Early magazines record that a variety of canoe ball games were played in Great Britain in the late nineteenth century. Punch, or the London Charivarl, published a woodcut entitled ‘Polo on the Sea’ in 1875. The picture shows men and women in neck- to-knee bathing costumes standing on flat topped, double-hulled vessels competing for the ball with double bladed paddles. The objective appears to be to place the ball into a floating ring. The Graphic, also of London, published an engraving in 1880 entitled ‘Water Polo at Hunter’s Quey, Scotland’. This is quite different; players sit astride wooden barrels made-up with horses’ heads and tails. Simply staying on the horse was challenging enough as riders were thrown from their uncooperative charges. Another picture, ‘Water Polo’, from The Graphic in 1884, shows players in decked canoes. The same picture appears in the book Outdoor Games and Recreations–a popular encyclopedia for boys published by the Religious Tract Society in London, 1892. The fun continued into the 1950s with two players to a canoe; one to paddle and the other to play the ball. These early games were a novelty, about fun and entertainment, and did not develop into today’s canoe polo (1).

Around this time, canoe polo was also played in the United States of America. The first game was at Rocky Glen, Pennsylvania in 1905. John Conkling designed a boat specifically for playing canoe polo on a field marked out by a timber frame (2). At Williamsport, 1913, players, one to a canoe, stood to work the ball with a paddle. And at Pittsburgh a Canoe Polo League was established in 1914 with clubs competing for a championship trophy. The playing area was 15m x 45m with goal posts at each end, the boats were 4.8m long. A game comprised in two 10 minute halves. The paddles had a metallic spoon ring fixed to each blade that formed a pocket to catch and carry the ball (in the manner of lacrosse). In 1916, New Jersey, each team consisted of five players, the boats were 1.8m long and a game was three 15 minutes innings; the ball was 15 cm diameter. Different games were introduced to Texas and Illinois. In Texas, 1922, a team comprised upto five canoes with a single paddler. While in Illinois, 1923, there were three canoes, each with two players. Newspapers reported canoe polo as a fast and attractive sport for players and spectators. But it was not to last. From the 1930s, the sport appears to have lost its appeal and was not active again in the USA until the late 1990s.

In the 1920s, Germany and France played canoe ball games as an introduction to canoeing and to build river skills. Serious canoeists paddled remote rivers but as the automobile was not yet widely available, only the most enthusiastic ventured out. It was difficult to attract new paddlers and spectators were few. Canoe ball games provided an exciting introduction to canoeing: challenging, safe, and close to home.

 

In 1926 the German Canoe Federation introduced ‘kanupolo’ as a way to attract new members as well as encourage camaraderie and contribute to federation finances. They also published rules of play. Folding kayaks were used until the 1930s but later replaced with wooden boats that were over four metres long. The playing area was large, 99–120m long by 50–90m wide. Goals sat on the water and were 4 m wide by 1.5m high. Each team had eleven players and a game was in two halves of 45 minutes each. The playing field was later reduced to 60–90m x 40–60m with two 30 minute halves and five players aside. By 1935 kanupolo had become a regular competition with a governing body, coaching manuals, and consistent rules of play. There was a break during war years with interest not renewed until 1965. Regular competitions resumed 1969.

The Canoe Club of France introduced canoe ball games to canoeing festival programs in 1929. The games soon developed into a sport with a playing area of 60–100m long by the width of the river. Goals sat on the water and teams comprised three, four or five boats. In 1935 a group of paddlers set guidelines for a game called ‘canoe ball’ to be played at the festivals—its primary aim was to vary training and to test paddling skills. It was not intended to create a competitive sport, although by 1943 playing rules were formalised, the large playing fields were reduced to 80m x 35m, kayaks replaced canoes, and canoe ball became ‘kayak ball’.
Great Britain continued with two to a canoe until the 1950s. Following Great Britain, Australia took to touring canoes with two players from 1952 through to the 1970s. The bow paddler played the ball while the stern paddler controlled the boat. But change was coming. In 1960, Oliver Cock refereed a game played in canvas canoes on a lake in Northern Wales, one player to a boat.

For many years canoe polo had been played on rivers and lakes in a variety of craft, on different sized fields, to different rules, under different names, and for different reasons. There was little need to change what was an enjoyable and challenging activity.

 

Quite independently, in 1966, the Borough of Newham in London asked Bert Keeble from the National Schools Sailing Association to design a kayak for teaching in swimming baths. Many pools were built in schools in the sixties and used for teaching children basic paddling and rolling skills. Ball games were a part of these sessions that provided an entertaining and practical way to apply the new skills. Some pools were open to the public. The pools were small, 10m x 25m, so small kayaks were needed to make the best use of the available space. The new kayak was made from wood; it was short and had a rounded bow and stern to prevent damage to the pool. Later, Alan Byde, a senior coach with the British Canoe Union (BCU), constructed a similar one from glass reinforced plastic. He called his boat the baths advanced trainer (BAT).

The move to a baths setting and the creation of the BAT together provided the impetus to reshape the sport: the pool limiting the size of the playing area and the smaller boat leading to a more maneuverable craft. There were few rules of play, but these would change too.