 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Underwater football" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(May 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 Underwater football match involvingUnited States Navy personnel inPanama City, Florida on June 3, 2011 | |
| Highestgoverning body | Manitoba Underwater Council |
|---|---|
| First played | 1967[citation needed],University of Manitoba,Canada |
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | yes |
| Team members | 13 (5 in play) |
| Type | Aquatic |
| Equipment | diving mask,snorkel,fins andwater polo cap |
| Venue | Swimming pool |
Underwater football is a two-teamunderwater sport that shares common elements withunderwater hockey andunderwater rugby. As with both of those games, it is played in aswimming pool withsnorkeling equipment (mask,snorkel, andfins).
The goal of the game is tomanoeuvre (bycarrying andpassing) a slightlynegatively buoyantball from one side of a pool to the other by players who are completely submergedunderwater.Scoring is achieved by placing the ball (under control) in thegutter 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 ofAlberta,Manitoba,Newfoundland and Labrador andSaskatchewan.[1]
Underwater football was developed in the 1960s by Dave Murdoch, a scuba diving instructor who was teaching in theManitoba's Frank Kennedy Centre. The game developed from a "keep-away" training exercise that used a pool brick to develop the studentssnorkelling skills. It is still played there today.
Several ball types have been used throughout the game's history. These include a 10-pound pool brick, a junior sizedNFL-stylefootball, 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 towater 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 10metres wide (32ft), 15 metres (49 feet) long, and 4 metres (13 feet) deep.
A match has two 20-minute rounds, and ahalf-time of 5 minutes.
Thegoverning body is the Manitoba Underwater Council,[2] which supports competition by providing insurance required for the hire of swimming pools as well as sponsoring the cost of hire.[3][4]
