Underwater sports
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Underwater sports include a range of sports, mostly involving the use of swimfins and often including some element of breath-hold, snorkelling or scuba. The governance of these sports involves some controversies.
Some sports here are related to some events in sports lifesaving.
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[edit] Underwater sports
Underwater sports are typically considered to include:
- Sub-aqua diving (also known as scuba)
- Finswimming
- Underwater hockey (more commonly known as Octopush)
- Underwater rugby
- Underwater orienteering[1][2], combining Orienteering, Scuba diving and Finswimming.
- Underwater target shooting[3]
- Spearfishing
- Freediving
- Underwater ice hockey
- Underwater football (here the football refers to American Football not Association Football or any other variant)
- Aquathlon (underwater wrestling)
- Speed Lifesaving (there are several events in which fins are used)
Most of these sports are swimfin based. The inclusion of the word "underwater", in the group noun for these sports, is, perhaps, unwarranted but the phrase has become fixed. The term is almost certainly derived from the name of Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS), which is also known as the World Underwater Federation. Most have surface based elements. There are many fin-based sports that are not included in this category of sports (including bodyboarding). Freediving includes a few events that are not fin-based (static apnea, dynamic apnea without fins amongst others). Only 7 events in Speed Lifesaving (in both stillwater and surf) use fins.
Most of these sports are minority sports. Underwater ice hockey and underwater football are not competed in or even participated in on an international basis.
Aquathlon (underwater wrestling) has been included in the CMAS envelope.[4]
[edit] Governance
The first nine sports listed above are governed by CMAS, as is aquathlon (underwater wrestling). Freediving is also governed by AIDA International. Sub-aqua diving has various other international agencies controlling it, including the Professional Association of Diving Instructors and the British Sub-Aqua Club, amongst others.
Finswimming is the only sport in this group included within the family of sports regulated by the International Olympic Committee.
The fin based events in lifesaving are governed by the International Life Saving Federation. There has been significant cross over between lifesaving and finswimming, including participation in both sports by such international competitors as George Hopkinson (European medallist in speed lifesaving and Commonwealth finswimming record holder (see Commonwealth finswimming records)).
[edit] Controversies
Several controversies have arisen with regard to underwater sports.
There is a debate over whether scuba and underwater photography can be considered as sports. Additionally, several of these sports have alternative world governing bodies. Freediving is also governed by AIDA International. There was an attempt to form a breakaway group in underwater hockey, which resulted in nearly all of the significant teams not being present at the 2007 World Aquatic Games, in Bari, Italy.[5]
The European Commission has, allegedly, asked the European Parliament to consider banning commercial spearfishing.[6] Spearfishing has invoked controversy on several occasions, including a ban (for members) on competition fishing of territorial fish by the British Sub-Aqua Club in the late 1970s.[7]
There has always been a debate on funding. In the English speaking world, the only sport that has a significant following (other than scuba) is underwater hockey. However, the more widely spread and more popular sport of finswimming is the only sport that is an International Olympic Committee sport.[8] This has led to issues in funding and governance relationships in some National Governing Bodies.
In the United Kingdom, the original governing body for underwater sports was the British Sub-Aqua Club. However, in 1997, CMAS expelled the British Sub-Aqua Club for several reasons.[9] The Sub-Aqua Association was invited by CMAS to take the vacant seats.[10] This expulsion led to many British underwater-sports participants not being able to compete on an international stage. As a result the British Underwater Sports Association was formed to allow for international participation, which is registered with CMAS. However, UK Sport (the governmental sports agency in the United Kingdom) has not accepted this change in governance. This has caused some issues with regards to funding and governance control within the United Kingdom.
[edit] References
- ^ "CMAS - Orienteering". Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques. http://www.cmas.org/federations.php?continent=&comme=0&commi=1&commission=orienteering&comme_clicked=1&commi_clicked=1. Retrieved 2011-10-08.
- ^ "CMAS - Orienteering World- and Junior Open European Championships are under way in Berlin Störitzsee". Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques. http://www.cmas.org/rienteering-world-and-junior-open-european-championships.php. Retrieved 2011-10-08.
- ^ "CMAS - Targetshooting". Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques. http://www.cmas.org/comspo/tir/index.asp. Retrieved 2009-07-06.[dead link]
- ^ http://www.buwh.be/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=590&Itemid=127
- ^ http://underwaterhockeyworld.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=285785#
- ^ Replacement for Regulation (EC) no. 850/98 (the Technical Conservation Regulation) Articles 12 and 31
- ^ http://www.divernet.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?id=2575&sc=1040&ac=d
- ^ http://www.olympic.org/uk/organisation/if/fi_uk.asp?Id_federation=61
- ^ Busuttili, M (1998). So long, CMAS, it's sad to say goodbye. Diver, May 1998.
- ^ CMAS List of Affiliated Organisations
