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Friday 12 April 2019

Water polo

Water polo is a game played in a swimming pool where the idea is to score goals like in soccer. An inflated ball is passed among the players, who must swim without touching the bottom of the pool.

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Two teams play a match each comprising six field players and one goalkeeper.

Each water polo match has four periods called quarters. The length of each period is usually between 5 to 8 minutes. Because the amount of time spent on fouls or out throws is not counted in the quarter time, an average quarter really lasts around 12 minutes.

Water polo was first developed in England with the intention of creating a new water sport. In 1869, patrons who had busied themselves with finding a new stimulus, conceived the idea of "football in water."

The rules of water polo in fact are based on those of soccer. England had been the first country in the world to make swimming a competitive sport and the first nation to build indoor pools. Now it became the first to combine football and swimming in the new game of water polo.


One of the earliest recorded viewings of water polo was conducted at the 4th Open Air Fete of the London Swimming Club, held at the Crystal Palace, London on September 15, 1873. It was held in the boating lake that still exists.

One of the first recorded games of water polo was played at Bournemouth, England on July 13, 1876.  The game of water ‘handball’ was played by 12 members of the Premier Rowing Club in the water near to the midpoint of Bournemouth Pier. It lasted for 15 minutes until the ball burst.

The first rules for water polo were established in 1877 by William Wilson, the First Baths Master of the Arlington Baths Club in Glasgow.

The Swimming Association of Great Britain recognized the game of water polo in 1885.

Water polo goalkeepers in the 1880s were allowed to stand on the pool deck and leap onto an opponent's head.

Men's water polo was among the first team sports introduced at the modern Olympic Games in 1900.

Water polo final at the 1908 Summer Olympics

After taking top scores in the qualifying examinations for medical school, Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming enrolled at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in Paddington, London in 1903. He'd had a choice of three to choose between. Knowing little about them, Fleming chose St. Mary's because he had played water polo against them.

Ernest Hemingway attended Oak Park and River Forest High School in Chicago between 1913 and 1917. He took part in a number of sports there including water polo.

The bloodiest Water Polo match in Olympic history took place in 1956. During the match between the Soviet Union and Hungary, one month after the Hungarian Revolution, there was fighting in the water. The authorities suspended the game after Hungarian player Ervin Zádor emerged during the last two minutes with blood pouring from above his eye after being punched by Soviet player Valentin Prokopov. It was the final straw for a crowd already in frenzy. 

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