Sports. Honestly. Since 2011

Hidden Sport of the World: Water Polo

Here at Last Word On Sports, we cover virtually every professional sport around the world that can be talked about, from popular sports of football and hockey to the less well known ones in North America, such as rugby and cricket. But there is one sport that doesn’t get much, if any coverage here and even around the world but  still is one of the toughest and most enjoyable team sports to play; water polo.

Where I grew up, we have privately owned community pools, about one every squared kilometer, that consist of four aquatic disciplines that compete with other outdoor pools in the suburban Montreal area on a weekly basis over the course of the summer. The four sports are water polo, competitive swimming, diving and synchro. The former three sports compete with one other pool every week in different age categories & sexes, with championships at the end of the summer. Water polo games would be on Monday nights with four games; 14-under girls then boys and 16-under girls then boys.

When I was dragged into the pool’s team back in the summer of 2009, I barely knew anything about the sport and frankly no one at the pool really cared what happened on those Monday nights. Since then, the sport has grown inside our neighborhood, registration for the more competitive winter leagues at the municipal pool is growing rapidly and now almost every kid at Westminster Pool wants to play water polo. Plus on game nights, everyone at the pool shows up to watch the “Crocs” compete, unlike five years ago.

Sunday night, I was watching our boys compete for the gold medal in the annual regional tournament at the indoor pool with a raucous crowd filling every seat at the aquatics center. I played in the final last year as the goalie and we were playing some of the best water polo players in the country but we kept the score close and everyone in the crowd was on their feet chanting. I  wasn’t able to yell to my team mates and it was similar this past Sunday when I couldn’t talk to my former team mate sitting right next to me.

If it could get that loud for an amateur summer polo game in a small town in Quebec, where else in the world can it get so boisterous for a game with most of its physical action under water, invisible to an average fan?

In Eastern Europe, the sport is extremely popular and can be considered as the national sport in some countries like Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Hungary, along with hockey-mad Russia. Other soccer-loving countries in Western Europe such as Italy, Germany, Greece and Spain also provide talented competition for international tournaments but is not as popular with the people in their countries. The talent level outside of Europe essentially seizes to exist, except for Canada, United States and Australia, three of the only five countries outside of Europe that have finished on the podium at an international event.

There are three major world-wide tournaments for water polo that are not included in the Olympics or continental sports gatherings such as the Pan-Am games; the biannual Aquatic World Championships in which water polo is a discipline, FINA Water Polo World Cup held every four years and the World Water Polo League, held every year during the winter months.

The Serbians and Hungarians are perennial powerhouses in these events with Serbia being the most successful at 16 golds, 5 silver and 7 bronze in all combined showcases. Hungary is right behind them with a medal record of 8-13-4. Italy is the Western European team with the most golds & medals with 4 championships, 7 runner-ups and 4 third-place game victories. USA tops the list for countries outside of Europe with 2 golds, 3 silvers and 1 bronze.

The European Water Polo Championship held every other year, is the largest continental water polo championship. Hungary has the most medals with 12 golds, 6 silver and 5 bronze followed by arch-rivals Serbia with 6 G, 9 S, 5 B. There is some argument with that one as Serbia holds the titles from both Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro in the past, before being split off into independent countries. Russia/Soviet Union (5-3-3), Italy (3-2-6) and Germany (2-4-3) round off the top 5 for the countries with the most podium appearances in the tournament.

The LEN Champions League is also held every year since 1964, combining club teams from European countries in one large tournament to determine the best team in Europe. Italian club Pro Recco from Serie A1 has played in the final 13 times, the most and has won 7 times, tied for number one. They are considered the Manchester United, Juventus or Real Madrid of water polo. HAVK Mladost of the Croatian First League also has 7 titles but lost in the final only 4 times. The last team with 7 championships is Serbian’s Water Polo League A club Partizan who were drowned in the big game 3 times.

In total, Croatian and Italian clubs have appeared in the finals 20 times each but Croatia has one more win. Serbia (9 wins, 14 finals)and Hungary (6 wins, 15 finals) also send over very strong organizations.

While all this is happening in Europe, in North America the game is getting very much stronger and more popular exemplified by the US Women’s national team winning gold at the 2012 Olympics. NCAA has a national tournament every year for participating colleges and it includes both men’s and women’s competitions.

Only time will tell to just how big the sport may become around the world, but for now, as strong European men and women battle it out in what’s considered one of the most physical sports in the world, I can relax and watch my community cheer their hearts out for the boys and girls playing our favourite summer sport; water polo.

 

Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @LWOSNick. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and @LWOSworld and “liking” our Facebook page

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Main Photo Credit Frank Caracciolo, used with Permission, All Rights Reserved.

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