Information

[the deacon]

Guys,
What about New Zealand? Was there any canoe polo activity during the years prior to the unification of the ICF Rules in 1992.
As there was a certain amount of activity in nearby Australia, I tend to believe that something of the same extent must have been going on also in your country.
Is there anyone out there who could help me in this quest?
Thanks!

[Mich B]

ARRIVAL IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealanders on their overseas experience in Europe in the 1960’s bought canoe polo back with them. The Scouting Association of New Zealand saw the game and bought instructors over from Britain to teach to boy scouts in New Zealand. This practice continued for twenty years after which a large group of boys had been introduced to the sport and were keen to see it develop. This started the first local competitions in New Zealand in Christchurch in 1986 (Troy Lipsham, Personal communication, 3/9/2004). In 1986 the competition was a social event and run as an introduction, it was not regarded as the first official year of competition, which was in 1987. The University of Canterbury Canoe Club ran the introduction competition as canoe polo was seen as a way for their river paddlers to maintain fitness and paddling ability in the off season. Christchurch teams dominated the early years of canoe polo as they had the facilities and had a large base of players to make selections from. In 1988 Topsport, a manufacturer of kayaks and kayak clothing took over the organisation of the competition as they pushed for canoe polo to become commercialised. This resulted in canoe polo growing so that competition grades had to be held over five nights a week. In 1990 this had grown to nine nights a week, meaning that more than one grade was played each night, with more than 100 teams and over 700 players. The boom in the sport occurred across New Zealand and is attributed to the large gain in popularity of kayaking that was sparked by triathlons, slalom events and white water paddling (The Christchurch Press, 1988). In New Zealand in 1996 not many players were affiliated to canoe polo as they were joined to the New Zealand Canoe Association via slalom, white water or flat water clubs. This is because many of the early participants were already involved in canoe sports and started playing canoe polo to keep fit in the winter months.

In 1990 and 1991 the North Island was in a period of introduction and development, much like the process Christchurch went through three years earlier. Up until, and including 1990, no canoe polo practices were held as the sport was seen as a practice in itself for white water paddlers. 1991 saw the introduction of canoe polo practices as the sport had developed in its own right. Canoe polo evolved into a winter sport, as this is the off-season for many canoe disciplines such as white water racing and slalom. Many small town locations in New Zealand, such as Nelson and Blenheim, had suitable outdoor venues to host canoe polo but because bigger centres, Christchurch and Auckland, had indoor facilities canoe polo remained a winter sport. Those players that were in favour of canoe polo becoming a summer sport were unable to play in the winter so dropped out of the sport and thus the push polo becoming a summer sport grew weaker.

[Kris]

I remember seeing polo played in PN at the Lido each Labour weekend (October) after the annual slalom. This was in the late 70's.
I also played a "game" of polo in 1978 on the Hamilton lake. We played in glass river boats - Olymp 6's I think. I put a guy in hospital on the charge start when I hit him square in the chest with the front of my (river) boat!
Through the 80's Ian Russell did a lot of work to get polo started on a national basis.
Cheers
Kris

[DeanM]

I first played polo in 1988 in Masterton's 25m indoor pool. It was organised by the Wairarapa Canoe Club (mainly Hugh McLeary I think). We used combatts, helmets without face masks, I think we had 4 players on the water, and the ball was a fairly lightweight volleyball - serious curve balls were achievable, even if you didn't really know how to throw!

A big part of the fun was standing on the edge of the pool watching while other teams played and dive bombing into the middle of the game to rescue people who keeled over and at the same time trying to splash as many spectators as possible.

In Masterton, school teams were practicing in 1990, and possibly the year before. When the 1990 Australian Junior tour came through it provided a big lift to the sport in the area as well. There was a 1990 Secondary School "Nationals" (involving only North Island teams I think) held in Palmerston North's outdoor pool, and another Secondary Nationals in 1991 held in Masterton (again without South Islanders, apart from Troy Lipsham who if I recall correctly came up to referee and provide some coaching advice).

[the deacon]

Guys,
Any chance of getting names of the top Kiwi male & female athletes who excelled in these last few years? And the names of the clubs that they belonged to?
Also is it possible to get one photo of Kiwi canoe polo before 1992?
and all ASAP?
Thanks!

[James]

Guys,
Any chance of getting names of the top Kiwi male & female athletes who excelled in these last few years? And the names of the clubs that they belonged to?
Also is it possible to get one photo of Kiwi canoe polo before 1992?
and all ASAP?
Thanks!

Do you last few years 2000-2005 or pre 1992?

[the deacon]

Both would be terrific, any of the two periods would also be nice
Adding a pre-1992 foto would be just
F :thumbup: A :thumbup: N :thumbup: T :thumbup: A :thumbup: S :thumbup: T:thumbup: I :thumbup: C

QUOTE=James]Do you last few years 2000-2005 or pre 1992?[/QUOTE]