For a code that has dwelt in the shadows, water polo has emerged as a prototype for disaffected sports people wanting to stand up to administrations they view as incompetent, intransigent and all-round uninterested.
The Cape Town high court this week ruled against Swimming South Africa (SSA) in its bid to mute the emergent South Africa Water Polo (SAWP), formed as an alternative for frustrated enthusiasts.
SSA had argued they were the only national federation responsible for water polo in the country, but judge Judith Cloete made three key rulings that liberated SAWP to run competitions, and ultimately attempt to become the official water polo federation.
Sports lawyer Matt Kemp, who played a key role in SAWP’s founding and its legal strategy, outlined three major rulings:
- one was that the National Sport and Recreation Act didn’t limit sporting codes to a single national body;
- the second was that the right of granting national federation status belonged only to the relevant international governing bodies, in this case World Aquatics; and
- third was that no national federation had an exclusive right to rule forever.
World Aquatics allows bodies to apply for federation status, but Kemp pointed out that other codes would have to follow the constitutions of their world governing bodies.
If SAWP were to win recognition by World Aquatics, many other sporting codes could follow suit.
There’s no shortage of poorly run federations locally.
SSA potentially faces a bigger legal hurdle than water polo from the two artistic swimmers who are suing for R7.2m after they were prevented from trying to qualify for last year’s Paris Olympics.
The federation’s handling of the supposed disciplinary action which involved sending the duet home before their all-important competition at the 2024 world championships has already been shredded by an appeal panel.
SSA responded to Wednesday’s judgment with a statement emphasising they were still the recognised body responsible for swimming, water polo, artistic swimming, diving and open-water swimming.
That didn’t stop SAWP’s membership swelling by 200 to 1,400.
“SSA is currently reviewing the full implications of the ruling in consultation with our legal team,” they said in a statement littered with terms to highlight their federation status, like “protocols”, “sanctioned programmes” and “nationally accredited structures”.
On the other hand, SAWP’s interim CEO, Robbie Taylor, spoke about passion for the sport. “We’re here for the love of water polo. We’re not here to fight anybody. We want to go forward, and the quicker this thing can be resolved, the better for the whole community. We want to see one water polo community.”
SAWP must call an AGM, adopt a constitution, elect office-bearers and then set about doing things better than SSA. “Suddenly everybody realises that now that we have a mandate to run a body, we actually have to do it extremely well because you can’t go about complaining about what’s not being done or the way it’s been done without stepping up and actually doing it properly.”
Taylor declined to say whether SAWP would make a formal application for recognition at the World Aquatics congress in Singapore on July 29.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.