Underwater Football
Encyclopedia
Underwater football is a two-team sport
that shares common elements of underwater hockey
and underwater rugby
. As with both of those games, it is played in a swimming pool
with snorkeling equipment (mask
, snorkel
, and fins
).
The goal of the game is to manoeuvre (by carry
ing and passing
) a slightly negatively buoyant
ball
from one side of a pool to the other by players who are completely submerged underwater
. Scoring
is achieved by placing the ball (under control) in the gutter
on the side of the pool.
Variations include using a toy rubber torpedo as the ball, and weighing down buckets to rest on the bottom and serve as goals.
instructor who was teaching in the University of Manitoba
's Frank Kennedy Centre. The game developed from a "keep-away" training exercise that used a pool brick to develop the students snorkelling skills. It is still played there today.
A similar game may have also been developed around the same time in England
by Benjamin Olsen. Olsen was a fan of American football
. He started to develop it with his friends during summer, and it became an attraction to them. It caught the attention of more people and it began to become popular.
The sport is similar to water polo
, but it is played most of the time underwater. Each player can go up to the surface to take air as many times needed, except when he has the football in his hand.
Like the traditional football, one players from each team manoeuvre the ball past their opponents to get to the ball to goal. Each team has 13 players, but only five players are on the court at one time. The player with the ball can swim with it or pass the ball to his team players. Meanwhile, the opponents will try to take the ball from the other player or intercept a pass.And at last the team which has the maximum scores will win.
The court is 10 metre
s wide (32 ft), 15 metres long (49.2 ft), and 4 meters deep (13 ft).
A match has two 20-minute rounds, and a half-time
of 5 minutes.
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
that shares common elements of underwater hockey
Underwater hockey
Underwater hockey is a global non-contact sport in which two teams compete to maneuver a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into goals.-Play:...
and underwater rugby
Underwater rugby
Underwater rugby is a sport that has its origin in the physical fitness training of German diving clubs and has little in common with rugby football except for the name....
. As with both of those games, it is played in a swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
with snorkeling equipment (mask
Mask
A mask is an article normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance or entertainment. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes...
, snorkel
Snorkeling
Snorkeling is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a wetsuit may also be worn...
, and fins
FINS
FINS is a network protocol used by Omron PLCs, over different physical networks like Ethernet, Controller Link, DeviceNet and RS-232C....
).
The goal of the game is to manoeuvre (by carry
Carry (American football)
In American football, a carry is a statistical term equivalent to a single rushing play. The term is typically used in reference to "yards per carry," meaning yards per attempt rushing the ball. Any offensive player who performs a carry is known as a ballcarrier, regardless of position....
ing and passing
Forward pass
In several forms of football a forward pass is when the ball is thrown in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line...
) a slightly negatively buoyant
Buoyancy
In physics, buoyancy is a force exerted by a fluid that opposes an object's weight. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus a column of fluid, or an object submerged in the fluid, experiences greater pressure at the bottom of the...
ball
Ball
A ball is a round, usually spherical but sometimes ovoid, object with various uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for simpler activities, such as catch, marbles and juggling...
from one side of a pool to the other by players who are completely submerged underwater
Underwater
Underwater is a term describing the realm below the surface of water where the water exists in a natural feature such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, or river. Three quarters of the planet Earth is covered by water...
. Scoring
Score (game)
In games, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points, and events in the game can raise or lower the score of different parties...
is achieved by placing the ball (under control) in the gutter
Gutter
panels of a comic strip or comic book page*Gutter , the space between panes of postage stamps that creates configurations of "gutter pairs" or "gutter blocks"*Gutter, in interface design, the blank spaces that separate rows and columns in screen...
on the side of the pool.
Variations include using a toy rubber torpedo as the ball, and weighing down buckets to rest on the bottom and serve as goals.
Origins
Underwater football developed in the 1960s by a scubaScuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
instructor who was teaching in the University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...
's Frank Kennedy Centre. The game developed from a "keep-away" training exercise that used a pool brick to develop the students snorkelling skills. It is still played there today.
A similar game may have also been developed around the same time in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
by Benjamin Olsen. Olsen was a fan of American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
. He started to develop it with his friends during summer, and it became an attraction to them. It caught the attention of more people and it began to become popular.
Rules
Several ball types have been used throughout the game's history. These include a 10-pound pool brick, a junior sized NFL-style football, and a junior sized basketball, all with negative buoyancy. Pneumatic balls (such as the football or basketball) can be made negatively buoyant by filling them with a liquid that is denser (heavier) than water instead of air, e.g. a strong saline solution or corn syrup.The sport is similar to water polo
Water polo
Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
, but it is played most of the time underwater. Each player can go up to the surface to take air as many times needed, except when he has the football in his hand.
Like the traditional football, one players from each team manoeuvre the ball past their opponents to get to the ball to goal. Each team has 13 players, but only five players are on the court at one time. The player with the ball can swim with it or pass the ball to his team players. Meanwhile, the opponents will try to take the ball from the other player or intercept a pass.And at last the team which has the maximum scores will win.
The court is 10 metre
Metre
The metre , symbol m, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units . Originally intended to be one ten-millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole , its definition has been periodically refined to reflect growing knowledge of metrology...
s wide (32 ft), 15 metres long (49.2 ft), and 4 meters deep (13 ft).
A match has two 20-minute rounds, and a half-time
Half-time
In some team sports such as association football and rugby, matches are played in two halves. Half-time is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match...
of 5 minutes.