, Clement Browne, Herbert Vollmer, Harry
Hebner, James Carson, William Vosburgh, Herbert Taylor, Perry McGillivray, Norman Ross
1924 Olympics
Thirteen teams took part at the Paris Olympics. Ireland, now a separate country from Britain,
entered its own team. The referee’s panel comprised N.Gilbert and A.Inglis from Britain,
A.Delahaye from Belgium, E.Bergwall from Sweden, K.Meyer from Netherlands and Ms
Beulque from France. The matches were played based on a formula created by Erik Bergwall.
Italy played Sweden in the opening match on 13th July watched by 1,336 spectatorslvi. There
were 337 competitors in all the aquatic events, 101 of these were water polo players. 13
teams took part in the water polo and 19 matches were played in all.
The swimming and water polo, which was held at the Stade Nautique des Tourelles, was
watched by between 1,003 and 6,993 spectators, the highest number being reached on July
20th, the time of the water polo final.
Scene from the 1924 Olympics in Paris (International Olympic Committee Photographic
Archive)
Page 40
France’s ultimate win was a big surprise. In the final match, France beat Belgium and the
crowd were so delighted that after the playing of the ‘Marseillaise’, they insisted that the
Belgian national anthem was played as well. The tall, Henri Padou, 26 years, was the star of
the French team. Padou’s fitness was such that he was prepared to swim and mark all over
the pitch. Belgium’s star, Gerhard Blitz, was by now 33 years of age. Padou (Enfants de
Neptune, Tourcoing) won gold in 1924, a bronze in 1928 and was part of the fourth placed
team in 1936. Matters did not work out so well for the Belgians; the loss meant that they then
had to take part in a second place play off pool.
In the play off pool, the Belgians beat Sweden 4-2 and then beat the USA, 2-1. The USA
lodged a protest which was upheld by the Federation de Natation Amateur (FINA) and the
match had to be replayed. In the end, Belgium won this match as well, 2-1 and finished with
the silver medal. Britain, so long the dominating force in World water polo, failed to make
the top seven nations. The British team had aged. Dick Hodgson was now 32,Charlie Bugbee,
37, A.Huet, 40, Paul Radmilovic, 38, and Charlie Smith, 45 years. They were the oldest team
ever to play at Olympic level.
The winning French team from 1924- Henri Padou is positioned third from the left
Johnny Weismuller was not allowed to play for the US in the first match. The Americans had
been worried that there might be a repeat of the really cold conditions in Antwerp and they
wanted to hold their star swimmer back for the swimming events. After an appeal by some of
Page 41
the team members following a loss in the first game, Weismuller was allowed to participate
and the USA won its next 3 games.
Hungary, who took part for the first time in 1912 and which lost a number of players during
the War, climbed to fifth spot behind USA, third, and Sweden, fourth. Hungary knocked out
Britain 7-6 in the second match of the elimination round on 13th July after being 3-0 down.
The match had 3 periods of extra time. This proved to be a seminal match in the history of
water polo. It represented the demise of Britain’s water polo dynasty and the beginning of
the rise of the Hungarian water polo ‘empire’. The Hungarian team included the Homonnai
brothers, who were just 20 and 18 years, and the Keseru’s who were 19 and 21lvii.
Results were:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
FRA
BEL
USA
SWE
HUN
CZE
NED
W
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
L
0
1
2
3
2
2
2
F
16
18
13
27
17
11
12
A
6
10
11
12
17
15
10
Final: FRA 3 – 0 BEL
1. FRA
Paul Dujardin, Noël Delberghe, Georges Rigal, Henri Padou, Robert Desmettre, Albert
Mayaud, Albert Delborgies
2. BEL
Albert Durant, Joseph Pietincx, Pierre Dewin, Gerard Blitz, Joseph Cludts, Georges Fleurix,
Paul Gailly, Jules Thiry, Pierre Vermetten, Joseph de Combe, Maurice Blitz
3. USA
Frederick Lauer, Oliver Horn, George Mitchell, George Schroth, Herbert Vollmer, P “Johnny”
Weissmuller, Arthur Austin, John Norton, J WallaceO’Connor
4. SWE
Theodor Nauman, Gösta Persson, Vilhelm Anderson, Martin Norberg, Erik Andersson, Nils
Backlund, Cletus Anderson, Hilmer Wictorin
5. HUN
István Barta, Tibor Fazekas, Márton Homonnai, Alajos Keserü, Lajos Homonnai, János Wenk,
Ferenc Keserü, József Vértesy
6. CZE
Václav Ankrt, František Franĕk, František Kúrka, Hugo Klempfner, Josef Tomášek, Jiři
Reitman, Béla Nemenyi, Jan Hora, František Vacin, Jaroslav Hummelhans
7. NED
Gérard Bohlander, Frederick Bohlander, Willem Bokhoven, Jan den Boer, Jacques Köhler,
Karel Struys, Antoine van Senus
Page 42
1928 Olympics
Germany, which did not compete in 1924, defeated Hungary in extra time after drawing 2-2
at full time in the final. The result was 5-2. The final was refereed by Maurice Blitz of
Belgium. Among the members of the German team were the Rademacher brothers, Eric and
Joachim, the first brothers to win an Olympic gold medal whilst playing on the same team.
Erich ‘Ete’ Rademacher, who played in goal, won the 200 metres breaststroke at the first
ever European Championships in Budapest in 1926. His team, Hellas Magdeburg, won 9
national German water polo championships.
The International Swimming Hall of Fame honoured Fritz Gunst in 1990 and Erich Rademacher
in 1972 as outstanding players of the era. The Hungarian team featured Ferenc Kesaru and
Marton Homonnai, their two stars of the first golden Hungarian team.
A well known general scene from the 1928 Olympics
Germany beat Britain 8-5 in the semi final. Britain had replenished its ageing team with a
view to returning to the top. Bugbee, Smith and others had gone and been replaced by
players like Ted Temme, Billy Quick and Olympic swimming silver medallist, Jack Hatfield,
but they still went down 8-1 to France in the bronze medal match. Henri Padou remained the
Page 43
star for the French whilst Paul Radmilovic, Britain’s star of the early era played his last
Olympic match. By now he was 43 years. The game was refereed by A.Delahaye of Belgium.
Two of the USA’s greats from the era- Johnny Weismuller(left) and Duke Kahanonomku (right)both
Olympic 100 metres freestyle gold medallists (Photos: International Swimming Hall of Fame)
This Olympics also saw the second appearance of swimming great, Johnny Weismuller.
Weismuller played for the USA team which lost 5-0 to Hungary. Wally O’Connor from Stanford
University was playing in his second of four Olympic tournaments. In 1936, his last Olympics,
he carried the American flag into the Olympic Stadium at the Opening Ceremony. Hungary,
which had won the European Championship, had expected to win the gold medal and
disappointment was intense but it continued to build its team through to the 1932 Games.
The results were:
1
2
3
4
5
5
W
L
F
GER
3
0
18
HUN
3
1
26
FRA
5
1
4
GBR
2
2
15
BEL
1
1
14
NED
1
1
14
Final: GER 5 – 2 HUN (overtime)
A
10
8
7
21
6
6
1. GER
Erich Rademacher, Otto Cordes, Emil Benecke, Fritz Gunst, Joachim Rademacher, Karl Bähre,
Max Amann, Johannes Blank
2. HUN
Page 44
István Barta, Sánder Ivády, Alajos Keserü, Márten Homonnai, Ferenc Keserü, József Vértesy,
Olivér Halassy
3. FRA
Paul Dujardin, Jules Keignaert, Henri Padou, Emile Bulteel, Achille Tribouillet, Henri
Cuvelier, Albert Vandeplancke, Ernest Rogez, Albert Thévenon
4. GBR
Edward Temme, Paul Radmilovic, Edward Percival Peters, Nicholas Beamen, John “Jack”
Budd, Leslie Ablett, Richard Hodgson, John Hatfied, William Quick
5. BEL
J Brandeleer, René Bouwens, J Malissart, Gerard Blitz, Pierre Coppieters, Louis van Gheem,
Henri de Pauw, F Visser, A Mélardy
5. NED
Abraham van Olst, Jean van Silfhout, Antoine van Senus, Jacques Köhler, Kees Leenheer, Jan
Scholte, Ko Köhler,
Olivier Halassy
1932 Olympics
Hungary turned the tables in Los Angeles, defeating Germany 6-2, after leading 2-0 at half
time. The Hungarian team again featured Keseru who this time was paired up front with
Janos Nemeth. The team was captained by the outstanding Marton Hommonai. The match was
refereed by A.Delayhaye of Belgium. This first golden Hungarian team were to play for an
amazing 19 years undefeated, the team peaking in 1932, Hungary now winning all honours
through to 1939.
Janos Nemeth was the greatest centre forward of the era. Between 1929 and 1939, he played
110 internationals and was only on the losing side once. He finished his career by scoring 8
goals in a 9-2 Hungarian victory over a European All Star team. Following the Hungarian
Page 45
Revolution in 1956, he moved to Spain where he coached the national side. His daughter
swam for Spain at the 1956 Olympics.
Oliver Halassy was their most unusual player. Halassy lost the lower part of his leg and his
foot in a tram accident when aged 11. Remarkably Halassy, who worked as an auditor, won
the European 1500 metre gold medal in 1931. He compensated for his loss of a limb by
swimming with short powerful strokes. Halassy, from Ujpest, died at the age of 37 when in
1946 he was shot by a Soviet soldier one night whilst returning home late at night after
visiting his pregnant wife in hospital. A few days later his child was born.
The Hungarian team at the Los Angeles Olympics
The matches were played in front of large crowds and the home team did well, losing 7-0 to
Hungary but winning the bronze medal on goal difference. It was 40 years before the USA
were to win another medal.
Page 46
The German silver medallists in 1932
The Brazilian team, which had already been defeated 6-1 by the USA, attacked the referee,
Bela Komjadi of Hungary, after being defeated 7-3 by Germanylviii. Eventually the police were
called in and the Brazilian team was suspended from the competition. Ironically, Brazil’s
matches against Hungary and then Japan, were forfeited. Komjadi, who had established and
coached MTK of Hungary, who was credited with the invention of the ‘dry’ pass in water polo,
died unexpectedly not long after the Olympics.
The Brazilian team had struggled to pay for their participation, selling coffee beans along the
way in each port in which their boat stopped. The difficulty seemed to arise because the
Brazilians were playing under a different set of rules to that of the rest of the World and to
the displeasure of the USA crowd, the Brazilian players were continually sent from the water
for fouling. The Brazilians were flagged for 40 fouls and the Germans just 4. Dr Luis De Silva,
the 1.97 metres tall goal keeper leapt from the water at the final whistle and chased Komjadi
into the fifth row of the stands.
Page 47
The Brazilian players attack referee Bela Komjadi and the police help to calm the situation
(International Swimming Hall of Fame)
Germany scores its second goal against the USA in Los Angeles
Page 48
A wide shot of the USA- Germany game in Los Angeles
The results were:
1
2
3
4
HUN
GER
USA
JPN
W
3
2
2
0
L
0
1
1
3
D
0
1
1
0
F
31
23
20
0
A
2
13
12
38
1. HUN
György Bródy, Sándor Ivády, Márton Homonnai, Olivér Halassy, József Vértesy, Janös Németh,
Ferenc Keserü, Alajos Keserü, István Barta, Miklós Sárkány
2. GER
Erich Rademacher, Otto Cordes, Emil Benecke, Fritz Gunst, Joachim Rademacher, Heiko
Schwartz, Hans Schulze, Hans Eckstein
3. USA
Herbert Wildman, F Caivert Strong, Charles Finn, C Harold McAllister, Philip Daubenspeck,
Austin Clapp, Wallace O’Connor
4. JPN
Page 49
Takashige Matsumoto, Akira Fujita, Shuji Doi, Iwao Tokito, Yasutaro Sakagami, Takaji
Takebayashi, Tosuke Sawami, Seibei Kimura
1936 Olympics
16 teams with 176 players entered the Berlin Olympics and 142 of those participants actually
playedlix. Most of the water polo matches were watched by large crowds. The format of 7
players in the water and 4 substitutes continued. The two best teams in each group qualified
for the semi finals with the last two teams being eliminated.
Huge crowds supported the water polo at the 1936 Olympics
Playing conditions for the elimination rounds between August 8th and 10th were reasonable,
the temperature ranging between 17 and 25 degrees. The widening interest in water polo was
demonstrated by the first match on August 8th when Uruquay, competing for the first time,
went down 1-0 to Belgium.
1936 was also significant because Yugoslavia competed for the first time. They went down 4-1
to Hungary in their first match. The following day, Britain scraped through 4-3 against
Yugoslavia. The widening gap between the fitter, more swimming orientated style of playing
was emphasised on the same day when the new defeated the old, Hungary beating Britain 101.
Page 50
Hungary scores against Belgium in its 1936 3-0 semi final win
Page 51
But not all of Hungary’s shots land up as a goal. Henri Disey, the Belgian goalie,
steers the ball wide(International Olympic Committee Photographic Archive)
There were 2 groups of 4 countries in the semi finals. Hungary and Belgium went through to
the semi finals from Group 1 and Germany and France from Group 2. This was a third
Olympics for France’s Henri Padou and a fourth for Belgium’s Gerard Blitz, who first
competed in 1920.
The final matches between a group of 4 teams were played in continuous rainlx and, at one
stage, the temperature dropped as low as 14 degrees. Hungary won the gold after defeating
France 5-0 whilst Germany took the silver following a 4-1 win over Belgium. Hungary also beat
Belgium 3-0 and drew 2-2 with Germany.
Marton Homonnai, who played for Hungary, was considered the greatest back of his time.
After the War, he moved to South Africa. In 1952, at the Helsinki Olympics, his daughter Kato
Szoke, won the Olympic 100 metres title wearing his water polo hat. Szoke, who was a child
progidy who could float unaided at the age of 2, was later to marry Kalman Markovits, a
water polo gold medallist in subsequent Olympic and European Championships.
Ray Ruddy, who played for the USA, was the son of Joe Ruddy, a gold medallist in the 4 x 200
metres relay and water polo in 1904. Ray’s cousin Stephen played on the US team in 1920
making 3 Olympians from one familylxi
International trends in the game towards the Second World War were centred around further
rule changes to make the game even faster. In 1936, Czechoslovakia and Germany suggested
that if a player was sent out for a major foul, he should be sent out for a fixed time rather
than until the next goal which discouraged referees from sending people out. Although this
was not adopted by FINA, a suggestion by Austria that an international panel for referees be
established, was agreedlxii.
Page 52
The Hungarian winning team in Berlin in 1936 ((International Olympic Committee Photographic
Archive)
The 1936 Olympic results were:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
HUN
GER
BEL
FRA
NED
AUT
SWE
GBR
W
8
8
4
4
3
5
3
2
L
0
0
3
5
1
3
6
4
D
1
1
2
0
5
1
0
3
F
57
56
17
21
23
31
29
28
A
5
10
17
37
28
18
18
46
1. HUN
György Bródy, Kálmán Hazai, Márten Homonnai, Olivér Halassy, Jenö Brandi, Janös Németh,
Mihály Bozsi, György Kutasi, Miklós Sárkány, Sándor Tarics, István Molnár
2. GER
Paul Klingenburg, Bernhard Baier, Gustav Schürger, Fritz Gunst, Josef Hauser, Hans
Schneider, Hans Schulze, Fritz Stolze, Heinrich Krug, Alfred Kienzle, Helmuth Schwenn
Page 53
3. BEL
Henri Disy, Joseph de Combe, Henri Stoelen, Fernand Isselé, Albert Castelyns, Gérard Blitz,
Pierre Coppieters, Henri de Pauw, Edmond Michiels
4. FRA
Georges Delporte, Paul Lambert, Maurice Lefebvre, Henri Padou, Roger Vande-Castelle, André
Busch, René Joder
5. HOL
Johannes van Woerkom, Jean van Oostrom Soede, Rudolf den Hamer, Gerard Regter, Hans
Maier, Cornelius van Aelst, Alexander Franken, Herman Veenstra, Jan van Hateren
6. AUT
Franz Wenninger, Karl Seitz, Karl Steinbach, Sebastian Ploner, Franz Schönfels, Alfred
Lergetporer, Wilhelm Hawlik, Erwin Blasl, Otto Müller, Anton Kunz, Peter Reidl
7. SWE
Åke Nauman, Bertil Berg, Tore Ljungqvist, Gösta Persson, Erik Holm, Georg Svensson
(Sollermark), Göte Andersson, Tore Lindzén, Runar Sandström
8. GBR
Alfred North, David Grogan, William Martin, Robert Mitchell, Leslie Ablett, David McGregor,
Ernest Blake
1948 Olympics
The rules of the tournament in London were such that if two teams qualifying for the final
rounds had already played one another in the preliminary rounds, they could not play one
another again. The result was that although Italy and Hungary both got through to the finals,
the match that decided the whole competition was Italy’s 4-3 win over Hungary in the
preliminary roundslxiii. The matches were played either at the Empire Pool, Wembley, which
was indoors, or in the outdoor pool in nearby Finchley. The competition opened on July 30th
and finished on August 7th. The pool In Finchley was unheated and therefore quite cold.
Page 54
Spain defeat Switzerland 5-1 at Wembley in 1948. Following the Olympics, the swimming pool
was
closed and spent the rest of its existence as an indoor ice skating rink
Following their win at the 1947 European Championships in Monte Carlo, Italy, who were
coached by Valle Pino, were favourites to win but they received a shock when they were held
to a 4-4 draw by an emerging Yugoslavia in the first round.
Yugoslavia was drawn in the same group as Hungary and Italy and eventually went out 4-2 to
Hungary. There was some criticism of the refereeing which needed to be more standardised
and of the continuous fouling by the playerslxiv.
Page 55
Action from the 1—1 draw between Sweden and France at Wembley
None of the great Hungarian players from the first era remained but the tournament saw the
debut of Deszo Gyamarti, the backbone of the second golden team. In the final group of four,
Hungary drew 4-4 with Netherlands in a match that was refereed by Ernie Scott of Britain.
Hungary beat Belgium 3-0. Italy which had now emerged as one of the power houses of water
polo defeated Belgium 4-2 and Netherlands 4-2. The Hungarian team was now being coached
by the great Bela Rajki, famous for his seminal work and photography of water polo. Rajki
took over in 1945.
Page 56
Shot stopper! Pasquale Buonocore saves a shot for Italy against Netherlands on their way to
winning the
Olympic gold medal (International Olympic Committee Photographic Archive)
Zdravko Kovacic-Ciro played in goal in this his first Olympics for Yugoslavia. He also played in
the next two Olympics, winning a silver in 1956, 3 European Championships and captained
Yugoslavia for 56 of the 87 matches he played internationally. Born on July 5th in 1925 in
Sibenk, he worked as a Director of Martime Shipping of Jogolinija-Rijeka before retiring. He
was regarded as being the best goal keeper of the period.
The results were:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
ITA
HUN
NED
BEL
SWE
FRA
EGY
ESP
W
8
6
6
2
6
4
1
2
L
0
3
1
2
3
2
4
8
Page 57
D
2
1
3
6
1
4
5
0
F
47
45
65
32
31
32
26
26
A
24
27
23
25
14
24
35
33
1. ITA
Pasquale Buonocore, Emilio Bulgarelli, Cesare Rubini, Geminio Ognio, Ermenegildo Arena,
Aldo Ghira, Gianfranco Pandolfini, Mario Maioni, Tullio Pandolfini
2. HUN
Endre Györffi, Miklós Holop, Dezsö Gyarmati, Károly Szittya, Oszkár Csuvik, István Szivós,
Dezsö Lemhényi, László Jeney, Deszö Fábián, Jenö Brandi
3. NED
Johannes Rohner, Cornelis Korevaar, Cornelius Braasem, Hans Stam, Albert Ruimschotel,
Rudolph van Feggelen, Fritz Smol, Pieter Salomons, Hendrikus Keetelaar
4. BEL
Théo-Léo de Smet, Georges Leenheere, Emile d’Hooge, Paul Rigaumont, Fernand Isselé, Willy
Simons, Alphonse Martin
5. SWE
Rune Öberg, Erik Holm, Rolf Julin, Roland Spángberg, Arne Jutner, Olle Johansson, Åke Julin,
Folke Eriksson, Knut Gadd, Olle Ohlsson
6. FRA
François Debonnet, Maurice Lefebvre, Robert Le Bras, Marco Diener, Robert Himgi, Roger
Dewasch, Jacques Berthe, Raymond Massol, Jacques Viaene, Emile Bermyn, Marcel Spilliaert
7. EGY
Ahmed Nessim, Taha El Gamal, Mohamed Khadry, Mohamed Haraga, Dorri El Said, Mohamed
Abdel Aziz Khalifa, Samir Gharbo, Mohamed Hemmat
8. ESP
Juan Serra Llobet, José Pujol Coma, Carlos Falp Mont, Francisco Sabate Figa, Carlos Marti
Arenas, Francisco Castillo Caupana, Augustin Mestres Ribas, Valintin Sabate Mas
1952 Olympics
At the Helsinki Olympics, the water polo was due to played in the sea swimming baths at
Uunisaari and Humallahtilxv but FINA decided that the water was too cold and that all matches
would be played in the Olympic Swimming Stadium. This resulted in the whole aquatics
programme being rejigged. During the preliminary rounds, some of the matches needed to be
played at 6 a.m., the earliest water polo had ever been played in Olympic competition.
For the first time, players were allowed to move after a blow for a foul. This speeded up the
game considerably.
Page 58
Netherlands scores its seventh goal against Sweden. The Netherlands eventually won seven of
it’s ten games and finished fifth (International Olympic Committee Photographic Archive)
21 teams took part with Argentina receiving a bye to the next round. The USSR competed for
the first time. The two best teams in each of 2 groups went through to the semi finals. For
good or for bad, this brought the four best performing teams together in one semi final group.
These were Netherlands, Hungary, Yugoslavia and the USSR. The closeness of modern matches
was now emphasised as Hungary and Netherlands, 4-4, Yugoslavia and USSR, 3-3, and Hungary
and Yugoslavia, 2-2, all drew. From now on, the determining factor in major competitions
was the level of consistency throughout the competition.
There was one result in this group. Netherlands beat Yugoslavia. This resulted in a protest by
Yugoslavia who maintained that the Belgian referee had been incorrect in two decisions and
FINA agreed. The match was replayed and Yugoslavia won 2-0lxvi.
Italy came through to the finals from the other semi final. In the finals, Hungary, coached by
Bela Rakji, and Yugoslavia, coached by Bosko Vuksanovic, again drew but Hungary defeated
Italy and the USA by wider margins, 7-2 and 4-0. The Official Olympic Report stated: ‘As
always, the closest matches grew very heated and the referee had to order several players
out of the pool’lxvii.
Page 59
The Hungarian winning team in Helsinki (International Olympic Committee Photographic
Archive)
The Hungarian team, known as the Second Golden team, included three great stars of the
world game. Dezso Gyarmati won medals in five Olympics- gold in 1952, 1956 and 1964, silver
in 1948, and bronze in 1960 when he was 37 years old. His wife Eva Szekely won a gold medal
in the 200 metres breaststroke in the 1952 Olympics and a silver in the 1956 Olympics. Their
daughter Andrea, won Olympics silver in 1972 and European gold. In 1973, she married 1968
Olympic kayak gold medallist, Milhaly Hesz- a great sporting family!
The second great player was Georgy Karpati. Karpati, a doctor, was not a tall man but he
packed a huge shot. He won gold medals in 1952, 1956 and 1964 and bronze in 1960. Kalman
Markovits, the third great player, won gold in 1952 and 1956 and bronze in 1960. In 1962, all
three players won their final gold medals whilst playing together in the European
Championship winning team.
The final results were:
Page 60
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
HUN
YUG
ITA
USA
NED
BEL
URS
ESP
W
7
7
8
5
7
6
4
3
L
0
0
2
6
2
3
4
7
D
3
3
0
0
1
1
2
0
F
60
46
53
43
45
37
43
33
A
21
16
29
41
22
35
34
41
1. HUN
László Jeney, György Vizvári, Dezsö Gyarmati, Kálmán Markovits, Antal Bolváni, István Szivós,
György Kárpáti, Róbert Antal, Dezsö Fábián, Károly Szittya, Dezsö Lemhényi, István Hasznos,
Miklós Martin
2. YUG
Zdravko Kovačić, Velijko Bakašun, Ivo Štakula, Ivo Kurtini, Boško Vuksanović, Zdravko Ježić,
Lovro Radonjić, Marko Brainović,Vlado Ivković
3. ITA
Raffaello Gambino, Vincenzo Polito, Cesare Rubini, Carlo Peretti, Ermenegildo Arena,
Maurizio Mannelli, Renato De Sanzuane, Renato Traiolo, Geminio Ognio, Salvatore Gionta,
Lucio Ceccarini
4. USA
Harry Bisbey, James Norris, Edward Jaworski, Norman Lake, William Kooistra, Peter Stange,
Norman Dornblaser, John Spargo, Robert Hughes, Maroni Burns
5. NED
Marcus van Gelder, Gerrit Bijsma, Cornelis Korevaar, Cornelius Braasem, Frits Smol, Rudolph
van Geggelen, Johannes Cabout
6. BEL
Théo-Léo de Smet, Alphonse Martin, Joseph Smits, André Laurent, Marcel Heyninck, Roland
Sierens, Johan van den Steen, François Maesschalck, Georges Leenheere, Joseph Reynders
7. URS
Boris Goikhman, Yevgeny Semenov, Yuni Teplov, Lev Kokorin, Valentin Prokopov, Aleksandr
Liferenko, Pyotr Mshvenieradze, Yuri Schlyapin, Vitaly Ushakov
8. ESP
Leandro Ribera Abad, Ricardo Conde Rosales, José Bazán Vilaldach, Roberto Queralt Alantorn,
Antônio Subirane, Augustin Mestres Ribas, José Abellan Pallani, Francisco Castillo Caupano
Page 61
The balletic qualities of water polo
players as seen through the camera of
Bela Rajki- top left, Kalman Markovits,
Hungary, top right, Zdravko Jezic,
Yugoslavia
Page 62
Top, Istvan Szivos Senior, bottom, Gyorgy Karpati (Photography by Bela Rajki)
Page 63
1956 Olympics
The Melbourne Olympic competition was determined on a league basis. As it turned out, the
final match between Hungary and Yugoslavia was also a close contest in itself with Hungary
winning 2-1 but it is the match between Hungary and USSR that will always be remembered
for the level of violence. In April 2006, a one and a half hour documentary film about the
match, Freedom’s Fury, was premiered in the USA. The match started quietly enough but
quickly developed into a number of skirmishes between individual players. The match
exploded when an incident took place between Valentin Prokopev and Ervin Zador in which
Zador’s eye was split open. Angry Hungarian supporters in the audience reacted and the
referee halted the match with Hungary leading 4-0 with a minute to go. Hungary was awarded
the game. The police had to be called in to prevent a riot as many of the crowd of 5,500
started to become involvedlxviii.
Freedom’s Fury was part filmed at the Gellert Pool in Budapest. It features interviews with
Dezso Gyarmati, Kalman Markovits and Antal Bolvari from the Hungarian team and Boris
Markov and Pytor ‘Misi’ Mschvenieradze from the Soviet team.
The winning Hungarian team- the photo features the diminuitive but brillian Georges
Karpati at the front and Ervin Zador in the white shirt with his cut eye
Page 64
In the last match between Hungary and Yugoslavia, the Yugoslavs needed to win whilst a draw
would have been good enough for the Hungarians. Yugoslavia was just one point behind in the
table. Otto Boros, the Hungarian goal keeper kept the Yugoslavs out and played a big part in
Hungary’s ultimate triumph.
Hungary topped the final table with 10 points, Yugoslavia took the silver with 7 points and the
USSR finished third with 6 points. Ultimately it was Hungary with a goal difference of 20-3
that prevailed on account of their ability to take chances.
Piotr Mschvenieradze (USSR)
For a fast improving USSR, Piotr Mschvenieradze, proved to be its’ best player and the most
outstanding forward in the World since Nemeth. Hungarian water polo increasingly influenced
the World. Many of the Hungarians began coaching in other countries. Endre Zolyomi coached
Italy to a gold medal in 1960. He later coached in Spain. Miklos Lemhenyi, who won gold in
1952, coached the French team in 1964. Gyorgy Brody and Laszlo Sarosi coached in Greece
just after this period and in 1964, Bela Rajki went to coach the Mexican team for a period
before returning to Hungary.
The results were as follows:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
HUN
YUG
URS
ITA
USA
GER
GBR
ROM
W
7
6
5
4
2
1
3
3
L
0
1
3
3
5
5
2
3
Page 65
D
0
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
F
32
28
23
21
18
18
25
30
A
6
13
20
16
25
25
20
17
1. HUN
Ottó Boros, István Hevesi, Dezsö Gyarmati, Kálmán Markovits, Antal Bolvári, Mihály Mayer,
György Kárpáti, László Jeney, István Szivós, Tivadar Kanizsa, Ervin Zádor
2. YUG
Zdravko Kovačić, Ivo Cipci, Hrvoje Kačić, Marjan Žurej, Zdravko Ježić, Lovro Radonjic,
Tomislav Franjkovič, Vladimir Ivkovič
3. URS
Boris Goikhman, Viktor Ageyev, Yuri Schlyapin, Vyacheslav Kurennoi, Pyotr Breus, Pyotr
Mshvenieradze, Nodar Gvakharia, Mikhail Ryzhak, Valentin Prokopov, Boris Markarov
4. ITA
Enzo Cavazzoni, Cesare Rubini, Angelo Marciani, Paolo Pucci, Federico Dennerlein, Giuseppe
D’Altrui, Alfonso Buonocore, Cosimo Antonelli, Luigi Mannelli, Maurizio D’Achille
5. USA
Robert Horn, William Ross, Robert Frojen, Wallace Wolf, Ronald Severa, James Gaughran,
William Kooistra, Kenneth Hahn, Robert Hughes, Sam Kooistra
6. GER
Karl Neuse, Alfred Obschernikat, Wilfried Bode, Hans Joachim Schneider, Wilhelm Sturin,
Hens-Günther Hilker, Friedhelm Osselmann, Emil Bildstein, Erich Pennekamp, Hans Werner
Seher
7. GBR
Arthur Grady, Gerald Worseil, John “Jack” Jones, Peter Pass, Ronald Turner, Terence Miller,
E. Clifford Spooner, John Ferguson, Robert Knights
8. ROM
Alexandru Marinescu, Zoltan Hospodar, Aurel Zahan, Gavril Nagy, Francisc Simon, Ivan Bordi,
Alexandru Szabo, Alexandru Badita, Iosif Deutsch
1960 Olympics
The Rome Olympics saw a final competition consisting of 16 teams and 161 playerslxix. The
Italian team was playing in home water and this made it among the favourites. By this time,
Britain and Hungary had won 4 gold medals each, France, Italy and Germany, one.
The tournament was again run on a divisional basis funnelling down to two divisional semi
finals. From the semi finals, Italy and USSR came through one group, Italy having won all of
its games with a goal difference of 9-3. The other division was topped by Yugoslavia with 6
points followed by Hungary. The scene was then set for the four most consistent World
powers to compete in the finals.
Referee, W.Goose took charge of a tight match between USSR and Hungary. Domotor, with a
penalty, put Hungary ahead and Chikvanaja equalised for the USSR after 8 minutes. The same
two players scored again before Felkai put Hungary in front after 6 minutes and 55 seconds of
the second half. As time was running out, Mshvenieradze, the 1.84 metre centre forward
equalised for the Soviets.
The match between Italy and Yugoslavia was a low scoring game. Rosario Parmegiani scored
twice. His second, the winner, was scored after 8 minutes 44 seconds of the second half.
Yugoslavia were edged again by one goal in the next game when they went down 4-3 to the
Soviet Union. Four people were expelled for major fouls in the first half and there were 10
Page 66
expulsions in the second half during a tough match. All Italy needed to do was to draw the
final match against the holders, Hungary. This they duly did 3-3 but it wasn’t until
Parmegiani’s penalty three minutes from the end that they were on level terms. It was goal
keeper, Dante Rossi, who then led his team to the rostrum to receive the gold medals, Italy
having won the final table with 5 points, USSR winning the silver with 3 points and Hungary,
the bronze with 2.
Eraldo Pizza and Cesare Rubini, were outstanding for Italy and, in 1990 and 2000 respectively,
they were inducted into the Swimming Hall of Fame in recognition of their services to the
game.
The results were:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
ITA
URS
HUN
YUG
ROM
GER
USA
NED
W
8
6
5
7
4
4
4
1
L
0
2
2
2
3
5
5
7
D
1
1
2
0
2
0
0
1
F
37
35
45
31
34
42
42
32
A
15
26
22
15
26
48
48
38
1. ITA
Dante Rossi, Giuseppe D’Aitrui, Eraldo Pizzo, Gianni Lonzi, Franco Lavoratori, Rosario
Parmegiani, Danio Bardi, Brunella Spinelli, Salvatore Gionta, Amadeo Ambron, Giancarlo
Guerrini
2. URS
Leri Gogoladze, Givi Chikvanaya, Vyacheslav Kurennoi, Anatoly Kartashov, Yuri Grigorovshy,
Pyotr Mshvenieradze, Vladimir Semyonov, Boris Goikhman, Yevgeny Salzyn, Viktor Ageyev,
Vladimir Novikov
3. HUN
Ottó Boros, István Hevesi, Mihály Mayer, Dezsö Gyarmati, Tivadar Konizsa, Zoltán Dömötör,
László Felkai, László Jeney, András Katona, Kálmán Markovits, Péter Rusorán, György Kárpáti,
János Konrád, András Bodnár
4. YUG
Milan Muškatirović, Hrvoje Kačić, Zlatko Šimenc, Zdravko Ježić, Marijen Žužej, Ante Nardeli,
Mirko Sandić, Božidar Stanišić, Drajoljub Siljak
5. ROM
Mircea Stefănescu, Alexandru Badita, Aurel Zohan, Gavrila Blajek, Alexandru Szabo, Anatol
Grintescu, Stefan Kroner
6. GER
Hans Hoffmeister, Hans-Joachim Schneider, Hans Schepers, Bernd Straesser, Lajos Nagy,
Friedhelm Osselmann, Dieter Seiz, Emil Bildstein, Jürgen Honig
7. USA
Robert Horn, Marvin Burns, Ronald Severa, Ronald Crawford, Fred Tisue, Wallace Wolf, Robert
Volmer, Gordon Hall, Charles Bittick, Charles McIlroy
8. NED
Page 67
Lambertus Kniest, Harry Lamme, Frederik van der Zwan, Harro Ran, Abraham Leenard, Henri
Vriend, Alfred van Dorp, Johannes Muller, Hendrik Hermsen
1964 Olympics
The deciding match in the Tokyo Olympics was a 4-4 draw between Hungary and a steadily
improving Yugoslavia. Hungary, coached by Karoly Lahky, had beaten the Soviet Union, 5-2,
and Italy, 3-1. This gave Hungary a superior goal difference to Yugoslavia and, once again
water polo found itself in a position where it required a draw and not a win for a team to win
the gold medal. Hungary’s goal didn’t come until 25 seconds from the final whistle.
There was a tendency to employ bigger players and the Hungarians protested that the big
Yugoslav defenders were standing on the bottom of the pool which was only 1.54 metres
deeplxx.
General scene from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics (International Olympic Committee Photographic
Archive)
The American Roy Saari, who had held the World Record for 1500 metres, qualified for both
the USA swimming and water polo teams but was made to choose between one or the other.
He chose swimming. His brother Bob played for the water polo team and his father, Urho, was
coach to the team. When he swam, Roy (almost uniquely at top level at that time) employed
a scissor kick in freestyle that was redolent of the old trudgeon style of years before.
Page 68
The Hungarian win brought Deszo Gyarmati’s career to a close at the age of 37. His record of
medals at 5 Olympics has never been surpassed. The scope and complexity of the tournament
was now beginning to increase with no less than 28 referees taking charge of the matches.
There were now almost as many referees as there had been players in 1904 and 1908.
The 1964 Olympics and Hungary’s remarkable success continues
The results were:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
HUN
YUG
URS
ITA
ROM
GDR
BEL
NED
W
6
7
5
4
4
3
2
4
L
0
0
2
4
3
5
6
5
1. HUN
Page 69
D
2
2
1
0
1
0
0
0
F
43
42
20
17
36
26
28
37
A
17
16
13
19
28
26
43
47
Miklos Ambrus, László Felkai, János Konrád, Zoltán Dömötör, Tivadan Kanizsa, Péter Rusorán,
György Kárpáti, Ottó Boros, Mihály Mayer, Dénes Pócsik, András Bodnár, Dezsö Gyarmati
2. YUG
Milan Muškatirović, Ivo Trumbić, Vinka Rosić, Zlatko Šimenc, Božidar Stanišić, Ante Nardeli,
Zoran Janković, Mirko Sandić, Ozren Bonačič, Frane Nonkovič, Kanlo Stipanić
3. URS
Igor Grabovsky, Vladimir Kuznetsov, Boris Grishin, Boris Popov, Nikolai Kaleshnikov, Zenon
Bortkevich, Nikolai Kuznetsov, Viktor Ageyev, Leonid Osipov, Vladimir Semyonov, Eduard
Yegorov
4. ITA
Dante Rossi, Giuseppe D’Altrui, Eraldo Pizzo, Gianni Lonzi, Franco Lavoratori, Rosario
Parmegiani, Mario Cevasco, Eugenio Merello, Alberto Spinola, Danio Bardi, Giancarlo Guerrini,
Federico Dennerlein
5. ROM
Mircea Stefănescu, Anatol Grintescu, Alexandru Szabo, Stefan Kroner, Nicolae Firoiu, Gruia
Novac, Cornel Mărculescu, Emil Muresan, Aurel Zahan, Iosif Kulineac
6. GDR
Peter Schmidt, Hubert Höhne, Siegfried Ballerstedt, Edgar Thiele, Klaus Schulze, Jürgen
Thiel, Klaus Schlenkrich, Heinz Mäder, Dieter Vohs, Jürgen Kluge, Heinz Wittig
7. BEL
Hendrik Hermsen, Abraham Leenards, Willem van Springelen, Gerardus Wormgoor, Alfred van
Dorp, Henri Vriend, Nicolaos van der Voet, Willem Vriend, Johan Muller, Jan Bultman,
Lambertus Kniest
8. NED
Bruno de Hesselle, Frank Dosterlinck, Roger de Wilde, Jacques Caufrier, Andre Laurent, Karel
de Vis, Jose de Vis, Jose Dumont, Johan van den Steen, Leon Pickers, Joseph Stappers
1968 Olympics
Hungary, Yugoslavia, Italy and USSR now became ensconced as the powers of water polo
during this period. Hungary had won medals in 9 Olympics since 1924, Yugoslavia had won 3
silvers in recent years and USSR had first appeared at the top in 1956 and had won a silver or
a bronze at each Olympics since that timelxxi.
It was therefore no surprise that in the Mexico semi finals, the USSR defeated Italy and
Yugoslavia beat Hungary. Italy met Hungary in the bronze medal play off. This proved to be
an aggressive matchlxxii with Hungary getting on top during the latter half. Six straight goals by
the Hungarians gave them the breathing space they needed. In the final, the Soviet Union met
Yugoslavia. The Official Olympic Report stated that ‘it was a rough, free swinging game with
both teams employing the same simple strategy: shoot often and give no quarter’. The final
whistle came with the teams drawing 11-11 but in extra time Yugoslavia scored twice to win
its first Olympic gold medal. It had taken approximately 30 years from when Yugoslavia
played in its first Olympic final competition to its finally winning. The Soviet’s ace was
Oleksei Barkalov who scored 7 goals including two in the final 35 seconds of normal time. All
but 4 of the 24 goals had come through penalties.
Page 70
In the earlier rounds, Yugoslavia, coached by Aleksandra Seifert, had needed to defeat Japan
with a 13 goal margin to overtake East Germany and make it through to the final group. This
it managed to achieve, 13-2. Mirko Sandic was Yugoslavia’s strong man in these early rounds.
By contrast, Hungary defeated the Soviet Union 6-5 and made it to the final group more
comfortably after defeating everyone in their qualifying group.
Australia had qualified as one of the 16 teams to take part in the finals and the team
travelled to Mexico, paying its own expenses, but it wasn’t allowed to compete as the
Australian Olympic Committee had already decided that their team were unlikely to progress.
With the benefit of Hungarian coaching expertise, Cuba climbed to a promising eighth
position having won 3 and drawn 1 of its final 8 matches.
There were other significant changes taking place. Increasingly, teams were playing without a
single recognised centre forward in front of the goal. More and more, they were using a
rotational system of play with forwards moving into the ‘hole’ in front of goal, then receiving
a pass and dribbling the ball out until another player had moved into the ‘hole’. By doing
this, there was more mobility in front of the goal and there was an increased possibility of a
scoring situation being brought about.
The old leather cased balls were also in the process of disappearing to be replaced by a more
light weight, plastic coated ball that moved slightly in the air during a shot.
The results were:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
YUG
URS
HUN
ITA
USA
GDR
NED
CUB
W
7
6
6
6
5
6
5
3
L
1
2
2
2
2
2
3
4
D
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
F
86
62
54
57
49
78
53
38
A
35
36
26
38
43
30
39
51
1. YUG
Karlo Stipanić, Ivo Trumbić, Ozren Bonačić, Uroš Marović, Ronald Lapatny, Zoran Janković,
Miroslav Poljak, Dejan Dabović, Djordje Perišić, Mirko Sandić, Zdravko Hebel
2. URS
Vadim Gulyayev, Givi Chikvanaya, Boris Grishin, Aleksandr Dolgushin, Oleksei Barkalov, Yuri
Grigorovsky, Vladimir Semyonov, Aleksandr Shidiovsky, Vyacheslav Skok, Leonid Osipov, Oleg
Bovin
3. HUN
Endre Molnár, Mihály Mayer, Istvan Szivós, János Konrád, László Felkai, Ferenc Konrád, Dénes
Pócsik, Andrós Bodnár, Zoltán Dömötör, János Steinmetz
4. ITA
Page 71
Alberto Alberani Samaritani, Eraldo Pizzo, Mario Cevasco, Gianni Lonzi, Enzo Barlocco, Franco
Lavoratori, Gianni De Magistris, Alessandro Ghibellini, Giancarlo Guerrini, Paolo Ferrando,
Eugenio Merello
5. USA
Anton Van Dorp, David Ashleigh, Russell Webb, Ronald Crawford, Stanley Cole, Bruce Bradley,
L. Dean Willeford, Barry Weitzenberg, Gary Sheerer, John Parker, Steven Barnett
6. GDR
Hans-Georg Fehn, Klaus Schlenkrich, Jürgen Thiel, Siegfried Ballerstedt, Peter Rund, Jürgen
Schüler, Jürgen Kluge, Veit Herrmanns, Manfred Herzog, Hans-Ulrich Lange, Peter Schmidt
7. NED
Feike de Vries, Hans Wouda, Louis Geutjes, Johannes Hoogveld, Alfred Van Dorp, Hans
Parrell, Nicolaas van der Voet, Ad Moolhuijzen, Bart Bonger, Andreas Hermsen, Evert Kroon
8. CUB
Oscar Periche Cordet, Waldimiro Arcos, Miguel García, Rolando Valdes, Ruben Junco,
Guiilermo Martínez, Ibrahim Rodriguez, Osvaldo García, Roberto Rodriguez, Guiilermo Canete,
Jesús Perez
1972 Olympics
The Soviet’s finally won the Olympic gold in Munich winning 7 out of their final group games.
The defining match was the Soviet’s 5-4 defeat of Yugoslavia. The Soviets were leading 2-1 in
the first quarter and then 4-1 after the second quarter. The Yugoslavs scored twice without
reply in the third to set up a grandstand finale. Ultimately both sides scored in the final
quarter and this was sufficient for the Soviet Union.
In the last match, the Soviet Union drew 3-3 with Hungary and this was enough to seal their
gold. They had trailed Hungary but a goal in the third quarter brought them level. One of the
notable games was a particularly physical game between Yugoslavia and Cuba in the
qualifying group. In another game, Hungary defeated Italy 8-7, a match refereed by current
FINA Executive Director, Cornel Marculescu. Eight players were sent from the water within a
38 second periodlxxiii.
The USA defeated Italy, coached by Mario Majoni, 6-5 including goals from Sheerer and
Bradley, two each. Despite the sun shining into his eyes, goalkeeper, Jim Slatton, kept the
Italians out to take the bronze medal. The USA’s successful coach was Art Lambert. Majoni’s
coaching career was one of the longest, starting in 1950. He coached Italy in 1952, 1964, 1968
and 1972. Majoni started playing at national level when he made the Italian ‘A’ team at the
age of 14 years. Ten years later he made the full Italian team. He played in 188
internationals including winning the European Championship gold in 1947 and the Olympics in
1948 when he was 38 years old.
The results were:
1
2
URS
HUN
W
7
6
L
0
0
Page 72
D
2
3
F
52
45
A
25
24
3
4
5
6
7
8
USA
GER
YUG
ITA
NED
ROM
7
2
5
3
6
5
1
2
4
4
1
4
2
5
1
2
2
1
55
36
55
48
43
62
41
31
48
42
31
45
1. URS
Vadim Gulyayev, Anatoly Akimov, Aleksandr Dreval, Aleksandr Dolgushin, Vladimir Shmudsky,
Aleksandr Kabanov, Oleksei Barkalov, Aleksandr Shidlovsky, Nikolai Meinikov, Leonid Osipov,
Vyacheslav Sobchenko
2. HUN
Endre Molnár, Andras Bodnár, István Görgényi, Zoltán Kásás, Tamás Faragó, Lászlo Sárosi,
Istvan Szivós, István Magas, Dénes Pócsik, Ferenc Konrád, Tibor Cservenyák
3. USA
James Slatton, Stanley Cole, Russell Webb, Barry Weitzenberg, Gary Sheerer, Bruce Bradley,
Peter Asch, James Ferguson, Steven Barnett, John Parker, Eric Lindroth
4. GER
Gerd Olbert, Hermann Haverkamp, Peter Teicher, Kurt Küpper, Günter Wolf, Ingulf Nossek,
Ludger Weeke, Kurt Schuhmann, Jürgen Stiefel, Hans Georg Simon, Hans Hoffmeister
5. YUG
Karlo Stipanić, Ratko Rudić, Ozren Bonačić, Uros Marović, Ronald Lopatny, Zoran Janković,
Sinisa Belamarić, Dušan Antunović, Djordje Perišić, Mirko Sandić, Milos Marković
6. ITA
Alberto Alberani, Eraldo Pizzo, Roldano Simeoni, Mario Cevasco, Allessandro Ghibellini, Gianni
De Magistris, Guglielmo Marsili, Silvio Baracchini, Franco Lavoratori, Sante Marsili, Ferdinando
Lignano
7. NED
Evert Kroon, Hans Wouda, Jan Evert Veer, Hans Hoogveld, Wim Hermsen, Hans Parrel, Ton
Schmidt, Mart Bras, Tony Buunk, Gyze Stroboer, Wim van der Schilde
8. ROM
Serban Huber, Bogdan Mihailescu, Gheorghe Zamfirescu, Gruia Novac, Dinu Popescu, Claudiu
Rusu, Iosif Kuliniac, Cornel Rusu, Viorel Rus, Radu Lazar, Corneliu Fratila
1976 Olympics
The preliminary rounds in Montreal were played on the 18th, 19th and 20th July with the finals
taking place between the 22nd and 24th and 26th and 27th. The water polo was played in two
different centres- the Olympic Stadium (Piscine Olympique) and the Claude-Robillard Centre.
This Olympics were notable for the demise of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, two countries
that had won the preceding Olympic golds. Yugoslavia ultimately finished 5th and the Soviet’s
sank to eighth place. The Yugoslavian team contained both less experienced team members
and ageing players. Ozren Bonacic was competing in his third Olympics.
Page 73
USSR wanted to withdraw from the eighth to twelfth position group because 5 of its players
were ill. They forfeited the game against Cuba but returned for the remaining games.
In the final group games, Hungary, now coached by multi Olympic gold medallist Deszo
Gyarmati, defeated Italy, coached by Gianni Lonzi, who had retired after the 1968 Olympics.
Hungary won 6-5 with goals from Tamas Farago, 4, who was by now one of the outstanding
players of the era, and Gyorgy Horkai,2. Farago and Horkai were again on hand to score two
each in Hungary’s 5-3 defeat of Germany. Farago scored another remarkable 4 goals in
Hungary’s 5-3 defeat of Netherlands. Netherlands were coached by 1968 Yugoslavian gold
medallist, Ivo Trumbic.
Tamas Farago, in later years as coach to the Hungarian
women’s team (Photo: Giorgio Scala)
Page 74
The USA failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in its history. The Hungarian
team contained no less than 3 doctors- Istvan Szivos, Laszlo Sarosi and Ferenc Konrad. Szivos
joined Farago in scoring 2 goals each in a 9-8 win over Romania, which had been steadily
improving over the last 12 years. Farago also scored 3 goals in a 5-5 draw with Yugoslavia.
Ultimately, Hungary won the gold with 7 wins and a draw, well ahead of Italy, silver, and
Netherlands, which finished third, it’s most outstanding result for many years. The
outstanding Farago finished the tournament with 22 goals and Hungary continued its run of
winning a medal at every Olympics since 1932.
The results were:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
HUN
ITA
NED
ROM
YUG
GER
CUB
URS
W
7
4
5
2
1
2
5
4
L
0
1
1
2
2
5
1
2
D
1
3
2
4
5
1
2
2
F
45
47
32
44
46
24
56
47
A
32
33
27
39
34
28
31
28
1. HUN
Endre Molnár, Tamás Faragó, Lászlo Sárosi, Istvan Szivós Jr., Ferenc Konrád, Tibor
Cservenyák, György Horkai, Gábor Csapó, Attila Sudár, György Kenéz, György Gerendás,
2. ITA
Alberto Alberani, Roldano Simeoni, Allessandro Ghibellini, Gianni De Magistris, Silvio
Baracchini, Sante Marsili, Marcello Del Duca, Luigi Castagnola, Ricardo De Magistris, Vincenzo
D’Angelo, Umberto Panerai
3. NED
Evert Kroon, Jan Evert Veer, Ton Buunk, Gyze Stroboer, Nicolaas Landeweerd, Hans van
Zeeland, Piet de Zwarte, Hans Smits, Rik Toonen, Andy Hoepelman, Alex Boegschoten
4. ROM
Gheorghe Zamfirescu, Dinu Popescu, Claudiu Rusu, Corneliu Rusu, Viorel Rus, Florin Slavei,
Adrian Nastasiu, Ilie Slavei, Liviu Raducanu, Adrian Schervan, Doru Spinu
5. YUG
Ozren Bonačić, Uros Marović, Sinisa Belamarić, Dušan Antunović, Milos Marković, Predrag
Manojlović, Djuro Savinović, Damir Polić, Dejan Dabović, Boško Lozica, Zoran Kačić
6. GER
Günter Wolf, Ludger Weeke, Jürgen Stiefel, Hans Georg Simon, Günter Kilian, Roland Freund,
Wolfgang Mechier, Martin Jelling-haus, Werner Obschernikat, Horst Kilian, Peter Röhle
7. CUB
Oscar Periche Cordet, Osvaldo García, Jesús Perez, Ramon Pena, Lazaro Costa, David
Rodriguez, Nelson Dominguez Avila, Jorge Rizo Perera, Eugenio Almeneiro, Gerardo Rodriguez
Peñalver, Oriel Daminguez Avila
Page 75
8. URS
Aleksandr Dreval, Aleksandr Dolgushin, Aleksandr Kabanov, Aleksei Barkalov, Nikolai Melnikov,
Anatoly Klebanov, Sergei Kotenko, Vitaly Romanchuk, Nugzar Mshvenieradze, Vladimir
Iselidze, Aleksandr Zakharov
1980 Olympics
As with the Italian team in 1960, the Soviet team had both home advantage and were also
under a great deal of pressure to win. The matches were played at the Central Lenin Stadium
and the Olympliski Swimming Pool. The days when the matches were played on exactly
matched those of the previous Olympics.
There were 3 qualifying groups. Hungary and Netherlands qualified from the ‘A’ pool, the
Soviet Union, and for the first time, Spain, from Group ‘B’, and Yugoslavia from Group ‘C’.
Italy was edged out of the finals group by Spain.
The Soviet Union, who was coached by Boris Popov and Viacheslav Skok, reversed its failure of
1976 and won the gold medal without losing a game. Yugoslavia also climbed back up winning
the silver with 7 points just one point ahead of Hungary. An improving Spain, coached by
Manuel Ibern, finished fourth. This was the first Olympic appearance of Manuel Estiarte of
Spain, the most outstanding goal scorer of the modern era. Estiarte scored 21 goals in the
tournament, one less than Farago in 1976. He played at 6 Olympics and was the leading scorer
in 4. On this occasion, Farago scored 14. Gianni De Magistris, Italy, also maintained his great
scoring record having finished up among the highest scorers in the previous Olympics as well.
The clinching match for the Soviet Union was a tension packed game against Yugoslavia which
it won 8-7. Evgeny Sharanov, 2003, Aleksandr Kabaonov, 2001, and Alexei Barkalov, 1993,
were all later celebrated at the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
The results were:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
URS
YUG
HUN
ESP
CUB
NED
AUS
ITA
W
8
5
5
4
2
2
5
4
L
0
1
2
4
3
5
2
3
D
0
2
1
0
3
1
1
1
F
58
58
51
43
50
42
45
40
A
31
42
44
42
49
48
39
35
1. URS
Aleksandr Kabanov, Oleksei Barkalov, Sergei Kotenko, Georgy Mshvenieradze, Yevgeny
Sharonov, Vladimir Akimov, Yevgeny Grishin, Mait Riisman, Erkin Shagayev, Mikhail Ivanov,
Vyacheslav Sobchenko
2. YUG
Page 76
Predrag Manojlović, Damir Polić, Boško Lozica, Luka Vezilić, Zoran Gopčević, Ratko Rudić,
Zoran Mustur, Zoran Roje, Milivoj Bebić, Slobodan Trifunović, Milorad Krivokapić
3. HUN
Andre Molnár, Tamás Faragó, Istvan Szivós Jr., György Horkai, Gábor Csapó, Attila Sudár,
György Gerendás, István Kiss, István Udvardi, László Kuncz, Karoly Hauszler
4. ESP
Manuel Delgado, Gaspar Ventura, Antonio Esteller, Federico Sabria, Manuel Estiarte
Ducocastella, Pedro Robert, Jorge Alonso, José Alcázar, Antonio Aguilar, Jorge Carmona,
Salvador Franch
5. CUB
Oscar Periche Cordet, Lazaro Costa Mendez, Nelson Dominguez Avila, Jorge Rizo Perera,
Gerardo Rodriguez Peñalver, Oriel Dominguez Avila, Orlando Cowley del Barrio, Barbaro Diaz
Cervantes, Pedro Rodriguez Rodriguez, Arturo Ramos Hernandez, Carlos Benitez Suarez
6. NED
Jan Evert Veer, Ton Buunk, Nicolaas Landeweerd, Hans van Zeeland, Woulie de Bie, Erik
Noordergraaf, Stan van Belkum, Adrianus van Mil, Dick Nieuwenhuizen, Jan Jaap Korevaar,
Rudolf Misdorp
7. AUS
Michael Turner, David Neesham, Robert Bryant, Peter Montgomery, Julian Muspratt, Andrew
Kerr, Anthony Folson, Charles Turner, Martin Callaghan, Randall Goff, Andrew Steward
8. ITA
Alberto Alberani, Roldano Simeoni, Gianni De Magistris, Sante Marsili, D’Angelo Vincenzo,
Umberto Panerai, Alfio Misaggi, Massimo Fondelli, Antonello Steardo, Paulo Ragosa, Romeo
Collina
1984 Olympics
The USA was on home territory for these games and had a good team.Cuba, Hungary and the
Soviet Union did not take part in the Olympics.The water polo was played mainly at the 5,000
seater stadium at the Pepperdine University Pool. USA played Yugoslavia in the main match
and USA had to win the match; Yugoslavia, coached by Ratko Rudic, just needed to draw. The
Americans were 5-2 ahead during the third period but the Yugoslav’s fought back. Halfway
through the final period, Milivoj Bebic, equalised.
Playing for the USA that day was Tim Shaw, gold and silver medal winning swimmer from the
Montreal Olympics. Shaw also set 10 World swimming records during his career. Italy’s Gianna
De Magistris had played at every Olympics since 1968.
Yugoslavia’s star player was Igor Milanovic, a 1.84 metre giant from Partizan Belgrade.
Milanovic joined Partizan in 1975 when he was 10 years of age and was coached by Nicola
Stamenic and Vlaho Orlic and some 8 years later was moved up from the junior to the senior
Yugoslavian team by Ratko Rudic. Although he won gold medals in 1984 and 1988, the Balkan
war prevented him from competing at the 1992 Olympics which might possibly have made it
three gold medals in a row. A great driving player, in over 300 international matches, he
scored 450 goals and played for three clubs- Mladost, Croatia, Roma, Italy and Katalugnia,
Spainlxxiv .
Page 77
The results were:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
YUG
USA
GER
ESP
AUS
NED
ITA
GRE
W
6
6
4
3
2
2
4
3
L
0
0
2
2
3
5
1
2
D
1
1
1
2
2
0
2
2
F
72
65
74
73
58
45
75
66
A
44
43
46
67
58
65
52
65
1. YUG
Milorad Krivokapić, Deni Lušić, Zoran Petrović, Božo Vuletić, Veselin Djuho, Zoran Roje,
Milivoj Bebić, Perica Bukić, Goran Sukno, Tomislav Paskvalin, Igor Milanović, Dragan Andrić
2. USA
Craig Wilson, Kevin Robertson, Gary Figueroa, Peter Campbell, Douglas Burke, Joseph Vargas,
Jon Svendsen, John Siman, Andrew McDonald, Terry Schroeder, Jody Campbell, Timothy
Shaw
3. GER
Peter Röhle, Thomas Loebb, Frank Otto, Rainer Hoppe, Armando Fernandez, Thomas Huber,
Jürgen Schröder, Rainer Osselmann, Hagen Stamm, Roland Freund, Dirk Theismann, Santiago
Chalmovsky, Werner Obschernikat
4. ESP
Leandro Ribera, José Morillo, Felix Fernandez, Alberto Canal, Manuel Estiarte Ducocastella,
Pedro Robert, Rafael Aguilar, Jorge Signes, Antonio Aguilar, Jorge Carmona, Jordi Sans Juan,
Jorge Neira
5. AUS
Michael Turner, Richard Pengelley, Robert Bryant, Peter Montgomery, Russell Sherwell,
Andrew Kerr, Raymond Mayers, Charles Turner, Martin Callaghan, Christopher Wybrow,
Russell Basser, Julian Muspratt, Glenn Townsend
6. NED
Woulie de Bie, Nicolaas Landeweerd, Erik Noordegraff, Ed van ES, Ton Buunk, Dick
Nieuwenhuizen, Stan van Belkum, Adrianus van Mil, Johan Aantjes, Anton Heiden, Remco
Pielstroom, Roald van Noert, Rudolf Misdorp
7. ITA
Roberto Gandoifi, Alfio Misaggi, Andrea Pisano, Antonello Steardo, Maria Fiorillo, Gianni De
Magistris, Marco Galli, Marco D’Altrui, Marco Baldineti, Vicenzo D’Angelo, Romeo Collino,
Stefano Postiglione, Umberto Panerai
8. GRE
Ioannis Vossos, Spyros Capralos, Sotirios Stathakis, Andreas Gounas, Kiriakos Giannopoulos,
Aristidis Kefalogiannis, Anastasios Papanastasiou, Dimitrios Seletopoulos, Antonios Aronis,
Markellos Sitarenios, George Mavrotas, Xenofon Moudatsios, Stavros Giannopoulos
1988 Olympics
Page 78
Italy, which was coached by former international butterfly swimmer and polo player, Fritz
Dennerlein, met the Soviet Union in the opening game and the match resulted in a 9-9 draw.
The USA surprisingly beat Yugoslavia 7-6 in the preliminary rounds, its best result for many
years. Yugoslavia partly made up for this by defeating Hungary by the odd goal. Yugoslavia
also turned the tables on Bill Barrett’s well organised US team in the final 9-7 after going into
the final quarter at 6-6. A rule change by FINA following the 1984 Olympics meant that extra
time needed to be played
As it turned out, if the rules had stayed the same as in 1984, the final placing would have
been based on goal difference and the USA would have taken the gold medal on the basis of a
better goal difference. The USA had previously lost a key game to Spain but had put
themselves back in contention after defeating Hungary 9-8 with a goal by Terry Shroeder with
less than 15 seconds to go. The USA also beat the USSR.
USSR took the bronze after beating Germany 14-13 and USA, the silver medal. Ratko Rudic,
who coached the winning Yugoslavian team was later to taste gold medal success at Olympic
and World Championship events on another 2 occasions as well as to coach the US team. In
1992, he coached the Italian’s to a gold medal and in 2007, he coached the Croatians to a
World Championship gold. In addition, Rudic coached Yugoslavia to a gold in the World
Championships in 1986 and repeated this with the Italians in 1994 and in 1993 and 1995. He
coached the winning Italian team at the European Championships.
The results were:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
YUG
USA
URS
GER
HUN
ESP
ITA
AUS
W
6
5
4
5
3
4
3
3
L
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
4
D
0
0
1
0
2
1
2
0
F
83
71
84
83
72
66
66
53
A
55
56
51
65
57
55
53
59
1. YUG
Aleksandar Šoštar, Deni Lušić, Dubravko Šimenc, Perica Bukić, Veselin Djuho, Dragon Andrić,
Mirko Vičević, Igor Gočanin, Mislav Bezmalinović, Tomislav Paškvalin, Igor Milanović, Goran
Radjenović, Renco Posinković
2. USA
Craig Wilson, Kevin Robertson, James Bergeson, George Campbell, Douglas Kimball, Craig
Klass, Alan Mouchawar, Jeffrey Campbell, Gregory Bower, Terry Schroeder, Jody Campbell,
Christopher Duplanty, Michael Evans
3. URS
Yevgeny Sharonov, Nurlan Mendygaliev, Yevgeny Grishin, Aleksandr Kolotov, Sergei Naumov,
Viktor Berendyuha, Sergei Kotenko, Dmitri Apanasenko, Georgy Mshvenieradze, Mikhail
Ivanov, Sergei Markoch, Mykola Smyrnov, Mikhail Giorgadze
Page 79
4. GER
Peter Röhle, Dirk Jacoby, Frank Otto, Uwe Sterzik, Armando Fernandez, Andreas Ehrl, Ingo
Borgmann, Rainer Osselmann, Hagen Stamm, Thomas Huber, Dirk Theismann, René Reimann,
Werner Obschernikat
5. HUN
Péter Kuna, Gábor Bujka, Gábor Schmiedt, Zsolt Petöváry, István Pintér, Tibor Keszthelyi,
Belázs Vincze, Zoltán Mohi, Tibor Pardi, László Tóth, András Györgyösi, Zoltán Kósz, Imre Tóth
6. ESP
Jesús Rollán Prada, Miguel Chillida, Marco Antonio González Junquera, Miguel Perez, Manuel
Estiarte Ducocastella, Pere Robert, Jorge Paya, José Antonio Rodriguez, Jordi Sans Juan,
Salvador Gómez Aguera, Mariano Moya, Jorge Neira, Pedro Garciá Aguado
7. ITA
Paolo Trapanese, Alfio Misaggi, Andrea Pisano, Antonello Steardo, Alessandro Campagna,
Paolo Caldarella, Mario Fiorilla, Francesco Porzio, Stefano Postiglione, Riccardo Empestini,
Massimiliano Ferretti, Marco D’Altrui, Gianni Averaima
8. AUS
Glenn Townsend, Richard Pengelley, Christopher Harrison, Troy Stockwell, Andrew Wightman,
Andrew Kerr, Raymond Mayers, Geoffrey Clark, John Fox, Christopher Wybrow, Simon Asher,
Andrew Taylor, Donald Cameron
1992 Olympics
12 countries took part in the finals. These teams which were represented by 156 players
divided into 2 groups. The aquatic competitions were held at either the Piscina de Montjuic or
the Piscines Bernat Picornell. The matches were played between August 1st and 6th with a
break on the 4thlxxv. According to where teams finished in the preliminaries, 3 groups were
formed to determine medallist and overall positions. These groups were created to determine
1st to 4th, 5th to 8th and 9th to 12th. The finals matches were played on August 8th and 9th. The
matches were sold out when Spain was playing.
The semi finals and finals were held in the Picornell Pool. The four teams that made this top
group were- the Unified team, formed out some of the former states of the Soviet Union, 8
points, the USA, 6 points, Spain , 7 points and Italy, 6. The USA came into the Olympics
having won the 1991 World Championship.
Italy defeated the Unified team 9-8 in the semi finals while Spain beat the USA, 6-4, in the
other semi final in front of 10,000 people which included the King of Spain, Juan Carlos. The
Unified team ultimately took the bronze after beating the USA, 6-4. In the final, Spain was
behind Italy throughout the match. It wasn’t until 34 seconds from the end of the fourth
period that Spain equalised to make it 7-7. In the first half of extra time, there were no
further goals but in the second half, Spain went ahead for the first time. Italy came back to
equalise with 32 seconds to go. Further 3 minute periods now needed to be played. In the
fourth period of extra time, Italy went back ahead 9-8. Spain hit the post with 38 seconds to
go but it was not enough and Italy had won her third gold medal.
The results were:
Page 80
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
ITA
ESP
URS
USA
HUN
GER
CUB
AUS
W
5
5
6
4
4
1
2
3
L
0
1
1
2
1
3
5
2
D
2
1
0
1
2
3
0
2
F
59
67
66
48
69
52
66
58
A
50
48
45
38
64
56
72
53
1. ITA
Francesco Attolico, Alessandro Bovo, Alessandro Campagna, Paolo Caldarella, Mario Fiorillo,
Francesco Porzio, Massimiliano Ferretti, Marco D’Altrui, Ferdinando Gandolfi, Amedeo
Pomillo, Giuseppe Porzio, Carlo Silipo, Gianni Averaimo
2. ESP
Daniel Ballart Sans, Manuel Estiarte Ducocastella, Pedro García Aguado, Salvador Gómez
Aguera, Marco Antonio González, Rubén Michavila Jover, Miguel Oca Gaia, Sergio Pedrerol
Cavallé, José Picó Llado, Jesús Rollán Prada, Ricardo Sánchez Alarcón, Jordi Sans Juan,
Manuel Silvestre Sánchez
3. URS
Yevgeny Sharonov, Sergei Naumov, Dmitri Apanasenko, Sergei Markoch, Andrei Belofastov,
Dmitri Gorshkov, Vladimir Karabutov, Aleksandr Kolotov, Andrei Kovalenko, Nikolai Kozlov,
Aleksandr Ogorodnikov, Aleksandr Chigir, Aleksei Vdovin
4. USA
Craig Wilson, Douglas Kimball, Craig Klass, Jeffrey Campbell, Terry Schroeder, Christopher
Duplanty, Michael Evans, Kirk Everist, Erich Fischer, Charles Harris, Chris Humbert, Alex
Rousseau, John Vargas
5. HUN
Péter Kuna, Gábor Schmiedt, Zsolt Petöváry, Balázs Vincze, László Tóth, András Györgyösi,
Imre Tóth, Tibor Benedek, István Dóczi, Gábor Nemes, Imre Péter, Frank Tóth, Zsolt Varga
6. GER
Peter Röhle, Frank Otto, Uwe Sterzik, Ingo Borgmann, Hagen Stamm, Dirk Theismann, René
Reimann, Piotr Bukowski, Raúl De la Peña Vega, Jörg Dresel, Torsten Dresel, Carsten Kusch,
Reibel Guido
7. CUB
Juan Barreras Benitez, Norge Blay García, Pablo Cuesta Zulueta, Jorge Del Valle Gutiérrez,
Marcleo Derauville De La Cruz, Bárbara Diaz Cervantes, Lázaro Fernández Bueno, Juan
Hernández Olivera, Juan Hernández Silveira, Guillermo Martínez Luis, Iván Pérez Vargas, José
Ramos Soler, Ernesto García Piñero
8. AUS
Glenn Townsend, Troy Stockwell, Andrew Wightman, Raymond Mayers, Geoffrey Clark, John
Fox, Christopher Wybrow, Simon Asher, Daniel Marsden, Gregory McFadden, Guy Newman,
Mark Oberman, Paul Oberman
1996 Olympics
Page 81
The preliminary round was divided into 2 tables of 6 teams who played one another on a
round robin basis. The top 4 teams in each group went through to the quarter finals, which
was a slightly different format to the previous Olympics. 15,000 people watched the semi
and final matches in the main pool but most of the other matches were played in a pool
adjacent to the Georgia Tech Aquatic Centre.
The top 6 placed finishing countries from the lXth Men’s World water polo cup and the top 6
teams from the Olympic Games preliminary tournament held in Berlin in February 1996
competed. Italy and Hungary dominated the round robin preliminary rounds. It was only on
the last game when Hungary met Yugoslavia that it was truly challenged. Thanks to Tibor
Benedek’s 3 goals, Hungary ran out winners, 12-8.
Before a noisy crowd, Croatia knocked out Yugoslavia in the quarter finals, 8-6lxxvi. The
brilliant Manuel Estiarte, tucked two shots away to aid Spain‘s quarter final defeat of the
USA, 5-4. In the semi finals, Croatia beat Italy. The winning goal by Josko Krekovic was
scored with just 10 seconds of extra time left. This proved to be something of a turnaround as
Croatia had lost to Italy at the start of the preliminary rounds. Salvador Gomez kept Spain in
the hunt by scoring 4 goals in Spain’s 7-6 advance at the expense of Hungary.
Italy won the resulting bronze medal game against Hungary 20-18 as emotions ran high and
the two coaches were ejected from the pool side. The Hungarian team was coached by
Gyorgy Horkai, Olympic gold medallist from 1976. Italy recovered from a four goal deficit in
this game and went ahead with 49 seconds remaining but the Italian substitutes became so
excited that they came off the bench and jumped into the pool. This resulted in a penalty
being awarded to the Hungarians which they duly scored. The match then went to extra time
but the Italians who had by now built up that all important momentum scored 3 goals in extra
time, two from Amedeo Pomilio, to clinch the bronze medal.
The stage was now sent for a final between two teams not associated with World domination
in water polo- Croatia and Spain. Spain trailed 3-1 at one stage but Estiarte, who scored
three goals, was not to be denied and dominated as Spain won 7-5. This was Croatia’s first
medal of the Games and the team dedicated the silver medal to victims of its five year
warlxxvii. Manuel Estiarte scored the highest number of goals for a fifth Olympic tournament
underlining the claim that he was the greatest player of the modern era.
The results were:
1
2
3
4
5
6
ESP
CRO
ITA
HUN
RUS
GRE
W
6
5
7
6
4
3
L
2
3
1
2
3
5
Page 82
D
0
0
0
0
1
0
F
58
71
85
83
77
60
A
48
58
72
73
72
66
7
8
USA
YUG
5
3
3
4
0
1
67
75
57
80
1. ESP
Aguera, Miguel Oca Gaia, Sergi Pedrerol, Jesús Rollán Prada, Jordi Sans Juan, José María
Abarca Platas, Angel Andreo Gabán, Iván Moro Fernández, Jorge Paya Rodriguez, Carlos Sanz
López
2. CRO
Maro Balić, Perica Bukić, Damir Glavan, Igor Hinić, Vjekoslav Kobešćak, Joško Kreković,
Ognjen Kržić, Dubravko Šimenc, Siniša Skolneković, Ratko Štritof, Tino Vegar, Renato Vrbićić,
Zdeslav Vrdoljak
3. ITA
Francesco Attolico, Alessandro Bovo, Amedeo Pomillo, Carlo Silipo, Alberto Angelini, Fabio
Bencivenga, Alessandro Calcaterra, Roberto Calcaterra, Marco Gerini, Alberto Ghibellini, Luca
Giustolisi, Francesco Postiglione, Leonardo Sottani
4. HUN
Balázs Vincze, László Tóth, András Gyöngyösi, Tibor Benedek, Frank Tóth, Zsolt Varga, Tamás
Dala, Rajmund Fodor, Tamás Kásás, Zoltán Kósz, Péter Kuna, Attila Monostori, Zsolt Németh
5. RUS
Maksim Apanasenko, Dmitri Gorshkov, Vladimir Karabutov, Nikolai Kozlov, Dmitri Dugin,
Sergei Garbuzov, Sergei Ivlev, Ilya Konstantinov, Nikolai Maksimov, Aleksei Panfili, Yuri
Smolovoy, Aleksandr Yeryshov, Sergei Yevstigneyev
6. GRE
Georgios Afroudakis, Thomas Chatzis, Theodoros Chatzitheodorou, Simeon Georgaras, Filippos
Kaiafas, Theodoros Kalakonas, Theodorous Lorantos, Konstantinos Loudis, Georgios Mavrotas,
Anastasios Papanastasiou, Evangelos Patras, Georgios Psychos, Gerasimos Voltyrakis
7. USA
Christopher Duplanty, Michael Evans, Kirk Everist, Chris Humbert, Alex Rousseau, Gavin
Arroyo, Tror Barnhart, Dan Hackett, Kyle Kopp, Jeremy Laster, John McNair, Chris Oeding,
Wolf Wigo
8. YUG
Aleksandar Šoštar, Mirko Vičević, Igor Milanović, Aleksandar Cirić, Viktor Jelenić, Dragan
Jovanović, Ranko Perović, Aleksandar Šapić, Dejan Savić, Vaso Subotić, Milan Tadić, Petar
Trbojević, Veljko Uskoković, Zeljko Vičević, Vlada Vujasinović, Nenad Vukanić, Predrag
Zimonjić
2000 Olympics
The Sydney men’s tournament started on the day that the women’s first ever Olympic water
polo competition ended. The teams were drawn into two groups for the preliminary rounds.
Twelve teams played 5 matches each to determine who would occupy the eight quarter final
places.
Hungary, Italy, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Spain, Russia, USA and Australia made it through to the
final eight. Spain, the defending champions from 1996, went down 8-3 to Yugoslavia in the
match to determine the bronze medal. Significantly for Spain, this was the legendary Manuel
Estiarte’s sixth and final Olympics. The Australians went out and the final was played in front
Page 83
of an 80% capacity crowd in one of the last events before the closing ceremony. Not
surprisingly the women’s final, with Australia in the final, had been a sell-out.
Hungary and Russia made it to the final. Some 40,000 people of Hungarian origin now live in
Australia and in the absence of the Aussies, the audience was heavily biased towards the
Hungarian national team. Underwater cameras gave spectators a view that neither of the
referees could see.
The Hungarian team shot 26 times during the match. This was sufficient to generate the 13
goals that it took to beat the Russians by a 13-6 margin. The Russians made 30 attacks on goal
but this only resulted in 6 goals.
Tibor Benedek, who opened the scoring after 1 minute and 35 seconds, went on to be the
game’s top scorer with four goals. After two quarters the Hungarians had built an 8-2 lead
and there wasn’t any way that they would allow Russia back into the game from that
situation. It was Hungary’s first Olympic gold medal since 1976.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
HUN
RUS
YUG
ESP
ITA
USA
CRO
AUS
W
6
6
6
3
6
3
5
1
L
2
1
1
4
1
5
2
5
D
0
1
1
1
1
0
1
2
F
78
76
63
51
66
69
68
53
A
57
58
36
58
52
68
56
61
1. HUN
Tibor Benedek, Zsolt Varga, Rajmund Fodor, Tamás Kásás, Zoltán Kósz, Péter Biros, Gergely
Kiss, Tamás Márcz, Tamás Molnár, Barnabas Steinmetz, Zoltán Szécsi, Bulcsú Székely, Attila
Vári
2. RUS
Dmitri Gorshkov, Nikolai Kozlov, Dmitri Dugin, Sergey Garbuzov, Nikolai Maksimov, Aleksandr
Yeryshov, Dmitry Stratan, Irek Zinnurov, Marat Zakirov, Revaz Chomakhidze, Roman Balashov,
Yury Yatsev
3. YUG
Aleksandar Šoštar, Aleksandar Cirić, Viktor Jelenić, Aleksandar Šapić, Dejan Savić, Petar
Trbojević, Veljko Uskoković, Vlada Vujasinović, Nenad Vukanić, Predrag Zimonjić, Danilo
Ikodinović, Jugoslav Vasović, Nikola Kuljača
4. ESP
Agueda, Sergio Pedrerol Cavalle, Jesús Rollán Prada, Jordi Sans Juan, Iván Moro Fernández,
Gabriel Hernández Paz, Gustavo Marcos Herrero, Daniel Moro Fernández, Javier Sánchez Toril
5. ITA
Page 84
Francesco Attolico, Amedeo Pomillo, Carlo Silipo, Alberto Angelini, Fabio Bencivenga,
Alessandro Calcaterra, Roberto Calcaterra, Alberto Ghibellini, Francesco Postiglione,
Leonardo Sottani, Antonio Vittorioso, Leonardo Binchi, Stefano Tempesti
6. USA
Chris Humbert, Gavin Arroyo, Dan Hackett, Kyle Kopp, Chris Oeding, Wolf Wigo, Bradley
Schumacher, Chi Kredell, Robert Lynn, Ryan Bailey, Sean Kern, Sean Nolan, Tony Azevedo
7. CRO
Igor Hinić, Vjekoslav Kobešćak, Ognjen Kržić, Dubravko Šimenc, Siniša Skolneković, Ratko
Štritof, Alen Bosković, Elvis Fatović, Frano Vican, Ivo Ivaniš, Mile Smodlaka, Samir Barač,
Višeslav Sarić
8. AUS
Daniel Marsden, Mark Oberman, Sean Boyd, Eddie Denis, Andriy Kovalenko, Craig Miller,
Timothy Neesham, Rod Owen-Jones, Rafael Sterk, Nathan Thomas, Grant Waterman, Thomas
Whalan, Gavin Woods
2004 Athens
Hungary’s win in the Athens Olympic final re-established it as the World’s premier nation in
water polo. With Hungary, Serbia and Russia at the top, only Italy of the big four nations was
not in one of the pole positions. The Athens Olympics underlined the fact that water polo
domination had changed very little since 1952:
The Hungarian team after their victory in the Athens Olympics (Photo by Giorgio Scala)
Page 85
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Hungary
Serbia & Montenegro
Russia
Greece
Germany
Spain
U.S.A.
Italy
HUN def. SCG (8-7)
RUS def. GRE (6-5)
GER def. SPA (6-4)
USA def. ITA (9-8)
1. HUN
Tibor Benedek, Rajmund Fodor, Tamás Kásás, Péter Biros, Gergely Kiss, Tamás Molnár,
Barnabas Steinmetz, Zoltan Szecsi, Attila Vári, Istvan Gergely, Norbert Madaras, Adam
Steinmetz, Tamas Varga
2. SCG
Aleksandar Cirić, Viktor Jelenić, Aleksandar Šapić, Dejan Savić, Petar Trbojević, Vladimir
Vujasinović, Danilo Ikodinović, Nikola Kuljača, Vladimir Gojković, Predrag Jokić, Slobodan
Nikić, Denis Šefik, Vanja Udovićić
3. RUS
Dmitri Gorshkov, Nikolai Kozlov, Sergey Garbuzov, Nikolai Maksimov, Alexander Eryshov,
Dmitry Stratan, Irek Zinnurov, Marat Zakirov, Revaz Chomakhidze, Roman Balashov, Alexander
Fedorov, Andrei Reketchinski, Vitaly Yurchik
4. GRE
Christos Afroudakis, Nikolaos Trikoypis, Georgios Afroudakis, Theodoros Chatzitheodorou,
Nikolaos Deligiannis, Theodoros Kalakonas, Konstantinos Loudis, Dimitrios Mazis, Georgios
Reppas, Stefanos Santa, Anastasios Schizas, Argyris Theodoropoulos, Ioannis Thomakos,
Antonios Vlontakis
5. GER
Steffen Dierolf, Lukasz Kieloch, Tobias Kreuzmann, Soeren Mackeben, Heiko Nossek, Jens
Pohlmann, Marc Politze, Thomas Schertwitis, Fabian Schroedter, Alexander Tchigir, Patrick
Weissinger, Tim Wollthan, Michael Zellmer
6. ESP
Daniel Ballart, Salvador Gómez, Sergi Pedrerol, Jesús Rollán, Iván Moro, Gabriel Hernández,
Gustavo Marcos, Daniel Moro, Javier Sánchez Toril, Angel Luis Andreo, Javier Garcia,
Guillermo Molina, Ivan Perez
7. USA
Wolf Wigo, Ryan Bailey, Tony Azevedo, Omar Amr, Layne Beaubien, Brandon Brooks, Genai
Kerr, Daniel Klatt, Brett Ormsby, Jeffrey Powers, Christopher Segesman, Jesse Smith, Adam
Wright
8. ITA
Carlo Silipo, Alberto Angelini, Fabio Bencivenga, Alessandro Calcaterra, Roberto Calcaterra,
Francesco Postiglione, Leonardo Binchi, Stefano Tempesti, Fabrizio Buonocore, Maurizio
Felugo, Goran Fiorentini, Marco Gerini, Bogdan Rath
Page 86
Olympic Medal Winners-All Time List
Country
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Hungary
8
3
3
Great Britain
4
0
0
Yugoslavia
3
4
0
Italy
3
1
2
USSR
2
2
4
USA
1
2
4
Germany
1
2
0
Spain
1
1
0
France
1
0
2
Belgium
0
4
2
Sweden
0
1
2
Russia
0
1
1
Serbia
0
1
1
Croatia
0
1
0
Netherlands
0
0
1
Women’s Water Polo
The history of women’s water polo is very much more spasmodic and historically, even less
well documented. It appears that much of early women’s water polo was a social activity
rather than it being competitive in nature. It is only in the last 30 years that the sport has
become much more competitive. Traditionally, most matches have been played in the USA,
Great Britain, Netherlands and Australia. Water polo was certainly being played in the early
1900’s. Smithlxxviii maintained that the first game was played between HDC de Robben
(Hilversum) and HVGB Haarlem in Haarlem on July 22nd 1906. The ladies played with
sleeveless costumes but their legs were covered down to their knees and their bodies
furnished with wide billowy swimwear which must have made playing difficult.
Records show the Dutch women’s water polo championship going back at least until the early
1910’s. In the period between 1920 and 1927, HDZ won the championship on every occasion.
De Robben won the event in every year between 1946 and 1972 except for 1966 when it was
won by HZC Hilversumlxxix
It was principally Netherlands that was responsible for the women’s game. De Robben won
the first national championships in 1914. From 1920 to 1927, Hilversum won every national
championship. Jan Stedder, coach to De Robben between 1946 and 1973, was the principal
pioneer in terms of development in the country and by 1990 there were approximately 300
women’s water polo teams playing in Netherlands. Meanwhile, development across the water
in Great Britain was much more spasmodic.
Page 87
It was not until 1979 during the first FINA World Cup in Merced, California that the first
International Committee for women’s water polo was set up with Thea de Wit of Netherlands
as its first chair.
There is no detailed record in the English ASA Handbooks. The International Swimming Hall of
Fame in Fort Lauderdale, has on display a photo of the England women’s water polo team in
1920 although it is not known who they played. A County (area) Championships was played in
the Southern Counties of England. In 1933, Middlesex beat Essex and they continued to win
the championship through to the War and then the event seems to have come to an end.
The spread of women’s water polo was therefore dependent on hearsay or introduction by
way of men’s water polo and it wasn’t until the 1970’s that the sport took a foothold. In
Australia, the development started slightly earlier, the first national championship being held
in 1968 which was won by Victoria in Sydney. It appears that women’s water polo then spread
through Australia as the All-Australia selection included players from Western Australia,
Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, North South West and Queensland. George and Elza
Thompson were early progenitors and, in recognition of Elza’s work, the H.J.Heinz Company
presented a trophy in her name for the national championship. Fred Lamb from New South
Wales and Pat Jones of Sydney were also pioneers.
In New Zealand, women’s water polo was also being played and between 19th and 27th January
1978, New Zealand toured Australia for a series of matches. The team was coached by Bryon
Mustchin and played teams in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales. At more or less the
same time, women’s water polo started in Canada. In 1980, the first national championship
was held with St. Foye winning all their games and finishing both with the title and a 40-2
goal advantage. The championships, which were held in the Commonwealth Pool in
Edmonton, featured teams from all over Canada as far apart as Newfoundland and Vancouver.
As in Britain, women’s water polo in the United States was a sporadic affair with a national
championship being held between 1926 until 1977 under the Amateur Athletic Union and
following the AAU’s demise, it has been organised by United States Water Polo.
Unfortunately, the championship wasn’t played every year. It started in 1926 when it was
won by Los Angeles; then the championship was next played in 1931 when the Pacific Coast
Club won at Long Beach, California; and it didn’t return until 1962 when the Ann Arbor Club
won on their home territory in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Club was coached by Rosemary
Dawson, whose father was Matt Mann, the famous US national team swimming coach. Her
goalkeeper was Mikki King, later to become Olympic diving champion.
Among other well known names, Olympic gold medallists Pokey Watson and Claudia Kolb,
both Olympic swimming gold medallists played in 1965 and 1966 when Santa Clara Club under
George Haines, won the national US indoor title.
2000 Olympics
The first Olympic gold medal was won by Australia in Sydney in 2000 amidst emotional scenes.
It was only a short time before the Games that female water polo players had lobbied with
Page 88
placards at Sydney Airport for the inclusion of women’s water polo in the Olympic Gameslxxx.
Finally women’s water polo made its debut on September 16th when 6 teams took part in the
tournament.
The Sydney Olympics was a significant event for water polo as equality at last manifested
itself. 100 years after the introduction of men’s water polo as the first team event in the
modern Olympic movement, women’s water polo became a reality. Nevertheless, not
everything was exactly equal; the men played in a 30 metre pitch while the women’s was only
25 metres in length.
The Ryde Aquatic Leisure Centre was the scene for the first historic match between Australia
and Kazahkstan. Bridgette Gusterston was overcome by tears at the roar of the crowd as the
Australian team entered the stadiumlxxxi. She soon recovered to score 3 goals in Australia’s
win. Crowds of over 5,000 watched the matches and eventually Canada and Kazakhstan were
knocked out. 17,000 people watched Russia and Netherlands play for the bronze medal at the
Sydney International Aquatic Centre. The Russians beat the existing World champions,
Netherlands, 4-3 to take the bronze medal.
The results were:
1
2
3
4
5
6
AUS
USA
RUS
NED
CAN
KAZ
W
6
4
3
3
2
0
L
1
2
3
4
2
6
T
0
1
1
0
2
0
PF
46
45
46
35
42
31
PA
29
39
39
36
42
60
1. AUS
Naomi Castle, Joanne Fox, Bridgette Gusterson, Simone Hankin, Yvette Higgins, Kate Hooper,
Bronwyn Mayer, Gail Miller, Melissa Mills, Debbie Watson, Liz Weeks, Danielle Woodhouse,
Taryn Woods
2. USA
Robin Beauregard, Ellen Estes, Courtney Johnson, Ericka Lorenz, Heather Moody, Maureen
O’Toole, Bernice Orwig, Nicolle Payne, Heather Petri, Kathy Sheehy, Coralie Simmons, Julie
Swail, Brenda Villa
3. RUS
Galina Rytova, Irina Tolkunova, Maria Koroleva, Marina Akobia, Nataliya Kutuzova, Sofia
Konukh, Svetlana Kuzina, Tatyana Petrova, Yekaterina Anikeyeva, Yekaterina Vasilyeva,
Yelena Smurova, Yelena Tokun, Yuliya Petrova
4. NED
Heleen Boering, Danielle de Bruijn, Edmee Hiemstra, Karin Kuipers, Ingrid Leijendekker,
Patricia Megens, Marjan Op den Velde, Mirjam Overdam, Heleen Peerenboom, Karla Plugge,
Carla Quint, Gillian van den Berg, Ellen van der Weijden-Bast
5. CAN
Marie-Luc Arpin, Isabelle Auger, Johanne Begin, Cora Campbell, Melissa Collins, Marie-Claude
Deslieres, Valerie Dionne, Ann Dow, Sue Gardiner, Waneek Horn-Miller, Sandra Lize, Josée
Marsolais, Jana Salat
Page 89
6. KAZ
Rezeda Aleyeva, Anastassiya Boroda, Irina Borodavko, Svetlana Buravova, Natalya Galkina,
Yekaterina Gerzanich, Tatyana Gubina, Natalya Ignatyeva, Assel Jakayeva, Svetlana Koroleva,
Olga Lechshuk, Larissa Olkhina, Yuliya Pyresseva
2004 Athens
Italy’s 10-9 defeat of Greece in Athens was the high point for a team that had won a string of
European Championships starting in the 1990’s. The results were as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Italy
Greece
U.S.A.
Australia
Russia
Hungary
Canada
Kazakhstan
ITA def. GRE (10-9)
USA def. AUS (6-5)
RUS def. HUN (12-11)
CAN def. KAZ (10-4)
Women’s gold medallists, Italy, seen here with LEN President, Bartolo Consolo
(Photo by Alessandro Bartolozzi)
1. ITA
Page 90
Carmela Allucci, Alexandra Araujo, Silvia Bosurgi, Francesca Conti, Tania di Mario, Elena
Gigli, Melania Grego, Martina Miceli, Giusy Malato, Maddalena Musumeci, Cinzia Ragusa,
Noemi Toth, Manuela Zanchi
2. GRE
Georgia Ellinaki, Dimitra Asilian, Antiopi Melidoni, Angeliki Karapataki, Kyriaki Liosi, Stavroula
Kozompoli, Aikaterini Oikonomopoulou, Antigoni Roumpesi, Evangelia Moraitidou, Eftychia
Karagianni, Georgia Lara, Antonia Moraiti, Anthoula Mylonaki
3. USA
Robin Beauregard, Ellen Estes, Ericka Lorenz, Heather Moody, Nicolle Payne, Heather Petri,
Brenda Villa, Jacqueline Frank, Natalie Golda, Margaret Dingeldein, Kelly Rulon, Amber
Stachowski, Thalia Munro
4. AUS
Naomi Castle, Joanne Fox, Bronwyn Smith, Melissa Rippon, Belinda Brooks, Nikita Cuffe,
Jemma Brownlow, Kate Gynther, Kelly Heuchan, Emma Knox, Elise Norwood, Rebecca Rippon,
Jodie Stuhmcke
5. RUS
Galina Zlotnikova, Maria Yaina, Natalia Shepelina, Sofya Konukh, Svetlana Bogdanova,
Tatyana Petrova, Ekaterina Salimova, Ekaterina Shishova, Elena Smurova, Olga Turova,
Ekaterina Vassilieva, Valentina Vorontsova, Anastassia Zoubkova
6. HUN
Rita Dravucz, Anett Gyore, Dora Kisteleki, Aniko Pelle, Agnes Primasz, Mercedes Stieber,
Krisztina Szremko, Zsuzsanna Tiba, Andrea Toth, Agnes Valkay, Erzsebet Valkay, Krisztina
Zantleitner, Ildiko Zirighne Sos
7. CAN
Marie-Luc Arpin, Johanne Begin, Cora Campbell, Melissa Collins, Valerie Dionne, Ann Dow, Sue
Gardiner, Jana Salat, Andrea Dewar, Marianne Illing, Whynter Lamarre, Rachel Riddell,
Christine Robinson
8. KAZ
Irina Tolkunova, Svetlana Khapsalis, Natalya Krassilnikova, Yekaterina Gariyeva, Tatyana
Gubina, Natalya Ignatyeva, Assel Jakayeva, Svetlana Koroleva, Larissa Mikhailova, Marina
Gritsenko, Alyona Klimenko, Galina Rytova, Anna Zubkova
Page 91
Equipment
Ball
The term ‘polo’ may well have come from the use of a vulcanised India rubber ball that was
first usedlxxxii. The Hindi word ‘pulu’ which meant ‘ball’ was mispronounced by the English and
became corrupted to ‘polo’. The ball employed in early games was around 6 to 9 inches and it
frequently disappeared under the cloudy waters of those early unfiltrated pools.
In 1876, the game was played with the inside of a soccer ball; by 1886, the ball was inflated
and sized between 26½ and 28½ inches; in 1888, it was a soccer ball, sized number 3; and by
1951, the rules stated that the ball should be leather or rubber covered and fully inflated.
The ball that was mainly used during the first half of the century was a leather soccer ball
which absorbed water and became extremely heavy, slippery and lost its shape. This ball was
used from about the 1912 Olympics. After the 1936 Olympics, James R. Smith developed a
water polo ball made with a cotton bladder. Later, this was changed to nylon. The new ball in
1936 was red but players had difficulty distinguishing the colour and by 1948, yellow was
adopted to improve visibility. Although the ball handled better and had a longer life, this
colour didn’t become official until 1956.
Nowadays the ball must not be more than 450 grams and not less than 400. In men’s matches
the circumference of the ball will not be less than 0.68 metres and not more than 0.71 metres
and its pressure 13-14 pounds per square inch. For women, it is slightly less. The
Page 92
circumference should be between 0.65 and 0.67 metres and the weight, not more than 12-13
pounds per square inchlxxxiii.
Caps
In 1885, caps had to be either red or white but this was changed in 1909 to blue or white with
the goal keepers wearing hats bearing quarter colours. These were expected to include the
team’s colours in at least one quarter.
In 1952, numbering on the caps was introduced to distinguish players on the same team.
These numbers were to be displayed on the front and back or either side of the head. The
numbers were to be 4 inches in length and the numbers were blue on white caps and vice
versa. The goal keeper’s cap had also changed so that the numbers were now either blue or
white on red so that they matched the colours of the team for which the player was playing.
The players were numbered so that the goal keeper started with ‘1’ and then outfield players
were numbered up to ‘10’. In 1980, the numbers were continued up to ‘13’ to include further
substitutes. Now, there are 15 team members. Plastic ear guards started to be used
‘unofficially’ in the early 1970’s, mainly by American teams and in 1975, they were
recognised as ‘optional’ by the FINA Water Polo Committee within the rules. Later, they
became mandatory.
Referee’s flags
Initially, there was one referee. By 1885, two umpires, one at each end were added. These
were changed to goal judges and a time keeper in 1888. The umpires signalled a goal by
moving their flags. In 1892, the referees began to clarify which side had fouled by raising the
hand above the head and showing the colour of the team winning the free throw in a fairly
similar way to modern water polo.
The role of the goal judges was made easier in 1912 when it was decided that they would
show a red flag for a corner and a white flag for a goal throw.
Over the years the number of officials has slowly increased. In 1977, two referees (whilst
retaining the two goal judges) were introduced and in 1980, two timekeepers and secretaries
added.
Goal posts
When the game was first started there were no goal posts and goals were scored by placing
the ball rather than throwing. Two flags were placed at each end eight to ten feet apart. A
floating platform or boats could be used as goal defining objects in outdoor regattas.
In 1888, the rules became more closely defined and the present goal started to take shape.
The cross bar had to be three feet above the water in the deep end and five feet above the
Page 93
water in the shallow end and ten feet wide. This was refined slightly so that in 1891, the
cross bar had to be eight feet from the bottom when the water was less than five feet.
Although nets had been introduced previously, it wasn’t until 1912 that there was a
requirement for these to be included in the rules and similarly, although goals had been made
of wood for a number of years, it was not until 1936 that the rules stipulated that they had to
be made of three inch wide wood or metal and distinguishable in painted colour. In 1980,
plastic material was added.
The line drawing beneath from the Badminton Book indicates the original water polo ‘cap’
and the two types of goals that were employed depending on whether the game was being
played indoors or outdoors:
(Drawings above from the Badminton Book
of Swimming – see bibliography at end)
Page 94
The evolution of the games’ rules
The shaping of water polo rules has come about as a result of a mix of influences from other
sports- the principle sports being rugby, football/soccer and basketball.
‘Goal lines’ and eventually goals started to be introduced during the mid 1880’s and whereas
the game had been played with an unwritten set of rules, the first set of actual rules adopted
by the Amateur Swimming Association in 1886 were very basiclxxxiv:
WATER POLO RULES, 1886
1. A team shall consist of not less than five or over eleven, according to space of water, and
should be directed by the captain as to position.
2. The Captains to toss for choice of ends, which should be reversed after each goal. A goal is
obtained by the ball touching or passing the goal lines, which should be from twenty to
thirty yards apart.
3. In commencing the game the men should be drawn up in line at either end, and not be
started until the ball is thrown by the Judge in the centre of the goals. He shall give the
word ‘go’ when placing the ball.
4. When making for the ball, or obstructing an opponent, rough play should be avoided if
possible.The ball must be struck or pushed, and in no case thrown.
5. Should a ball be thrown, it must be returned to the spot where thrown from, the men
forming into a line on either side for scrimmage.
6. The ball may be carried swimming either on, or below the surface, to goal, with the
exception of that mentioned in Rule 4.
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7. Two goals out of three should constitute a game, which shall be decided by the Judge. A
referee for either side, to watch the game in case of any dispute, is desirable.
By comparison, just ten years later, the rules for American or ‘rugby style’ water polo had
become both more complex and increasingly sophisticated. There were 9 main rules split into
sections of 7 or 8 sub rules. The ball was always to be white and not less than 7 or 8 inches in
diameter. Teams consisted of 6 players- 3 forwards, 2 backs and a goalkeeper. The length of
the playing field was not greater than 75 feet or less than 60 feet and the width not greater
than 40 feet or less than 20 feet.
Goals were scored by placing the ball on the face of a wooden board stating the words ‘goal’.
The goal board was 4 feet in length and 18 inches in height and were placed 12 inches above
the water level.
It is interesting to note that in the Badminton Book of Swimming, Sinclair and Henry refer to
England, captained by G.R.Bettison (Regent) again beating Birmingham Leander 2-0 and in
1885, the Midlands Counties Amateur Swimming Association being also beaten by two
touchdowns to nil by England, indicating that ‘rugby style scoring’ was still being employed.
The book also gives us our first insight into the rules and says that that the following rules
were observed:
1. Duration of game, twenty minutes.
2. Captains to agree or toss for choice of goals.
3. At commencement of play, referee to throw ball into centre of course. All players shall then
enter water immediately, except goal-keeper on either side. Goal-keeper may remain out and
defend his goal as he may think best.
4. Ball may be passed from one player to another, and carried either on or below surface to
goal.
5. No player to interfere with goal-keeper, either in or out of the water, or hold his opponents
in any way, unless such goalkeeper,or opponents, are in possession of ball. In case of any player
infringing this rule, a free throw to be at once given to his opponents from place where foul
occurred.
6. A goal to be obtained by ball being taken up by hand and fairly placed on floating stage, or in
boat provided for that purpose.
7. If during play ball goes out of course at side, referee shall immediately throw in same straight
from where it goes out ; but if it goes out over or upon floating stage or boat, it shall
immediately be taken up and thrown into play by goal-keeper upon stage or boat.
8. Umpires, or one of them, shall blow whistle immediately after a goal has been obtained, and
play shall cease from that moment.
9. Teams to change goals at half-time.
10.Should any competitor who has been selected to take part in polo match fail to engage in
same, he shall forfeit all prizes that at time of holding such match he may have already won at
this festival, as well as any he may afterwards become entitled to in connection with same.
11.Power given to umpires, or, in case of dispute, to referee, to decide all circumstances not
provided for by these rules.
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The first set of rules to be adopted by the Amateur Swimming Association (then the Swimming
Association of Great Britain) came into being when the Midland Counties met on May 20th 1884
at Burton-on-Trent and agreed to form the Midland Counties Swimming and Aquatic Football
Association. Along with pressure from William Henry, this induced the ASA to adopt the sport
and to set up the first set of nationally recognised set of rules in 1885. These rules were as
follows:
1. Each side shall be represented by not less than six players.
2. Each side shall wear caps of a distinctive colour. The width of goal to be 10 feet, marked by
flags. The ball to be not less than 8 inches in diameter.
3. The duration of the game not to exceed twenty minutes; one minute allowed at half-time to
change ends.
4. The captains shall agree or toss for choice of goals. Each side shall appoint an umpire; a
referee shall also be appointed. The decision of the umpires in all questions of fact to be final;
but in the case of the umpires disagreeing, then an appeal shall be made to the referee, whose
decision shall be final; the referee shall also act as time-keeper.
6. The players shall enter the water and place themselves in line at their respective goals. A
player leaving the water shall take no further part in the game.
7. The referee shall stand in a line with the centre of the course, and, after ascertaining that the
captains are ready, shall give the word ' Go !' at the same time throwing the ball into the centre.
8. The umpires shall take their stand at each end of the course and follow the game silently; a
goal or foul to be declared by whistle.
9. The ball may be passed from one player to another, and carried either on or below the
surface.
10. A goal to be obtained only by the ball being taken up by hand and fairly placed on the goal
line, which may be the end of a bath, floating-stage, pole, or plank.
11. No player to interfere with the goal-keeper, or hold his opponents in any way, unless they are
in possession of the ball or touching it.
12. All players must stop in their places directly the whistle is sounded by either of the umpires.
13. When the ball by any chance shall go out of play, it shall be thrown in a straight line into the
middle of the course, by the referee, from the place where it went out. A player throwing the
ball over his own goal-line shall concede a corner throw to his opponents: but if the attacking
party throws the ball over, the goal-keeper shall return the ball in a direct line from where it
went out.
14. No player shall be placed in his opponent’s goal.
15. In the case of a foul (such as Rule 11), the opponents to have a free throw from the place
where the ball is at the time the foul occurred.
At this time, the rules in the Midlands were almost the same except that it was
stipulated that the teams play with eight players. The Scottish rules at this time
consisted of teams of 7 players and play would last for 14 minutes.
By 1908, the year when the government of World swimming passed from the Amateur
Swimming Association to the Federation De Natation Amateur, the ASA Handbook published its
last set of international water polo rules. This was a distillation of Scotland, the Midlands,
England and the learning from the first 20 years of water polo law making.
The 1908 ASA Handbook states as follows:
‘Law 143. The following International Rules for Water Polo are adopted by the A.S. A. and
form part of its Laws:
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Water Polo: Rules of the Game
1. Ball.—The ball to be round and fully inflated. It shall measure not less than 26½ in., nor more than
28½ in. in circumference. It shall be waterproof, with no strapped seams outside, and no grease or
other objectionable substance on the surface. The ball to be furnished by the home team.
2. Goals.—The width of the goals to be 10 feet, the cross-bar to be 3 feet above the surface when the
water is 5 feet or over in depth, and to be 8 feet from the bottom when the water is less than 5 feet in
depth. The goal-posts and goal-nets to be furnished by the home team.
3. Caps and Flags.—One team shall wear dark blue caps and the other team white caps. Both goalkeepers shall wear red caps (with quartering of his own side's colors) Each goal scorer shall be
provided with a red flag, and the referee with a dark blue and a white flag and a bell.
4. Field of Play.—The distance between the goals shall not exceed 30 yards, nor be less than 19 yards,
the width shall not be more than 20 yards, and shall be of even width throughout the field of play. The
goalposts shall be fixed at least one foot from the end of the bath, or any obstruction. In baths the
half-way line and also the 4 yards penalty lines shall be marked on both sides.
5. Depth.—The water shall not be shallower than 3 feet.
6. Time.—The duration of a match shall be 14 minutes, seven minutes each way. Three minutes shall
be allowed at half time for change of ends. When the ball crosses the goal line, whether it be a goal,
corner throw or goal throw, it shall be dead until the restart of the game or until it leaves the hand of
the player taking the throw, and such time shall be deducted. Time occupied by disputes or fouls, or
when the ball is thrown from the field of play, or lodges on an obstruction as per rule 21, shall not be
reckoned as in the time of play.
7. Officials.—The officials shall consist of a referee, a timekeeper, and 2 goal-scorers.
8. Referee.—The referee's duties shall be to start the game, stop all unfair play, decide all cases of
dispute, declare fouls, goals, half-time, and time, and see that these rules are properly carried out. He
shall decide upon all goals, whether signified or not. The referee's decision is final.
NOTE.—A referee may, alter his decision provided such alteration be notified before the ball is again
in play. A referee has power to stop play at any period of the game if in his opinion the behaviour of
the players or spectators or other exceptional circumstances prevents the match from coming to a
proper conclusion.
9. Goal-scorers.— The goal-scorers shall stand at the side near each goal, and when they consider
that the ball has passed through the goal, or over the goal line, at their respective ends only, they
shall signify their decision to the referee by means of a red flag. They shall not change ends, and
shall keep the score of goals of each team at their respective ends.
10. Teams. — Each side shall consist of seven players, who shall wear dark blue and white caps
respectively, and drawers or costumes with drawers underneath the costumes. In baths no grease,
oil, or other objectionable substance shall be rubbed on the body.
11. Captains. — The captains shall be playing members of the teams they represent; they shall
agree upon all preliminaries, and shall toss for choice of ends, the loser of the toss shall have choice
of colours. If they are unable to agree upon any point, the referee shall decide for them.
12. Starting.—The players shall enter the water and place themselves in a line with their respective
goals The referee shall stand in a line with the centre of the course, and, having ascertained that the
captains are ready, shall give the word "Go," and immediately throw the ball into the water at the
centre. A goal shall not be scored after starting or restarting until the ball has been handled (viz.,
played with the hand below the wrist) either by two members of one team, in which case the scorer
shall be within 'half distance of the goal attacked, or by a player of each team. The ball must be
handled (viz., played with the hand below the wrist) by more than one player before a goal can be
scored
13. Scoring.—A goal shall be scored by the entire ball passing beyond the goal-posts and under the
crossbar. A goal may be scored by the head or feet providing the ball has been previously handled by
two players, as per Rules 12 and 18.
14. Ordinary Fouls.—It shall be a Foul: (a) To touch the ball with both hands at the same time ; (b)
To hold the rail or side during any part of the game; (c) To stand on or touch the bottom during any
part of the game, unless for the purpose of resting; (d) To interfere with an opponent or impede him
in any way, unless he is holding the ball; (e) To hold the ball under the water when tackled; (f) To
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jump from the bottom or push off from the side (except at starting or re-starting) in order to play the
ball or duck an opponent; (g) To hold, pull back, or push off from an opponent; (h) To turn on the
back and kick at an opponent; (i) To assist a player at the start or re-start; (j) For the goal-keeper to
go more than four yards from his own goal-line, (k) To throw the ball at the goal-keeper from a free
throw. (/) To refuse to play the ball at the command of the referee after a foul or after the ball has
been out of the field of play.
NOTE.—Dribbling or striking the ball is not holding, but lifting, carrying, pressing under water, or
placing, the hand under or over the ball when actually touching, is holding. Dribbling the ball up and
through the posts is permissible.
15. Wilful Fouls.—If, in, the opinion of the referee a player commits an ordinary foul wilfuly, the
referee shall at once order him out of the water until a goal has been scored, (a) It shall be
considered a wilful foul to start before the word " Go " ; (b) to deliberately waste time ; (c) for a
player to take up a position within two yards of his opponents' goal-line; (d) to deliberately change
position after the whistle has gone with a view to taking an advantage of an opponent; (e) to
deliberately splash in the face of an opponent; (f) to strike at the ball with clenched fist.
NOTE.—In the event of a referee ordering a player out of the water and such player
refusing, the game shall he stopped, the match awarded to the other side, and the
offending player reported to his Association. In the event of a referee ordering a player out
of the water for misconduct or a wilful foul, he shall not re-enter after a goal has been
scored, except by permission of the referee.
16. Free Throws.—The penalty for each foul shall be a free throw to the opposing side from the place
where the foul occurred. A goal cannot be scored from a free throw unless the ball has been handled
(viz., played with the hand below the wrist) by at least one other player.
17.Penalty Throw.—A player wilfuly fouled when within 4 yards of his opponents' goal-line shall be
awarded a penalty throw, and the player who commits the offence must be ordered out of the water
until a goal has been scored. The penalty throw shall be taken from any point on the four yard line.
In the case of a penalty throw it shall not be necessary for the ball to be handled by any other player
before a goal can be scored, but any player within the four yard line may intercept a penalty throw.
NOTE.—A player ordered out of the water for committing a wilful foul must remain out
until a goal has been scored, notwithstanding that half-time may intervene or extra time
be played, except by permission of the referee.
18. Declaring: Fouls.—The referee shall declare a foul by blowing a whistle and exhibiting the colour
of the side to which the free throw is awarded. The player nearest to where the foul occurred shall
take the throw.
The other players shall remain in their respective positions from the blowing of the whistle until the
ball has left the hand of the player taking the throw. In the event of one or more players from each
team committing a foul so nearly at the same moment as to make it impossible for the referee to
distinguish who offended first, he shall have the ball out of the water and throw it in as nearly as
possible at the place where the foul occurred, in such a manner that one member of each team may
have equal chance of playing the ball. In such cases the ball must be allowed to touch the water
before it is handled, and must be handled (i.e. played with the hand below the wrist) by more than
one player before a goal can be scored.
19. Goal-keeper.—The goal-keeper may stand to defend his goal, and must not throw the ball
beyond half-distance; the penalty for doing so shall be a free throw to the opposing side from halfdistance at either side of the field of play. The goal-keeper must wear a red cap with quarterings of
his own side's colours He must keep within four yards of his own goal-line or concede a free throw from
the four yard line to his nearest opponent. The goal-keeper is exempt from clauses (a), (c), and (d) in
rule 14 and clause (e) rule 15, but he may be treated as any other player when in possession of the
ball. Except when injury or illness compels him to leave the water (when Rule 23 shall apply), the goalkeeper can only be changed at half-time.
NOTE.—In the event of a goal-keeper being ordered out of the water, his side cannot appoint
another goal-keeper, except at half time, as defined in Rule 19, and any player defending the
goal in his place shall be considered an ordinary player and not come under the special
limitations and exceptions attached to a goal-keeper.
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20. Goal and Corner Throws. — A player throwing the ball over his own goal line shall concede a free
corner throw to his opponents, and such free corner throw shall be taken by the player on the opposing
side nearest the point where the ball leaves the field of play. If the attacking side throws the ball over
it shall be a free goal-throw to their opponents' goal-keeper.
NOTE.—In the event of the ball having become dead by being thrown over the goal line, it
must not be considered in play until it has left the goal-keeper's hands. If a goal-keeper
puts the ball in play, and, before any other player has handled it takes it again and
allows it to pass fully through his goal, a corner throw shall be awarded to the opposing
side.
21. Out of Play.—Should a player send the ball out of the field of play at either side, it shall be
thrown in any direction from where it went out by one of the opposing side, and shall be considered a
free throw. The player nearest the point where the bail leaves the field of play must take the throw.
Should a ball strike an overhead obstruction and rebound into the field of play it shall be considered in
play, but if it lodges on or in an overhead obstruction it shall be considered out of play, and the
Referee shall then stop the game and throw the ball into the water under the obstruction on or in
which it had lodged.
22. Declaring Goals, Time—The referee shall declare fouls by whistle and goals by bell. The
timekeeper shall notify half-time and time by whistle.
23. Leaving the Water.—A player leaving the water, or sitting or standing on the steps, or sitting
on the side of the bath in which the match is being played, except at half-time or by permission of
the referee, shall not re-enter it until a goal has been scored, or until half-time. Should a player
leave the water he can only re-enter at his own goal-line. Any player or players leaving the water
during the progress of a game, without permission of the referee (except in case of illness or
accident), or refusing to enter the water at the request of the referee, shall be deemed guilty of
misconduct, and be liable to suspension by the body governing the particular match in which he is
competing,
Over the years, the rules have gradually changed. There were rule revisions in 1885, 1886,
1888, 1890 and 1892 and, in that year, following a joint conference, many of the Scottish
based rules were utilised in a new joint code. The rules now look quite different but the basic
structure of the game remains the same. The FINA Handbook now has approximately 25 pages
containing the modern rules. The game is still played between 2 teams of 7 players over a
playing area of 20 x 30 metres. The game is now split into 4 periods of 7 minutes. One of the
big changes is that the team with the ball (the offensive team) now has 35 seconds to shoot
at goal. If it fails to do this, it loses possession.
Penalties remain very similar in style. The goals themselves have changed very little in
shape. Another big change has been the categorising of fouls. These are now split into
exclusion and ordinary fouls. Originally many of these were categorised as wilful and ordinary
fouls and some of the fouls have moved between the two categories.
In the 1970’s, the exclusion foul replaced the one minute penalty system. Players had
previously been enclosed for one minute if they committed a major foul. Possession of the
ball before shooting has been reduced from 45 to 35 seconds to speed up attacks.
Another big change has been the employment of basketball style time-outs. Each team is now
allowed three in a match but the third one has to be taken in extra time.
One of the difficulties is that the team with the ball plays in such a way that they induce the
defending team into making exclusion fouls in order that they can continue to attack their
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opponent’s goal with a one man advantage after the fouling player has been excluded. This
tends to mean much of the match can be played with two teams of unequal numbers.
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Water polo in the modern age: Top left,
Aleksandar Sapic ,Serbia (photo by Giorgio
Scala), top right, Ratko Rudic, medal
winning player and coach, bottom, Manuel
Estiarte, Spain
Page 102
Top left, Tamas Kasas, Hungary, top right,
Vladimir Vujasinovic, bottom left, Petar
Trbojevic, and bottom right, Denis Sefik, all
Serbia (photos by Giorgio Scala)
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Men’s European Water Polo Championships
The first men’s European water polo championship was played in 1927 in Bologna. Water polo
was played at the end of the swimming session on each of the days. The first ever official
European match was played on 31st August 1927 when Austria defeated the Netherlands 5-3 in
the 1st Round.
On the second day in the 2nd Round, Hungary was beating Belgium 3-2 when the match had to
be stopped as there was insufficient light to continue. These were the days before floodlit
water polo. On the following day, the match was replayed and Hungary beat Belgium 4-3.
This proved to be a vital match as it took Hungary through to the next round where it
defeated France 3-1 in the deciding match.
The winning Hungarian team at this first European Championships was: Istvan Barta, Laszlo
Czele, Tibor Fazekas, Marton Homonnai, Alajos Keseru, Jozsef Vertesy and Janos Wenk.
Barta, Homonnai, Keseru and Vertesy made up the backbone of the Hungarian team that also
won in Magdeburg at the next European Championships in 1934. Although Hungary drew 2-2
with Germany, they won the championship with 11 points to Germany’s 10 and the free
scoring nature of their game was emphasised by the fact that their goal differential was 52-7
compared to Germany’s 21-9. The next 5 teams in the championship all had a negative goal
difference because of Hungary’s high scoring.
In 1929 with the support of the magazine ‘Nemzeti Sport’ and the Hungarian Swimming
Federation, the ‘Coupe Compete Klebesburg’, named after the well known aristocratlxxxv, was
introduced. This competition was introduced to encourage regular, annual high level
competition between the best countries in Europe. By 1937 this had transmuted into the
Horthy Cup Tournament and it was decided by 4 votes to 2 that Hungary would stage the
tournament during the second half of 1937lxxxvi. The competition had only just started when it
was interrupted by the War and a decision made to continue to suspend it was made in 1946.
By 1938, Hungary had completely stamped its authority on the European Championships,
again the deciding match being a 2-0 win over Germany. Almost to underline the passage of
world power in water polo, Hungary defeated Great Britain, 8-1 in its final game. None of the
players were the same as in the first winning team in 1927.
Hungary’s unbroken success continued until the European Championships in 1947 in Monte
Carlo when, after 19 years, it suffered its first defeat at the hands of Sweden 5-3. This loss on
September 11th as well as a previous draw with Yugoslavia 3-3, meant that it did not progress
to the final group and Italy went on to win the tournament.
In 1950, Rudy van Feggelen accumulated a massive 35 goals to make him the leading scorer
and his efforts ensured that the Netherlands lifted the De Raeve Cup for the first time. The
cup had been named after well known founder LEN Bureau member, Rene De Raeve
(Belgium). The power in European water polo swung towards Western Europe for the first
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time with Netherlands, winning, Sweden, finishing second and Italy, fourth. A steadily
emerging Yugoslavia finished third.
The Netherlands team was: Max Van Gelder, Cor Raasem, Henny Keetelaar, Gerrit Bijilsma,
Nijs Korevaar, Rudy van Feggelen, Frits Smol and Gaston Finee.
Hungary won the 1954 European Championship for the fifth time in seven tournaments.
Although Yugoslavia tied with the same number of points a 19-7 to 10-4 goal difference took
the championship to Hungary. An 8-1 Hungarian win over Italy made all the difference. The
unfortunate fact for Yugoslavia was that in the semi final group, Hungary only had a 1 goal-1
point advantage over the Yugoslavs in going through to the finals. This was, however, the
great era for the Hungarians as some of the great names –Istvan Szivos(Senior), Karpati,
Markovits and Gyarmarti established their names. Nodar Gvaharia (Hungary) and Terry Miller
(Great Britain) scored 13 goals each, the highest number at the Championships.
In 1958, in Budapest, the Hungarians won a second dramatic final match 4-2 over the Soviet
Union. This re-match following the win at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne was almost as
dramatic as a partisan crowd cheered on their compatriots.
The 1962 Championship in Leipzig was much closer with Hungary drawing 2-2 with the USSR
and defeating Yugoslavia 3-2 in its final two games. Goal keeper, Otto Borros, Karpati and
Markovits were by now on the third gold medal in as many championships. Zoltan Domotor
(Hungary) scored 12 goals in 1958 and 10 goals in 1962 which made him the leading scorer at
both events. It had been planned that the Leipzig tournament would be divided into four
groups of four or five teams with Hungary, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Italy being drawn
first, one in each of the four separate groups. In the event, 11 teams entered.
The Soviet Union had been steadily improving since its entrance into World water polo in 1952
and, in 1966, at Utrecht, it took its first title. A 1-0 win over the German Democratic Republic
on the last day, August 27th, was sufficient to give it the gold medal by 1 goal, even though
both teams had 4 points, an equal number. Despite having a slightly poorer goal difference,
the Soviet Union again won the 1970 tournament in the very last match on the last day after
defeating Hungary 6-5.
The Soviet team was: Vadim Gylyaev, Anatoly Akimov, Aleksandr Dreval, Aleksandr
Dolgushin, Vladimir Semenov, Aleksej Barkalov, Aleksandr Shidlovski, Vyacheslav Skok, Leonid
Osipov, Valeri Puskarev, Vladimir Shmudski and Oleg Bovin.
In 1974 in Vienna, Hungary returned to winning ways dropping just one point in 7 matches, a
7-7 draw with Yugoslavia. In 1977, the Hungarian domination continued with a one point
advantage over Yugoslavia. By 1974, the finals now consisted of two groups of 8 teams, each
team playing one another. Despite a 20 goal contribution from the outstanding Gianni De
Magistris, Italy finished third.
In Split in 1981, the German team won for the first time ever. Spain also started to improve
finishing fourth. Manuel Estiarte ran out with 27 goals. Estiarte not only had a great Olympic
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career but his goal scoring prowess became legendary at the European Championships. He was
the top scorer in 1981; in 1983 he was again the top scorer with 27; in 1989 he led the field
with 26; in 1991, 36 in Athens; in 1993, 29 in Sheffield; and finally, in 1997, 18 goals in
Seville. Although the Soviet Union won in Rome in 1983, Spain was continuing to climb,
finishing in third place. The deciding game was a 12-10 Group A win over Hungary who
finished second.
Soviet dominance continued throughout the 1980’s with wins in 1985 in Sofia and in 1987 in
Strasbourg. Goal keeper, Evgenij Sharonov was an ever present force in winning 3 gold medals
throughout the 1980’s as was Segej Kotenko, Mikhail Giogadze and Georyj Mschvenieradze
By 1989, in Bonn, the Soviet team was no longer so strong going down 12-11 to Italy in the
bronze medal game. The German team won their second gold medal. The team was: Ingo
Borgmann, Thomas Huber, Frank Otto, Lars Tomanek, Dirk Schutze, Andreas Ehrl, Carsten
Kusch, Rainer Osselmann, Hagen Stamm, Rene Reimann, Dirk Theismann, Jorg Dresel, Uwe
Sterzik and Peter Rohle. A number of the team had been on the 1981 winning side.
Yugoslavia, Italy and Hungary continued to dominate the European Championships throughout
the 1990’s and in 1999, in Florence, water polo held its own separate championships for the
first time. Croatia was now an independent country and it finished second to Hungary after
losing the final 15-12. The majority of the Hungarian winning team had been on the winning
team in Seville in 1997. Salvador Gomez (Spain) finished the top scorer with 16 goals,
emulating his compatriot Estiarte.
The 2001 Championships featured a return to the Alfred Hajos Pool in Budapest. Yugoslavia
won the gold medal after beating Hungary 8-5, Spain, 9-7, Netherlands, 10-7 and Romania,
11-5. Their leading goal scorer was Aleksandar Sapic who scored 11 goals. He took a total of
20 shots in the four games. In the finals, the Yugoslavs had 25 shots on goal when they had
an extra man. This was about the average for the top 10 teams but the big difference was
that the Yugoslavs made their extra man count, scoring with 19 of these shots. With 76%
success, this was much higher than the other teams.
In the match against Hungary, the Yugoslavs built up a lead early on when back, Vladimir
Vujasinovic, and Aleksandr Ciric scored from the right wing. After 2 minutes and 54 seconds
of the second period, Vujasinovic scored again and a 4-1 lead proved too much for the
Hungarians to close.
In 2003, in Kranj, Slovenia, police had to be called in to quell the crowd following Serbia
Montenegro’s 9-8 win over Croatia. The winning goal was scored in the first period of extra
time. The winner was scored by Aleksandra Sapic who scored four times. Vladimir Vujasinovic
scored twice. Croatia had led until 2 minutes from the end when Aleksandr Circic netted for
Serbia Montenegro. Near the end of the third quarter, Croatia had been 7-5 ahead. Hungary
defeated Russia 12-6 for the bronze medal.
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All time European medal Standings (through to and including 2003)
Country
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
Hungary
12
5
3
20
Soviet Union/ Russia
5
3
2
10
Yugoslavia/ Serbia
4
8
4
16
Italy
3
1
5
9
German Federal Republic
2
0
1
3
Netherlands
1
0
1
2
Germany
0
3
2
5
European Championship Water Polo Winners and Winning Teams
1927
Gold: Hungary; Silver: France; Bronze: Belgium
Istavan Barta, Laszlo Czele, Tibor Fazekas, Marton Homonnai, Alajos Keseru, Ferenc Keseru,
Jozsef Vertesy, Janos Wenk
1931
Gold: Hungary; Silver: Germany; Bronze: Austria
Istvan Barta, Mihaly Bozsi, Gyorgy Brody, Oliver Halassy, Marton Homonnai, Sandor Ivady,
Alajos Keseru, Ferenc Keseru, Janos Nemeth, Miklos Sarkany, Jozsef Vertesy
1934
Gold: Hungary; Silver: Germany; Bronze: Belgium
Gyorgy Brody, Gyorgy Kutasi, Mihaly Bozsi, Jeno Brandi, Oliver Halassy, Marton Homonnai,
Sandor Ivady, Alajos Keseru, Janos Nemeth, Miklos Sarkany, Jozsef Vertesy
1938
Gold: Hungary; Silver: Germany; Bronze: Netherlands
Ferenc Mezei-Wiesner, Istvan Mezei, Mihaly Bozsi, Jeno Brandi, Oliver Halassy, Gyula Kanasy,
Kalman Kislegi, Istvan Molnar, Janos Nemeth, Miklos Sarkany, Jozsef Tolnay
1947
Gold: Italy; Silver: Sweden; Bronze: Belgium
Buonocore Pasquale, Bulgarelli Emilio, Majoni Mario, Ognio Geminio, Arena
Ermenegildo,Ghira Aldo, Pandolfini G. Franco, Pandolfini Tullo, Raspini Luigi, Raspini
Umberto, Rubini Cesare
1950
Gold: Netherlands; Silver: Sweden; Bronze: Yugoslavia
Max Van Gelder, Cor Braasem, Henny Keetelaar, Gerrit Bijlsma, Nijs Korevaar, Rudy Van
Feggelen, Frits Smol, Gaston Finee
1954
Gold: Hungary; Silver: Yugoslavia; Bronze: Italy
Otto Boros, Laszlo Jeney, Istvan Hevesi, Gyorgy Karpati, Kalman Markovjts, Dezso Gyarrnati,
Mikios Martin, Aladar Szabo, Istvan Szivos, Georgy Vizvari, Antal Bolvari
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1958
Gold: Hungary; Silver: Yugoslavia; Bronze: USSR
Otto Boros, Laszlo Jeney, Gabor Csillag, Zoltan Domotor, Istvan Hevesi, Tivadar Kanizsa,
Gyorgy Karpati, Andras Katona, Kalman Markovits, Mihaly Mayer, Robert Molnar, Istvan Pinter,
Jozsef Vaczi
1962
Gold: Hungary; Silver: USSR; Silver: Yugoslavia
Otto Boros, Miklos Ambrus, Andros Bodnar, Zoltan Domotor, Laszlo Felkai, Dezso Gyarmati,
Tivadar Kanizsa, Gyorgy Karpati, Janos Konrad, Kalman Markovits, Mihaly Mayer, Denes Pocsik
1966
Gold: USSR; Silver: German Democratic Republic; Bronze: Yugoslavia
Vadim Gulyaev, Vladimir Kuznetsov, Boris Grishin, Iosif Zemsov, Vladimir Schmudsky, Vladimir
Semenov, Boris Popov, Valeri Puskarev, Aleksandr Dolgushin, Leonid Osipov, Igor Grabovsky
1970
Gold: USSR; Silver: Hungary; Bronze: Yugoslavia
Vadim Gulyaev, Anatoly Akimov, Aleksandr Dreval, Aleksandr Dolgushin, Vladimir Semenov,
Aleksej Barkalov, Aleksandr Shidlovski, Vyacheslav Skok, Leonid Osipov, Valeri Puskarev,
Vladimir Shmudski, Oleg Bovin
1974
Gold: Hungary; Silver: USSR; Bronze: Yugoslavia
Endre Molnar, Tibor Cservenyak, Tamas Farago, Istvan Gorgenyi, Andras Bodnar, Laszlo Sarosi,
Gabor Csapo, Istvan Szivos Jr., Zoltan Kasas, Gyorgy Horkai, Ferenc Konrad
1977
Gold: Hungary; Silver: Yugoslavia; Bronze: Italy
Endre Molnar, Janos Steinmetz, Gabor Csapo, Tamas Farago, Gyorgy Gerendas, Gyorgy
Horkai, Gyorgy Kenez, Istvan Magas, Jozsef Somossy, Attila Sudar, Istvan Szivos Jr., Tamas
Wiesner, Peter Wolf
1981
Gold: Federal Republic of Germany; Silver: USSR; Bronze: Hungary
Peter Rohle, Thomas Loebb, Frank Otto, Jurgen Stiefel, Hagen Stamm, Michael Wendel,
Jurgen Schroder, Rainer Osselmann, Roland Freund, Bernd Weyer, Werner Obschernikat, Ralf
Obschernikat, Gunter Kilian
1983
Gold: USSR; Silver: Hungary; Bronze: Spain
Evgenij Sharonov, Igor Sedov, Pavel Prokopchiuk, Evgenij Grishin, Sergej Naumov, Aleksandr
Kabanov, Sergej Kotenko, Erkin Shagaev, Georgj Mshvenieradze,Mikhail Ivanov, Nurlan
Mendygaliev, Nikolay Smirnov, Mikhail Giorgadze.
1985
Gold: USSR; Silver: Yugoslavia; Bronze: Federal Republic of Germany
Evgenij Sharonov, Nurlan Mendygaliev, Pavel Prokopchiuk, Evgenij Grishin, Sergej Naumov,
Victor Berendiuga, Sergei Kotenko, Askar OrazaIinov, Georgyj Mschvenieradze, Mikhail
Ivanov, Sergej Markoch, Nikolay Smirnov, Mikhail Giorgadze
1987
Gold: USSR; Silver: Yugoslavia; Bronze: Italy
Evgenij Sharonov, Oleg Shvedov, Aleksandr Ogorodnikov, Aleksandr Kolotov, Sergej Naumov,
Victor Berendiuga, Sergej Kotenko, Dimitri Apanasenko, Georgyj Mschvenierdze, Pavel Volkov,
Sergej Markoch, Sergej Maksimov, Vadim Rojdestvenskiy, Mikhail Giorgadze
1989
Gold: Federal Republic of Germany; Silver: Yugoslavia; Bronze: Italy
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Ingo Borgmann, Thomas Huber, Frank Otto, Lars Tomanek, Dirk Schutze, Andreas Ehrl,
Carsten Kusch, Rainer Osselmann, Hagen Stamm, Rene Reimann, Dirk Theismann, Jorg Dresel,
Uwe Sterzik, Peter Rohle
1991
Gold: Yugoslavia; Silver: Spain; Bronze: USSR
Aleksandar Sostar, Dusan Popovic, Vaso Subotic, Predrag Zimonjic, Igor Milanovic, Viktor
Jelenic, Mirko Vicevic, Vitomir Padovan, Veljko Uskokovic, Igor Gocanin, Dusan Cirkovic,
Goran Radjenovic, Nikola Ribic, Zeljko Vicevic, Milan Tadic
1993
Gold: Italy; Silver: Hungary; Bronze: Spain
Francesco Attolico, Alessandro Bovo, Alessandro Campagna Mario Fiorillo, Francesco Porzio,
Ferdinando Gandolfi, Massimiliano Ferretti, Marco D’Altrui, Giuseppe Porzio, Paolo Caldarella,
Amedeo Pomilio, Carlo Silipo, Roberto Calcaterra, Paolo Petronelli, Gianni Averaimo
1995
Gold: Italy; Silver: Hungary; Bronze: Germany
Francesco Attolico, Francesco Postiglione, Alessandro Bovo, Angelo Temellini, Roberto
Calcaterra, Alessandro Calcaterra, Alberto Angelini, Amedeo Pomilio, Paolo Petronelli,
Leonardo Sottani, Carlo Silipo, Alberto Ghibellini, Fabio Bencivenga, Luca Giustolisi, Marco
Gerini
1997
Gold: Hungary; Silver: Yugoslavia; Bronze: Russia
Zoltan Kosz, Frank Toth, Tomas Marcz, Zsolt Varga, Tamas Kasas, Attila Vari, Gergely Kiss,
Tbor Benedek, Rajimund Fodor, Balazs Vincze, Barnabas Steinmetz, Tamas Molnar, Zsolt
Nemeth, Bulcsu Szekely, Zoltan Kovacs
1999
Gold: Hungary; Silver: Croatia; Bronze: Italy
Zoltan Kosz, Frank Toth, Tamas Marcz, Zsolt Varga, Tamas Kasas, Attila Vari, Gergely Kiss,
Bulcsu Szekely, Rajmund Fodor, Balazs Vincze, Barnabas Steinmetz, Tamas Molnar, Csaba
Kiss, Peter Biros, Zoltan Kovacs
2001
Gold: Yugoslavia; Silver: Italy; Bronze: Hungary
Aleksandar Sostar, Petar Trbojevic, Predrag Zimonjic, Dejan Savic, Danilo Ikodinovic, Viktor
Jelenic, Veljko Uskokovic, Aleksandar Ciric, Aleksanda Sapic, Vladimir Vujasinovic, Nenad
Vukanic, Branko Pekovic, Nikola Janovic, Nikola Kuljaca, Denis Sefik
2003
Gold: Serbia Montenegro; Silver: Croatia; Bronze: Hungary
Nikola Kuljaca, Slobodan Nikic, Eivko Kolic, Vanja Udovicic, Dejan Savic, Danilo Ikodinovic,
Viktor Jelenic, Vladimir Gojkovic, Aleksandar Ciric, Aleksandar Sapic, Vladimir Vujasinovic,
Predrag Jokic, Boris Zlokovic, Filip Filipovic, Denis Sefik
2006
Gold: Serbia; Silver: Hungary; Bronze: Spain
Denis Sefik, Petar Trbojevic, Vanja Udovicic, Dejan Savic, Danilo Ikodinovic, Slobodan Nikic,
Filip Filipovic, Aleksander Ciric, Aleksander Sapic, Vladimir Vujasinovic, Branko Pekovic,
Dusko Pijetlovic, Andrija Prlainovic, Zivko Gocic, Slobodan Soro
Page 109
Women’s European Water Polo Championships
The women’s championships were first introduced in Oslo in 1985. Eight teams entered this
first tournament. Women’s water polo had been played in the Netherlands for many years and
the enormous 175-14 goal difference underlined the big gap in experience and standards
between the Netherlands and the rest. Patricia Libregts scored 28 goals for the Dutch. The
Netherlands defeated France 26-0 and Great Britain 25-0 during their run to the gold medal.
At the following championships in Strasbourg, Libregts added another 22 goals as the
Netherlands again won all 7 games although this time, the goal differential was smaller. The
important game against Hungary was played on the fifth day and resulted in an 11-8 Dutch
win.
The gap was no closer in 1989 where the Dutch continued to dominate. By the end of this
tournament, they had played 19 European Championship matches and never been beaten.
Again they defeated Hungary 14-11 with France beating Italy 10-9 for the bronze medal.
Andrea Eke scored 20 goals for Hungary.
But the Athens European Championships in 1991 saw a turn around as Hungary beat
Netherlands 11-8. This was the Netherlands first ever reversal in a European Championship
match. In their first match on August 18th, Hungary had only drawn with Italy but they went
through with a slightly stronger goal difference. Italy, which finished on the same number of
points in Group C of the preliminary round, took the bronze by beating France 9-5. In 1993,
the Netherlands re-established its supremacy. It scored 90 goals in 5 matches on its way to
the final and Alice Lindhout was the highest scorer of the championship for the second time in
succession, this time scoring 31 goals, the greatest number ever scored in one championship.
In the final, the Netherlands beat the Soviet Union 13-8.
Italy, which had finished fourth in 1993, third in 1991 and fourth in 1989, had its most
successful championship to date in Vienna in 1995. After defeating Greece 8-4 in the semi
finals, it beat Hungary 7-5 to win the final. Women’s water polo now entered a period of
Italian domination with the national side winning the European Championships in 1995, 1997
and 1999 before winning the Olympic title in Athens. Giusi Malato did much of the damage in
1997 in Sevilla and in 1999 in Prato with 26 and 14 goals respectively. Throughout this period,
team continuity was important and the Italian team hardly changed. By now, the women’s
game had followed the pattern of the men and in 1999 it held championships that were
separate from the main European Swimming Championships for the first time.
The long period of Italian success finally came to an end in 2001 in Budapest when the
Hungarians defeated Italy 10-8 in the final. The tournament was split into two leagues of four
Page 110
with each team playing one another. Hungary defeated Spain 14-4, Netherlands, 12-2 and
Spain 7-6 before edging Russia 7-6 in the semi final.
The Hungarian team was coached by former star player, Tamas Farago, and in a close game
against Russia, they quickly established a 3 goal lead inside 2 minutes with goals by Valkay,
Pelle and Stieber. Russia never quite recovered.
The close battles between Italy and Hungary continued and, in 2003, in Llubljana in Slovenia,
Italy won the European title by the slimmest of margins 6-5. Afterwards, Guisy Letzia Malato
was named the outstanding player of the tournament with Hungarian goal keeper, Ildiko
Zirighne Sos being named the best goalkeeper. Italy and Hungary were deadlocked at 4-4
halfway through the fourth quarter but a penalty followed by a long shot one and a half
minutes later, both by Melania Grego, steered Italy through.
All time European medal Standings (through to and including 2003)
Country
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
Netherlands
4
2
2
8
Hungary
3
4
1
8
Italy
3
1
1
5
Soviet Union/ Russia
0
3
2
5
France
0
0
2
2
German Federal Republic
0
0
1
1
European Championship Water Polo Winners and Winning Teams
1985
Gold: Netherlands; Silver: Hungary; Bronze: Federal Republic of Germany
Madeline Van Heemstra, Marion Van Der Mark, Janet Heljnert, Ineke Pesman, Belinda Hibbel,
Lieneke Van Den Heuvel, Anita Bibo, Alice Lindhout, Monique Kranenburg, Patricia Libregts,
Lillian Ossendrijver,
Hedda Verdam, Marian Walthie
1987
Gold: Netherlands; Silver: Hungary; Bronze: France
Madeline Van Heemstra, Hellen Boering, Lieneke Van Den Heuvel, Anita Bibo, Lillian
Ossendrijver, Irma Brander, Greet Van Den Veen, Monique Kranenburg, Patricia Libregts,
Esmeralda Van Den Water, Ilse Sindorf, Anita Nijenhuis, Hedda Verdam, Janny Spijker
1989
Gold: Netherlands; Silver: Hungary; Bronze: France
Hermine Perik, Hellen Boering, Lieneke Van Den Heuvel, Greet Van Den Veen, Esmeralda Van
Den water, Patricia Libregts, Anita Nijenhuis, Monique Kranenburg, Ilse Sindorf, Janny
Spijker, Hedda Verdam, Irma Brander, Alice Lindhout, Astrid Van DenMeer
1991
Gold: Hungary; Silver: Netherlands; Bronze: Italy
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Orsolya Szalkay, Laura Gruber, Katalin Dancsa, Noemi Toth, Mercedesz Stieber, Edit Vincze,
Ildiko Takacs, Iren Rafael, Katalin Nagy, Zsuzsanna Kertesz, Ildiko Ronaszeki, Ildiko Kokai,
Zsuzsanna Huff, Csilla Szamosi
1993
Gold: Netherlands; Silver: Russia; Bronze: Hungary
Karla Van Der Boon, Janny Spijker, Edmee Hiemstra, Carla Quint, Ingrid Leijendekker, Alice
Lindhout, Karin Kuipers, Ellen Bast, Gillian Van De Berg, Rianne Schram, Hellen Boerlng,
Sandra Scherrenburg. Hedda Verdam
1995
Gold: Italy; Silver: Hungary; Bronze: Netherlands
Francesca Conti, Martina Miceli, Carmela Allucci, Stefanie Lariucci, Milena Virzi, Monica
Vallant, Antonella Di Giacinto, Cristina Consoli, Giusi Malato, Francesca Romano, Marica
Carrozzi, Melania Grego, Daria Starace, Maddalena Musumeci, Paola Sabbatini
1997
Gold: Italy; Silver: Russia; Bronze: Netherlands
Francesca Conti , Martina Miceli Carmela Allucci, Stefania Lariucci, Milena Virzi, Monica
Vallant, Antonella Di Giacinto, Cristina Consoli, Giusi Malato, Alexandra Araujo, Maddalena
Musumeci ,Melania Grego, Daniela Lavorini, Cinzia Ragusa, Silvia Moriconi
1999
Gold: Italy; Silver: Netherlands; Bronze: Russia
Francesca Conti, Martina Miceli, Carmela Allucci, Tatia Truden Baianova, Gabriella Sciolti,
Monica Vaillant, Tania Di Mario, Cristina Consoli, Giusi Malato, Alexandra Araujo, Maddalena
Musumeci , Melania Grego, Silvia Bosurgi, Martina Schiavon, Silvia Moriconi
2001
Gold: Hungary; Silver: Italy; Bronze: Russia
Ildiko Sos, Zsuzsanna Tiba, Edit Sipos, Katalin Kisne Dancsa, Mercedesz Stieber, Kata Redei,
Rita Dravucz, Erzsebet VaIkay Krisztina Szremko, Aniko Pelle, Agnes Valkay, Agnes Primasz,
Andrea Toth, Anett Gyore, Brigitta Szep
2003
Gold: Italy; Silver: Hungary; Bronze: Russia
Francesca Conti, Martina Miceli, Carmela Allucci, Silvia Bosurgi, Gabriella Sciolti, Manuela
Zanchi, Tania Di Mario, Cinzia Ragusa, Giusi Malato, Alexandra Araujo, Maddalena Musumeci,
Melania Grego, Noemi Toth, Daniela Lavorini, Erika Lava
2006:
Gold: Russia; Silver: Italy; Bronze: Hungary
Evgenia Protsenko, Natalia Shepelina, Yulia Gaufler, Sofya Konukh, Alena Vylegzhanina,
Nadezda Glyzina, Ekaterina Pantulina, Ekaterina Tankeeva, Natalia Ryzhova-Alenicheva, Olga
Fomicheva, Elena Smurova, Anastasia Zubkova, Aleksandra Vorobeva, Ekaterina Kuznetsova,
Evgeniya Ivanova
Page 112
The Russian women’s gold medal team from the Belgrade European
Championahips in 2006 (Photo by Giorgio Scala)
European Club Water Polo
Page 113
In 1963, it was proposed by Hungary that a European Cup competition be introducedlxxxvii and
LEN decided at its Lausanne meeting that initially 6 teams would take part. The interest was
greater than expected lxxxviii and 17 teams entered. 13 clubs participated in the preliminary
rounds which were organised in Magdeburg and Naples. The final rounds were staged in
Zagreb. The European Club National Champions Cup was introduced in 1963-4. Partizan
Belgrade was the winner for the first two years. Coincidentally, the ‘Trofeo Italia’ which had
been run in conjunction with LEN between European countries had been won outright by
Hungary and this signalled its demise. Champion clubs have been as follows:
1963-64
1964-65
1965-66
1966-67
1967-68
1968-69
1969-70
1970-71
1971-72
1972-73
1973-74
1974-75
1975-76
1976-77
1977-78
1978-79
1979-80
1980-81
1981-82
1982-83
1983-84
1984-85
1985-86
1986-87
1987-88
1988-89
1989-90
1990-91
1991-92
1992-93
1993-94
1994-95
1995-96
1996-97
1997-98
1998-99
1999-00
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
Partizan Belgrade (Yugoslavia)
Recco (Italy)
Mladost Zagreeceb (Yugoslavia)
Osc Budapest (Hungary)
Mgu Moscow (USSR)
Csk Moscow (USSR)
Canottieri Naples (Italy)
Osc Budapest (Hungary)
Vasas Budapest (Hungary)
Jug Dubrovnik (Yugoslavia)
Cn Barcelona (Spain)
Spandau Berlin (Germany)
Stefanel Recco (Italy)
Vasas Budapest (Hungary)
Sisley Pescara (Italy)
Jadran Koteks Split (Croatia)
Jadran Koteks Split (Croatia)
Ujpesti Budapest (Hungary)
Catalunya Barcelona (Spain)
Mladost Zagreeceb (Croatia)
Themis Posillipo Naples (Italy)
Cn Posillipo Naples (Italy)
Splitska Banka Split (Croatia)
Vk Becej Nis Naftagas (Yugoslavia)
Jug Dubrovnik (Croatia)
Olympiakos Piraeus (Greece)
Pro Recco (Italy)
Page 114
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
Domino Bhse Budapest (Hungary)
C.N. Posillipo Naples (Italy)
Jug Dubrovnik (Croatia)
Pro Recco (Italy)
Page 115
Major championships
This final section includes a resume of the major championships not already covered. The
importance of these competitions is, of course, high but inevitably, in a short history, it has
not been possible to cover them all in detail:
Page 116
Year
1973
1975
1978
1982
1986
1991
1994
1998
2001
Men's World Championships
Venue
Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Cali, Columbia
Berlin, Germany
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Madrid, Spain
Perth, Australia
Rome, Italy
Perth, Australia
Fukuoka, Japan
2003
2005
2007
Year
1986
1991
1994
1998
2001
2003
2005
2007
Gold
Hungary
USSR
Italy
USSR
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Italy
Spain
Spain
Silver
USSR
Hungary
Hungary
Hungary
Italy
Spain
Spain
Hungary
FRYugoslavia
Barcelona, Spain
Montreal, Canada
Melbourne, Australia
Hungary
Serbia and Montenegro
Croatia
Italy
Hungary
Hungary
Country
Hungary
Italy
Spain
USSR
Yugoslavia
Serbia & Montenegro
Croatia
Russia
Gold
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
Silver
6
2
2
1
Women's World Championships
Venue
Madrid, Spain
Perth, Australia
Rome, Italy
Perth, Australia
Fukuoka, Japan
Barcelona, Spain
Montreal, Canada
Melbourne, Australia
Country
United States
Italy
Hungary
Netherlands
Australia
Russia
Canada
1
Bronze
Yugoslavia
Italy
Yugoslavia
Germany
USSR
Hungary
Russia
FRYugoslavia
Russia
Serbia and
Montenegro
Greece
Spain
Bronze
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
Gold
Australia
Netherlands
Hungary
Italy
Italy
United States
Hungary
United States
Silver
Netherlands
Canada
Netherlands
Netherlands
Hungary
Italy
United States
Australia
Bronze
United States
United States
Italy
Australia
Canada
Russia
Canada
Russia
Gold
2
2
2
1
1
Silver
1
1
1
3
1
Bronze
2
1
1
Page 117
1
2
2
Serbia and Montenegro win the 2005 World Championships in Montreal (Photo by Giorgio
Scala)
Men’s World Championship Winning Teams
1973 – Hungary
Balazs Balla, Andrá Bodner, Gabor Csapo, Tibor Czervengak, Tamas Farago, István Görgenyi,
Zoltán Kasas, Ferenc Konrad, Endre Molnar, László Sarosi, István Szivos Jr.,
1975 – USSR
Alexei Barkalov, Alexander Draval, Alexander Dolgushin, Sergei Gorshov, Alexander Kabanov,
Anatoli Klebanov, Nicolai Melnikov, Alexander R o d i o n o v , V i t a l i R o m a n c h u k , V i t a l i
Rozkov, Alexander Zakharov
1978 – Italy
Alberto Alberani, Silvio Baracchini, Romeo Collina, Gianni De Magistris, Massimo Fondelli,
Marco Galli, Sante Marsili, Alessandro Ghibellini, Paolo Ragosa , Mario Scotti-Galletta,
Rolando Simeoni
1982 – USSR
Vladimir Akimov, Mikhail Ivanov, Alexander Kabanov, Alexander Kleimenov, Sergei Kotenko,
Nurlan Mendigaliev, Georgy Mshevenieradze, Erkin Shagaev, Yevgeni Sharonov, Nicola
Smirnov, Aleksei Vdovin
1986 – Yugoslavia
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Dragan Andric, Perica Bukic, Veselin Djuho, Milorad Krivokapic, Deni Lusic, Igor Milanovic,
Tomislav Paskvalin, Zoran Petrovic, Andrija Popovic, Dubravko Simenc, Aleksander So Star,
Ante Vasovic, Mirko Vicevic
1991 – Yugoslavia
Mislav Bezmalinovic, Perica Bukic, Viktor Jelenic, Igor Milanovic, Vitomor Padovan, Dusan
Popovic, Ranko Posinkovic, Goran Radjenovic, Dubravko Simenc, Aleksander Sostar, Vaso
Subotic, Ante Vasovic, Mirko Vicevic
Hungary tries to find a route to goal against a packed Serbia Montenegran
defence at the World Champinahips in Montreal in 2005 (Photo by Giorgio Scala)
1994 – Italy
Alesandro Bovo, Roberto Calcaterra, Alessandro Campagna, Marco D'altrui, Massimiliano
Ferretti, Mario Fiorillo, Ferdinando Gandolfi, Amedeo Pomillio, Franco Porzio, Giuseppe Porzio,
Carlo Silipo
1998 – Spain
Daniel Ballart, Manuel Estiarte, Pedro Garcia, Salvador Gomez, Miguel Gonzalez, Gustavo
Marcos, Ruben Michavila, Ivan Moro, Sergi Pedrerol, Ivan Perez, Jesus Rollan, Jordi Sans, Carlos
Sanz,
2001 – Spain
Angel Andreo, Daniel Ballart, Salvador Gomez, Gabriel Hernandez, Gustavo Marcos, Guillermo
Molina, Daniel Moro, Ivan Moro, Serdi Pedrerol, Ivan Perez, Jesus Rollan, Javier Sanchez-Toril,
Carlos Sanz
2003 – Hungary
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Tibor Benedek, Peter Biros, Rajmund Fodor, Istvan Gergely, Tamas Kasas, Gergely Kiss,
Norbert Madaras, Tamas Molnar, Zoltan Sczeci, Barbabas Steinmetz, Tamas Varga, Zsolt
Varga, Attila Vari
2005 – Serbia & Montenegro
Vladimir Gojkovic, Danilo Ikodinovic, Nikola Janovic, Predrag Jokic, Slobodan Nikic, Zdravsko
Radic, Aleksandar Sapic, Dejan Savic, Denes Sefik, Petar Trbojevic, Vanja Udovicic, Vladimir
Vujasinovic, Boris Zlokovic
2007 – Croatia
Samir Barac, Miho Boskovic, Damir Buric, Andro Buslje, Teo Dogas, Igor Hinic, Maro Jokovic,
Aljosa Kunac, Pavo Markovic, Josip Pavic, Mile Smodlaka, Frano Vican, Zdeslav Vrdoljak,
The Spaniards celebrate their bronze medal at the men’s water polo championship in
Melbourne 2007
Page 120
Women’s water polo can be just as demanding. Hungary on their
way to their 2005 World Championships win. Timea Benko battles for position.
(Photo by Giorgio Scala)
Women’s World Championship Winning Teams
1986 – Australia
Judy Gair, Cummins Handley, Amanda Leeson, Katie Mcadams, Megan Meloncelli, Lynne
Morrison, Sandy Mills-O'Mellia, Jackie Northam, Cathy Parkers, Janet Rayner, Julie Sheperd,
Debbie Watson
1991 – Netherlands
Helen Boering, Irma Brander, Edmee Hiemstra, Monique Kranenburg, Karin Kuipers, Patricia
Libregts, Alice Lindhout, Marjan Op Den Velde, Lilian Ossendrijver, Janny Spijker, Karla Van
Den Boen, Esmeralda Van Der Water, Hedda Verdam
1994 – Hungary
Katalin Kisne Dancsa, Zsuzsa Dunkel, Andrea Eke, Zsuzsanna Hulf, Ildiko Kuna, Iren Rafael,
Katalin Redei, Edit Sipos, Mercedes Stieber, Orsolya Szalkay, Krisztina Szremko, Gabriella Toth,
Noemi Toth
1998 – Italy
Carmela Alluci, Alexandra Araujo, Cristina Consoli, Francesca Conti, Antonella Di Giacinto,
Eleonora Gay, Melania Grego, Stefania Larucci, Giusy Malato, Martina Micelli, Maddalena
Musumeci, Monica Vaillant, Milena Virzi
Page 121
2001 – Italy
Carmella Alluci, Alexandra Araujo, Silvia Bosurgi, Cristina Consoli, Francesca Conti, Tania Di
Mario, Melania Grego, Giusy Malato, Martina Miceli, Maddalena Musumeci, Paola Sabbatini,
Gabriella Sciolti, Monica Vaillant
2003 – USA
Robin Beauregard, Margarer Dingeldein, Gabrielle Domanic, Ellen Estes, Jacqueline Frank,
Natalie Golda, Ericka Lorenz, Heather Moody, Heather Petri, Nicolle Payne, Amber Stachowski,
Brenda Villa
2005 – Hungary
Timea Benko, Fruzsnina Bravik, Rita Dravucz, Patricia Horvath, Dora Kisteleki, Anilko Pelle,
Kristyna Serfozo; Mercedes Stieber, Orsolya Takacs, Eszter Tomaskovics, Andrea Toth, Agnes
Valkai, Krisztina Zantleitner
2007 – USA
Elizabeth Armstrong, Patricia Cardenas, Kameryn Craig, Brittany Hayes, Natalie Golda, Alison
Gregorka, Jaime Hipp, Ericka Lorenz, Heather Petri, Moriah Van Norman, Brenda Villa, Lauren
Wenger, Elsie Windes
Page 122
The moment of victory as Hungary take the title in 2005 (Photos: Giorgio Scala)
Page 123
Year
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2002
2006
FINA World Water Polo Cup- Men
Venue
Gold
Silver
Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Hungary
United States
Long Beach, California
USSR
Yugoslavia
Malibu, California
USSR
Germany
Duisberg, Germany
Germany
United States
Thessalonika, Greece
Yugoslavia
USSR
Berlin, Germany
Yugoslavia
Italy
Barcelona, Spain
United States
Yugoslavia
Athens, Greece
Italy
Hungary
Atlanta, Georgia
Hungary
Italy
Athens, Greece
United States
Greece
Sydney, Australia
Hungary
Italy
Belgrade, Serbia
Russia
Hungary
Budapest, Hungary
Hungary
Bronze
Yugoslavia
Cuba
Italy
Spain
Germany
Hungary
Spain
Australia
Russia
Hungary
Spain
FRYugoslavia
Spain
FINA World Water Polo Cup- Women
Year
1979
1980
1981
1983
1984
1988
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2002
2006
Mercedes, California
Breda, Netherlands
Brisbane, Australia
Sainte-Foy, Quebec
Irvine, California
Christchurch, New Zealand
Eindhoven, Netherlands
Catania, Italy
Sydney, Australia
Nancy, France
Winnipeg, Canada
Perth, Australia
Tianjin, China
Gold
United States
Netherlands
Canada
Netherlands
Australia
Netherlands
Netherlands
Netherlands
Netherlands
Australia
Netherlands
Netherlands
Hungary
Australia
Silver
Netherlands
United States
Netherlands
United States
United States
Hungary
United States
Australia
Italy
Netherlands
Russia
Australia
United States
Italy
Bronze
Australia
Canada
Australia
Australia
Netherlands
Canada
Hungary
United States
Hungary
Hungary
Australia
Italy
Canada
Russia
Gold
Russia
Hungary
Silver
Spain
Italy
Serbia and
Montenegro
Hungary
Spain
Bronze
Hungary
United States
FINA World Water Polo League- Men
Year
2002
2003
Patras, Greece
New York
2004
2005
2006
Belgrade, Serbia
Athens
Hungary
Page 124
Greece
Germany
Greece
European Competitions(other than the National Champions Cup)
Year
European Super Cup Cup Winners Cup
LEN Trophy
1974-1975
Ferencvarosi TC
1975-1976
Mladost Zagreb
Mladost Zagreb
1976-1977
CSKA Moscow
MGU Moscow
1977-1978
Ferencvarosi
Ferencvarosi TC
1978-1979
Orvosegyetem SC
KPK Korcula
1979-1980
Ferencvarosi
Ferencvarosi TC
1980-1981
CSKA Moscow
CSKA Moscow
1981-1982
CN Barcelona
POSK Split
1982-1983
CSKA Moscow
1983-1984
POSK Split
POSK Split
1984-1985
Dinamo Moscow
Dynamo Moscow
1985-1986
Spandau 04 Berlin
Vasas SC
1986-1987
Spandau 04 Berlin
HJK Mornar Split
1987-1988
Pescara
Posillipo Napoli
1988-1989
RN Arenzano
1989-1990
Mladost Zagreb
Pescara
1990-1991
Partizan Beograd
Partizan Beograd
1991-1992
CN Catalunya
CN Catalunya
1992-1993
Pescara
Pescara
Ujpesti TE
1993-1994
Ujpesti TE
Pescara
Roma
1994-1995
CN Catalunya
Vasas SC
CN Barcelona
1995-1996
Mladost Zagreb
Roma
Pescara
1996-1997
Vouliagmeni Athens Ujpesti TE
1997-1998
Ferencvarosi TC
Partizan Beograd
1998-1999
Miadost Zagreb
Ujpesti TE
1999-2000
Dynamo Moscow
JUGDubrovnik
2000-2001
RN Florentia
Mladost Zagreb
2001-2002
Olympiakos Piraeus Vasas SC
Brescia
2002-2003
Pro Recco
Posillipo Napoli
Brescia
2003-2004
Budapest Honved SE
CN Barcelona
2004-2005
Posillipo
RN Savona
2005-2006
JUGDubrovnik
Brescia
Page 125
Top, the 2007 Men’s Club Final Four in Milan. The line up at the kick off with a backdrop of
Olympiakos Piraeus’s supporters in the first semi final. Pro Recco won the game 10-9; bottom,
the Serbia Montegro team that won the 2006 European Championship in Belgrade (Photo by
Giorgio Scala)
Page 126
Bibliography
i
Thomas, Ralph, Swimming, Sampson Low, Marston and Co, London, 1904, p.362
Pearsall, Ronald, Life Saving, the Story of the Royal Life Saving Society, The First 100 Years, David &
Charles, London, 1991, p.14
iii
Thomas,Ibid, p. 65
iv
Besford, Pat, Encyclopaedia of Swimming, Hale, London, p.112
v
Thomas, Ibid, p.403
vi
Dalton,Captain Davis, How To Swim, The Knickbocker Press, New York, 1901, p.105
vii
Handley, L. De.B., Swimming and Watermanship, The MacMillan Company, New York, 1918, p.103
viii
Walker, Harry, Something has gone wrong with the game, Swimming Times, October 1969, p.490
ix
Sachs, Frank, The Complete Swimmer, Metheun, London, 1912, Water Polo, p.151
x
Sinclair, Archibald and Henry, William, Swimming, the Badminton Library, Longman and Co,
London,1894, p. 259-310
xi
Sachs,Ibid, p.152
xiixii
Sinclair, Archibald, The Game of Water of Water Polo, It’s Origin and Development, The Swimming
Magazine, October 1904, p.6
xiii
Besford, Pat, Encyclopaedia of Swimming, Hale, London, p.232
xiv
Besford, Ibid, p.232
xv
Juba, Kelvin, All About Water Polo, Pelham Books, London, 1970, p. 17
xvi
Sinclair, Ibid, The Swimmer Magazine, October 1904, p, 6
xvii
Sinclair, Archibald, Ibid, The Game of Water of Water Polo, It’s Origin and Development, The
Swimming Magazine, October 1914, p.6
xviii
Amateur Swimming Association Handbook, 1898, p.71
xix
Thomas, Ibid, p.418
xx
Sinclair, Ibid, The Swimming Magazine, October 1914, p,17
xxi
Cambridge University Water Polo Varsity Match History Web Site
xxii
Sinclair, Archibald and Henry, William, Swimming, the Badminton Library, Longman and Co,
London,1894, p. 300-303
xxiii
Sinclair and Henry, Ibid, p.300-303
xxiv
Ibid, p,19
xxv
Ibid, p.19
xxvi
Amateur Swimming Association Handbook, 1908, p. 116
xxvii
Sachs, Frank, The Complete Swimmer, Metheun, London, 1912, Water Polo, p.156,
xxviii
Smith, Captain James R., A History of the Game of Water Polo, Swimming Technique Magazine,
October 1964, Section 1, p.58-9
xxix
Wigo, Bruce, Swimming Hall of Fame Yearbook 2007, Water Polo
xxx
Wigo, Bruce, Swimming Hall of Fame Yearbook 2007, Water Polo
xxxi
Wigo,Ibid, p.3
xxxii
Swimming Hall of Fame Year Book, 1968, History and Development Of Water Polo
xxxiii
The Swimming Magazine, Letter by S E Dean, (written March 27th 1915), Vancouver, British
Columbia, April 1915, p.12
xxxiv
The Swimming Magazine, April 1915, p.24
xxxv
Veto, Jozsef, Sports In Hungary, Corina Press, Section 6, p.69
xxxvi
Ibid,Swimming Hall of Fame Yearbook, 1968
xxxvii
Smith, James R., The World Encyclopaedia of Water Polo, Olive Press, Los Olivos, California, 1989,
p.272
xxxviii
Smith, Ibid, p. 275
xxxix
Smith, Ibid, p.282
xl
Smith, Ibid, p. 282
xli
Beneck, Bruno, E nuotando nuotando quasi un secolo passo, Federazione Italiana Nuoto, Roma, 1990,
p.312
xlii
Smith, Ibid, p. 294
xliii
Smith,Ibid, p. 310
ii
Page 127
xliv
Smith, Ibid, p. 310
Wallechinsky, David, The Complete Book of the Olympics, 2004, Aurum Press, Chapter 8, Water Polo,
p.179
xlvi
Sinclair, Ibid, The Swimming Magazine, October 1914, p,19
xlvii
Wallenchinsky, Ibid, p.179
xlviii
Official Olympic Report, 1908, p. 311
xlix
Amateur Swimming Association Handbook, 1909, p. 122
l
Amateur Swimmming Association Handbook, 1913, p. 146
li
Wallenchinsky,Ibid, p.180
lii
Amateur Swimming Association Handbook, 1921, p.193
liii
Amateur Swimming Association Handbook, Ibid, p.194
liv
Wigo, Ibid, p.8
lv
Dawson Buck, An Era to remember, Weissnmller to Spitz, The First 21 Years of the International
Swimming Hall of Fame, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 1986, p.112
lvi
Official Olympic Report, 1924, p. 441 and 443
lvii
Official Olympic Report, Ibid, p.489
lviiilviii
Wallenchinsky, Ibid, p. 181
lix
Official Olympic Report, 1936, Ibid, p. 984
lx
Official Olympic Report, Ibid, p. 994
lxi
Wigo,Ibid, p.17
lxii
Juba, Ibid, p. 28
lxiii
lxiv
Ibid, p. 451
lxv
lxvi
Ibid, Official Report, 1952, p. 565
lxvii
Ibid, p. 565
lxviii
Wallenchinsky, Ibid, p. 183
lxixlxix
lxx
Wallechinsky, Ibid, p. 183
lxxi
Official Olympic Report, Tokyo, 1964, p. 451
lxxii
Ibid, Tokyo, 1968, p. 451
lxxiii
Wallenchinsky, Ibid, p.184
lxxiv
Swimming Hall of Fame Yearbook 2006, p.15
lxxv
Official Olympic Report, Barcelona,1992, p. 248
lxxvi
Official Olympic Report, Atlanta, 1996, p. 287
lxxvii
Atlanta, Ibid, p.288
lxxviii
Smith,Ibid, p.414
lxxix
Zwemmen’N Eeuwig Feest, 100 Jaar, Utrecht, p.199
lxxx
Official Olympic Report, Sydney, 2000, p.154
lxxxi
Official Olympic Report, Sydney, 2000, p.151
lxxxii
Wigo, Bruce, A History of USA Water Polo in the Olympic Games, Orange County, 1996, p.1
lxxxiii
FINA Handbook, 2002=5, Water Polo Rules, p.203-4
lxxxiv
Shephard, Captain D., Water Polo, the Game and the Rules Explained, Chapman ad Hall’s, 1930,
p.4
lxxxv
LEN Minutes, 5th April 1930, article 18
lxxxvi
LEN Minutes, August 7th 1936, Sportforum, Berlin
lxxxvii
LEN Minutes, June 7th 1963, Lausanne, no.5
lxxxviii
LEN Minutes, June 7th 1964, Zurich, no.6
xlv
Page 128

A Short History of Water Polo By Kelvin Juba

Transcription

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