Water Polo
Created | Updated Feb 8, 2002
I never really knew much about water polo and, although I am not a sports fan, I recently attended a water polo match out of curiosity, I found it to be exciting, fast paced and overall quite entertaining. As entertained as I was I still had no clue as to how the game was played. I did some research and decided to share my findings.
Although there have been variations of water polo since about 1870 the game never really became organized until the mid 1880's in England, The London Water Polo League was instituted in 1888 and in 1900 the game became an Olympic event. Until the 1920's the US played water polo with slight variations of the rules. A semi-deflated ball was used (as opposed to a fully inflated ball) and there was much more violence. Eventually the US started following the same rules as the rest of the world.
PLAYING FIELD AND EQUITMENT-
Water polo may be played indoors or outdoors in a pool or open water (such as a lake) with two floating goals and boundary lines. The size of the pool, or "bath," may vary. The length from end to end must be between 20 and 30 yd. and the width must be between 8 and 25 yd. In regulation games the water must be at least 6 ft. deep. The goal nets or cages are located at either end and are 10 ft. wide, 3 ft. above the water's surface and stick out one foot from the end of the pool. Markers along the side of the pool mark the two and the four-yard marks from either end of the pool.
PLAYERS AND OFFICIALS-
The players consist of two teams of seven, one goalie, three backs and three forwards. All players wear numbered caps. One team wears blue and the other white. Both goalies wear red. The goalie is number one, the halfback is number four, etc. Up to four substitutes are allowed.
There are either one or two referees who stand on the sides of the pool. The referees carry a stick with a white flag on one end and a blue flag on the other. When a foul occurs the referee will blow his/her whistle and point the stick towards the area where the foul was committed, the referee will hold out the end with the color representing the team the foul was committed against. Two goal judges sit at the goal lines to determine when a point has been scored. A timekeeper will keep track of the time left in play as well as the shot clock.
PLAY-
There are four six-minute periods with two minutes of rest in-between. At the beginning of a game the six field players line up at the two yard line in front o the goal with at least one yard of space between each player. The referee will toss the ball into the center of the pool and the players will try to get possession of the ball. Once a player has possession of the ball the player's team has 35 seconds to attempt a goal. If the player succeeds in throwing the ball between the goal posts and under the crossbar then his team gets a point. At the end of the fourth period the team with the most points wins.
Although there have been variations of water polo since about 1870 the game never really became organized until the mid 1880's in England, The London Water Polo League was instituted in 1888 and in 1900 the game became an Olympic event. Until the 1920's the US played water polo with slight variations of the rules. A semi-deflated ball was used (as opposed to a fully inflated ball) and there was much more violence. Eventually the US started following the same rules as the rest of the world.
PLAYING FIELD AND EQUITMENT-
Water polo may be played indoors or outdoors in a pool or open water (such as a lake) with two floating goals and boundary lines. The size of the pool, or "bath," may vary. The length from end to end must be between 20 and 30 yd. and the width must be between 8 and 25 yd. In regulation games the water must be at least 6 ft. deep. The goal nets or cages are located at either end and are 10 ft. wide, 3 ft. above the water's surface and stick out one foot from the end of the pool. Markers along the side of the pool mark the two and the four-yard marks from either end of the pool.
PLAYERS AND OFFICIALS-
The players consist of two teams of seven, one goalie, three backs and three forwards. All players wear numbered caps. One team wears blue and the other white. Both goalies wear red. The goalie is number one, the halfback is number four, etc. Up to four substitutes are allowed.
There are either one or two referees who stand on the sides of the pool. The referees carry a stick with a white flag on one end and a blue flag on the other. When a foul occurs the referee will blow his/her whistle and point the stick towards the area where the foul was committed, the referee will hold out the end with the color representing the team the foul was committed against. Two goal judges sit at the goal lines to determine when a point has been scored. A timekeeper will keep track of the time left in play as well as the shot clock.
PLAY-
There are four six-minute periods with two minutes of rest in-between. At the beginning of a game the six field players line up at the two yard line in front o the goal with at least one yard of space between each player. The referee will toss the ball into the center of the pool and the players will try to get possession of the ball. Once a player has possession of the ball the player's team has 35 seconds to attempt a goal. If the player succeeds in throwing the ball between the goal posts and under the crossbar then his team gets a point. At the end of the fourth period the team with the most points wins.
