Liverpool University Canoe Club

CANOE POLO - Basic Rules -

You will find there are many things the referees will blow you up for in a game and you will probably have no idea what it is you are doing wrong…don’t worry, most offences in polo are only worth a whistle and the opposition gets the ball so you wont get in trouble unless u start battering someone repetitively with your blades. Just look which way the referees signal is pointing. If they are pointing at our goaly, leave the ball and start defending. If they are pointing at their goaly then lets get a few goals past them!!

Right…

• 5 players allowed on the flat water pitch at anyone time ( including during the substitution, so do not cross the line with any part of you or your boat before the one you are subbing for has themselves fully crossed that line! )
• 8 players allowed on the water, so 5 on the pitch, 3 subs behind the goal line.
• There are rolling subs played, which means you can go on and off as many times as needs be during one match. Not like in a football match when, once your off, your off.
• Subs are mainly used to give people a minute or so rest during the game. You will know yourself when you are feeling like your tiring and your arms cant paddle any longer, so be the team player and sub off for some fresh arms coz they will be able to do a better job at the end of the day!!
• DO NOT sub off if the opposition are shooting at our goal! As this will leave 5 off them attacking a team of 4 of us and they will probably score! Just wait until we have cleared the ball and go for it!
• CARDS: Green = warning (2 x green = yellow)

   Yellow = off for 2 mins

   Red = get off

• Match duration can vary from 6 mins a half, to 10 mins a half. 2 mins at half time. Doesn’t sound very long at first but if your paddleing flat out for 20 mins you should be doing a lot of subbing!!
• POSITIONS – anyone can play anywhere!! There will be a nominated goaly but they can and should paddle around too and help with both attacking and defending if they are in the right place at the right time. Other players should stand in for the goaly if he/she cannot get back to the goal in time for what ever reason, eg, quick possession turn over. Etc etc.

o       The goaly will sit under the goal with their paddle on one end to defend the goal which is 6ft in the air, conveniently the height of a paddle at full arms stretch! As their paddle is not in the water the goaly has very little control of where they are positioned, for this reason NO ONE can touch the goaly. This is an obstruction. If the goaly gets even the slightest touch they will just get pushed out of position and therefore have very little chance of saving any goals!

o       Although you will not get pulled up by the ref for touching your own goaly expect a good yell from your goaly as far as they are concerned it doesn’t matter who touches them, they are still out of position. This will all be explained when you are beign told about defending etc and will get easier with time as you are more aware of positions on the pitch.

These rules may seem very complicated for any freshers but hopefully they will shed a little light for those of us who have been playing for a while but still don’t get a few things…don’t worry if they seem like gobblydygook for now, hopefully after a few games you can make more sense of them!

To start the match:

• our 5 players line up under our goal with the back tips of everyones boat touching the goal line
• The ball will be thrown in to the middle of the pitch on a start whistle…
• …one player is nominated to “do the sprint” which basically means paddleing as fast as possible to get that ball as soon as the whistle goes. The opposition will be doing exactly the same from the other end of the pitch so the aim is to get the ball before they do.
• There will be our sprinter heading for the ball, and one other player following, not too closely, so that when we win the sprint there is another player there for the sprinter to pass the ball to and start an attack.
• If we loose the sprint there will be 2 players (the one sprinting and the other player) who will be pretty much on the half way line, so when the opposition begin passing the ball, these 2 players need to try to stick on that ball and mark up the player that is likely to have the ball thrown to them. Don’t worry if you don’t make it to the ball or the player because, believe me, with you trying to get their or even just being anywhere near them it will make a massive difference and the pressure on the opposition will hopefully make them f**k up anyway and you will be in the perfect position to pick up that ball they have just dropped! Cunning I hear you cry!

There will be many the tactic overloaded in to your heads in pool sessions no doubt so I wont worry about them here!!

A lot of polo is about quick thinking and quick acting, so you will probably feel like shouting, “but you just told me to do that and now you’re saying do this…”… and your probably exactly right, so get on with it!!  Nah, its because the game changes so quickly, if you have been told to get on a player one second, a few seconds later there maybe another player creating danger that will need your attention etc etc!! keeping alert of the whole pitch is a hard thing to do so communication is always important, if someone is yelling one thing and someone else another, then just choose which thing you are going to do, or if you can see a better option of your own then do that, try not to do them all and get confused!!

Aggression and subtle fouling are all the craze but its always a good idea to know what the fouls are in the first place before we perfect the subtle paddle to the neck disguised as a simple forward paddle stroke!…

• Most important rule, PUSHING IS ALLOWED! So bin any member of the opposition if they have the ball. And only if they have the ball. This is easier said than done. Similarly if you have the ball try to avoid allowing someone to paddle up next to you and push u in…put the ball in the water next to u and turn away from the player, or just lean back slightly and resist the inevitable. Leaning back and slightly in to the opposition is very effective way of making yourself more stable.

ONE TIP – if you do push someone in, there is a reason for it, TO GET THE BALL. So, girls especially, don’t hang around pretending you’re sorry for pushing some poor freezing fresher in to the icy Liverpool docks on a subarctic December afternoon…just go and get the goddam ball and hopefully their team mates will run to comfort them, which, as far as we are concerned is a 2 birds with one stone scenario as this will take out at least 2 of their players, giving us a 5 on 3 advantage situation! Fantastic!

• PADDLE FOUL is probably the most common foul. DO NOT try to get the ball with your paddle while someone else is getting the ball with their bare hands. Its an unfair battle and extremely painful if its your hands in their. Best advice, take an extra paddle stroke so you are close enough to use your hands instead, then you can either grab the ball from them, get locked in a pulling fight over the ball, (next bullet point) or yeah, just push ‘em in!

·   Paddle foul cont…general rule is no paddle allowed within 1m of the opposition while they are playing the ball. This usually happens when a player is trying to block a pass too closely, especially if the pass is a shot! As long as no contact is made with your paddle this usually goes unnoticed, just be careful…If it is you taking the pass however and some one has a paddle in your face you CAN grab their paddle hold it out of the way and then throw the ball, or hold the ball out so it touches their paddle and shout paddle foul.

·   DO NOT block a pass/shot with your paddle if you are behind the player passing/shooting as this is almost inevitably a paddle foul.

• REFS BALL – if you and the opposition player both have a good grip on the ball with 1 or 2 hands but not getting anywhere with it then the ref will restart  the ball…The ref will explain where you must sit and where your paddles must be when he calls this…you will be 1m apart and the ball will be thrown between you and the opposition player…you must grab it before the other one does. Paddles are on the far side of your boat so hands only. Then play resumes as normal.

• DO NOT mount the opposition! You can sit on their boat by all means as long as it is not on their cock pit! If you are sat on their spray deck and continue to paddle/drive in to their spray deck, it is a foul! It is also very painful as the deck does not offer any protection, so just stop paddling! YOU CAN paddle hard in to a tackle and “end up” sat on their cock pit, in which case, just put your paddle down or in the air and put your hands up to show you are not still paddling! Then fight for the ball with your hands!
• YOU CAN and are definitely encouraged however to continue paddling and driving as hard as possible in to any other part of the boat providing you are not hitting them at a right angle! The nose of their boat being the place to aim for with this as it will turn them as well as slow them down, the harder you paddle the quicker you turn them therefore the quicker the danger is prevented. This is not meant to inflict injury!
• Very important to NOT hit the oppositions boat at a right angle to your own.

                  Little tip – if you are defending our goal, as a player paddles towards you dip the nose of your boat and put in a strong forward paddle stroke to try to get your nose under their boat. If you can get them on top of u then they are easier to push around, or u can just leave them stuck on your boat while u deal with someone else! Just don’t let them shoot what ever you do!! You may have stopped them moving but they still have dangerous arms waiting for that ball!

• NO LEANING – do not gain support from the opposition… body, boat or blades. This includes leaning with your body on to their boat, or if you push off their boat with your paddle in a support stroke, this is all seen as gaining support off the opposition to our advantage. For example if you knock yourself off balance and are about to have to roll, using their boat as support will give you a good advantage as you wont have to roll!…if you do gain support the ref will give them the ball anyway which is a big no no, SO JUST ROLL and don’t be a pussy! This can be forgiven in the case of extreme cold!
• If however you are pushed by the opposition and there is another player, either ours or theirs on the other side, you can gain support from them, and keep the ball as you CAN NOT push on to another boat, or wall, if your playing in a pool for obvious reasons relating to safety. I think you are allowed to push on to floating side ropes however be aware they may get tangled up in the rope so you may wana consider having to rescue them!

• One more rule is the obstruction rule which has a few complicated versions, hard to notice but easy to do on the sly!! haha! Seriously though, expect a paddle to the face if you keep doing this as it is probably the most annoying thing someone can do on the pitch. It basically involves blocking someones path when they don’t have the ball. You can be either just paddling back to their goal to defend, or paddling on to a ball that is maybe half a pitch away from you…but if they stop you from getting where you want to go, providing your not both battling for the ball, this is obstruction, so just shout it so the ref notices.

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  • Another obstruction is if you are battling with one other player to get to the ball and they are paddling against you to prevent you getting the ball all is well until a different player from their team then just paddles up and takes the ball that you have been fighting over. This is then an obstruction, as it is seen as them holding you off the ball in order for their team mate to come in and take it.
  • Another obstruction is touching the goaly, explained at the beginning!

• There are a few other rules which will become obvious when playing but I think I have included the main ones here. Don’t worry if you don’t understand them yet! As I say, after a few games they should make a bit more sense, especially this last one!.