Water polo - from a clueless layman's point of view

A Boys' High First Team player about to pass

I have been acquainted with water polo for many years, what with my brother, Neil, being a very successful coach. But it has never been more than a passing acquaintance – watching a game here and a game there; occasional tales – of victories and losses – enthusiastically recounted by Neil.

The joke goes that the Irish water polo team drowned four horses during their first ever match (insert laughter here.) But it’s not that kind of polo. Horses don’t feature. Neither do saddles, mallets or little white balls.

Simply put, water polo is very similar to soccer – apart from it being played in a swimming pool, rather than on a pitch. And the fact that it has seven players rather than 11; and involves dribbling, passing and shooting the ball with one’s hands rather than one’s feet; and has four “chukkas” (periods) rather than two; and is much faster-paced; and allows for rolling substitutions from the squad of 13; and involves no ‘diving’. And … In fact, it turns out it has very little in common with soccer apart from the same aim – to get the ball as close to the opposition goal as possible and to score more than the other team. Simple.

I don’t have the space to go into the intricacies of the game, here:  It’s an exciting, fast, physically demanding contact sport (yes, contact sport – why do you think the players wear those funky caps?) requiring phenomenal fitness and high skill levels. Holding onto an opponent under water, pushing, eye-gouging and hitting are common. Do yourself a favour and go and read “Blood in the water: Hungary’s 1956 water polo gold“.

On Saturday I found myself at a ‘polo tournament between my old school Pretoria Boys’ High (PBHS) and long-time rivals Affies – Boys’ High’s Afrikaans brother-school across the railway line. I know Boys’ High won most of the games, including the first team game, but I don’t remember any of the scores – I was having too much fun to take notice. Here’s my odd (layman’s) take on the sport.

The butt of everyone's jokes. A Boys' High player about to take to the pool.

"Come on! Are you sleeping out there? Pass!" ... "Coach is hilarious, don't you think? Almost as hilarious as our headgear." ... "Ja."

"Backhand" ... "Slap" ... "Backhand" ... "Slap" ... "We could do this all day, but we've got a game to play here."

"I'm trying to swim but I just can't seem to shake this 'blerrie' ball! Talk about slowing a guy down!"

"I really do like you, seriously, bro. In a man-hug, brotherly love kinda way." ... "Ja, okay, but watch out that no-one sees us. We're meant to be opponents here."

"Oh Lord, I come before you to ask for absolution before the fact. Please forgive me as I dunk this pesky opposition striker. Amen."

"Right everyone. Pretend you're a washing machine. Now thrash those arms and legs about. Come on, number 13, don't quit now, we're just getting started!"

"Booooooooring! When can we play?"

"May the force be with me! Score, you will not, evil Darth clones!"

"Me, me, me. Pass to me." ... "No, no, pass to me ... Okay, any time now ... I'm sinking here."

"Don't tell anyone, but in my spare time I do ice sculptures. Impressive, no?"

"Deep breaths boys, deep breaths." What would the game be without supporters?

"Right guys, every time the opposition gets the ball we're going to try to put them off... And ... lean right and scream as loudly as you can. Get ready. Get ready. Next, we're going left."

Considering the fact that this was the first time I was photographing water polo, and that I didn’t have a polarising filter, I was quite happy with the results. There are more from the day on my flickr page.

 

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