FINA Rule
Changes Effective September 2005
Montreal, Canada (July 14)- Sweeping rule changes to the game
of water polo will come into effect in September.
The women's
game returns to a 25m long playing area from 30m, the length
of each quarter has been bumped up a minute to eight minutes
and the 35-second possession clock has been reduced to 30
seconds.
The changes
were agreed to at the governing body's FINA Technical Water
Polo Congress at the Sheraton Hotel here today on the eve of
the 2005 World Championships.
They will
remain experimental until the end of next year so they can be
evaluated ahead of the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne.
FINA
Technical Water Polo Committee Honorary Secretary John
Whitehouse, of Hobart, said: "The game was becoming too
violent and too static so it's hoped that these changes will
promote more movement and, along with it, more goals and more
excitement for spectators."
FINA has come
down hard on the brutality foul with the excluded player out
for the game and conceding a penalty shot. However, instead of
being one player short for the rest of the game, the player
may be substituted but not until four minutes actual playing
time has elapsed, thus negating the one-sided game that
normally follows a brutality exclusion.
The corner
throw has been amended so that a defender deflecting a ball
over the goal line, but not entering the goal, will now be a
goal throw.
Intentionally
splashing into the face of an opponent anywhere in the pool is
now a major foul, earning a 30-second exclusion from the pool.
Previously it was only if the splashing act was trying to
prevent a goal being scored.
Illegal
entering of the pool by the defending team will now be
punished with a penalty goal attempt.
The
sacrosanct four-meter area, where major fouls can attract a
penalty throw, has been stretched to five meters. All penalty
shots will now be taken from five meters instead of four
meters.
The instant
free-throw shot from seven meters has been brought in to five
meters, which should generate more shooting. The last major
change is that a defender trying to block a shot may only
raise one arm.
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