Underwater Hockey

Underwater Hockey (UWH), also known as Octopush (mainly in the United Kingdom) is a globally played limited-contact sport in which two teams compete to manoeuvre a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into the opposing team’s goal by propelling it with a hockey stick. It originated in England in 1954 when Alan Blake, a founder of the newly formed Southsea Sub-Aqua Club, invented the game he called Octopush as a means of keeping the club’s members interested and active over the cold winter months when open-water diving lost its appeal. In the early 1950’s Underwater Hockey (UWH) took off as a new sport in South Africa. South African Underwater hockey was born out of the desire for spear-fishermen to keep fit when away from the sea or when sea conditions were undivable. It was an auspicious move as the two sports complement each other with more than just fins and water: Spearfishing provides UWH players with endurance and bottom-time while UWH improves the work rate and surface recovery of spear-fishermen. Underwater Hockey is now played worldwide, with the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques, abbreviated CMAS, as the world governing body. The first Underwater Hockey World Championship was held in Canada in 1980 after a false start in 1979 brought about by international politics and apartheid.