Durban - Violence reared its ugly head once more - in and out of the water - at two water polo league matches in Durban this week following recent disclosures that a leading coach was being disciplined for “brutality” for attacking a player in the pool.
KwaZulu-Natal Water Polo Board chairman Chris Reardon confirmed on Thursday that he had received reports of “some incidents”.
“I cannot confirm anything until I have all the information. As with any such reports, they will be dealt with through our disciplinary processes,” he said.
He declined to be drawn on whether or not the board was concerned about the level of violence or whether there was any particular problem between any schools or coaches.
While the incidents happened at league matches, those teams were often mostly schoolboys.
One case of fisticuffs occurred at a Westville DPHS Dolphins club league match when an older Westville player allegedly held a young Dolphins player under water for too long.
The father of the young player came to blows with the Westville player after the match.
Glenwood Old Boys coach Steve La Marque confirmed on Thursday that there had been an “unnecessary incident” between one of his under-14 players and an older Durban High School Old Boy player in a third-division match at Northwood School.
He declined to go into the details.
But, according to a report from a witness, one player bit another in the pool. When they got out, the one who had been bitten slapped the other so hard he fell back into the pool.
La Marque said the behaviour during the incident “was not tolerated” and the Glenwood boy had been disciplined and was writing letters of apology.
He had also reported the incident to the provincial board.
“From our perspective this behaviour is diabolical and we do not endorse it. We believe that, in part, it can be attributed to refereeing standards and volatile coaching. It is down to management.”
La Marque denied that there was any bad blood between him and Durban High School Old Boy coach Jean le Roux - who is facing the disciplinary committee this weekend charged with “brutality”. He jumped into the pool during a league game and assaulted a Clifton Mackerels player, on his version, “in defence of three young players who were being assaulted”.
In a court application he made to uplift his suspension from the coaching or participation in the sport provincially or nationally, Le Roux - who is also Durban High School’s head water polo coach - alleged that La Marque and other school coaches wanted him out of the way because they were jealous of his success.
La Marque said that was nonsense.
“We have no axe to grind with DHS. We have a good relationship. Any issues with Le Roux have nothing to do with the school.”
He said it was in the interests of the sport to have “good, strong teams” and he was “happy that Jean is there”.
Approached for comment, DHS headmaster Leon Erasmus stressed that the incident had occurred at “club league” level and had nothing to do with the school.
“The club is dealing with it,” he said.
Dark arts laid bare
Players sharpening their toenails into spikes, pushing, shoving and even biting are not uncommon in water polo.
Violence in the physically demanding sport, which was started in Britain in the 1800s, is widely documented.
The most violent match in history, a 1956 clash between Hungary and the Soviet Union at the Melbourne Olympics, is known as ‘Blood in the Water’. The antics by the opposing teams were politically motivated as the Soviet Union had sent troops to Hungary to deal with an uprising.
In a 2004 article in the Washington Post players commented that ‘anything goes’ in water polo and most of the violent antics occur under water - out of sight of the referee.
In a 2013 paper from the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s school of physiotherapy, optometry and sports science, water polo was described as a sport with ‘a high degree of aggression and direct physical contact among opposing players’.
The study, which looked at musculoskeletal pain among competitive male adolescent water polo players, found they experienced a high prevalence of shoulder, knee and vertebrae pain related to the sport.
The Mercury