Underwater football is a two-team
underwater sport
Underwater sports is a group of competitive sports using one or a combination of the following underwater diving techniques - breath-hold, snorkelling or scuba, usually including the use of equipment such as diving masks and fins. These sports ...
that shares common elements with
underwater hockey and
underwater rugby. As with both of those games, it is played in a
swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
with
snorkeling equipment (
mask,
snorkel, and
fins).
The goal of the game is to
manoeuvre (by
carrying and
passing Passing may refer to:
Social identity
* Passing (sociology), presenting oneself as a member of another sociological group
** Passing (gender), presenting oneself as being cisgender
** Passing (racial identity), presenting oneself as a member ...
) a slightly
negatively buoyant ball
A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several 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 f ...
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.
It is played in the Canadian provinces of
Alberta,
Manitoba,
Newfoundland and Labrador and
Saskatchewan.
Origins
Underwater football was developed in the 1960s by Dave Murdoch, a scuba diving instructor who was teaching in the
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.
Rules
Several ball types have been used throughout the game's history. These include a 10-
pound
Pound or Pounds may refer to:
Units
* Pound (currency), a unit of currency
* Pound sterling, the official currency of the United Kingdom
* Pound (mass), a unit of mass
* Pound (force), a unit of force
* Rail pound, in rail profile
Symbols
* Po ...
pool brick, a junior sized
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
-style
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
, and a junior sized basketball, all with negative buoyancy.
Pneumatic
Pneumatics (from Greek ‘wind, breath’) is a branch of engineering that makes use of gas or pressurized air.
Pneumatic systems used in Industrial sector, industry are commonly powered by compressed air or compressed inert gases. A central ...
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, 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 player 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 same 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
metres wide (32
ft), long, and deep.
A match has two 20-minute rounds, and a
half-time of 5 minutes.
Governing body
The
governing body is the Manitoba Underwater Council, which supports competition by providing insurance required for the hire of swimming pools as well as sponsoring the cost of hire.
See also
*
*
References
External links
Underwater Football Canada SiteUnderwater Football Game playUnderwater Football Official RulesWhat Is Underwater Football?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Underwater football
Underwater sports
Freediving
Team sports
Sports originating in Canada
Football codes