Australian Tom Hoad holds a special place on the topography of the Water Polo Australia Ltd landscape, being its patron, life member, legend and hall of fame inductee.

He is also at the pinnacle of aquatics, having been inducted to the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) in 2011 as a contributor and helped run two FINA World Championships (1991 and 1998).

He has contributed much to the sport since initially being selected for the 1960 Rome Olympics as a player, moving into a coaching role for the four Olympics after his playing years and then coaching all manner of teams to the current day as he looks after school kids in their development.

Just known as “Tom” by youngsters and peers alike, the multi-linguist has seen it all and been involved in the development of the rules at one stage. He has been consulted often by FINA and international coaches and referees on what he thinks about the rules.

Current Rules

Scoring Goals asked him what he thought of the current batch of rules.

“With regard to the new changes, which were instigated controversially, I think they are better than the old rules.

“The shortening the pool is an improvement, allowing more goals. It does away with transition time. (With the 30m pool) television cameras focused on the goalkeeper holding the ball. There was no activity on the ball and the goalkeeper would hold the ball for five-six seconds before making the release pass. It’s more television appropriate now.

“In Australia, we’ve played those rules (25 seconds possession and 15 seconds for the corner restart) and it’s made the extra-man (situation) much shorter and means they have to shoot quicker. More turnovers and much faster. Both teams have more opportunities to score goals, which means more players have to be more proficient at shooting.

“The Australian-New Zealand (World Aquatics Championships Oceania qualification series for men in April) games were very exciting. Shooting and ball handling are far more valuable than ever before,” Hoad said.

Rule Evolution

Two sets of rules were considered post-World War II with a South American version and a European set, with Europe winning the debate. Former United States of America Water Polo and former ISHOF CEO Bruce Wigo is an ardent fan of changing rules for the better and has stated in the past that the South American version should have held precedence.

Hoad said that these rules meant players could have five ordinary fouls before being sent from the match, much like basketball, meaning no-one wanted to foul, thus reducing referee whistles. It made the game far more less contact, which I think is an important factor.

Debate in FINA at the time decided between how the Europeans were playing it and how the Americans were playing it.

As the sport was more popular in Europe in places like Sweden, France, Belgium and England where it began, Europe decided it was its decision, which Wigo maintains was the wrong decision.

“His logic makes sense to me,” Hoad said.

1950s And Beyond

“One of the major changes was that on the referee’s whistle you had to stop. That was then replaced with the game becoming much more mobile.

“There were a few limitations that the FINA Bureau gradually changed. One was with some logic behind it. Throw the ball over halfway. Before that you couldn’t. You played a two-two-two and because the goalkeeper couldn’t go over halfway, we had designated backs and designated forwards.”

Hoad travelled to Budapest in 1962, and enthused over the development of the sport there because of the thermal water.

“The Csaszar-Komjadi Sportuszoda pool was not chlorinated or filtered but was warm all year round. It was the first water polo-specific built pool in 1927. They built the indoor pool at Margaret Island in 1930 and the outdoor pool was filled with thermal water. Green thermal water. It was a huge advantage.”

He spoke also of the three main Hungarian pools in Szentes, Szeged, and Szolnok while many other towns received a lot of thermal baths.

“It was one of the reasons Hungary, a landlocked country, became so proficient in water polo.

“When a Croatian, Bata Orlic, who hailed from Dubrovnik, saw what was available in Hungary, he insisted that Yugoslavia played all-year round when he returned as director of Yugoslav water polo.

“The Hungarians always beat Yugoslavia even though there was a lot of water polo played along the coast.

“The rules in first division in Yugoslavia stated that unless you had access to an indoor pool all year round, you could not play in first division. The idea was so they could beat the Hungarians, which they eventually did.

“Korcula had only an outdoor pool and won the Yugoslav premiership that year, including (Olympic silver medallist) Bobo Trifunovic, who coached in Perth.

“Korcula maintained it was a Serbian plot to get them out of the competition, which it wasn’t. That was the beginning of playing 12 months a year,” Hoad said. “Bit by bit, Yugoslavia improved their world status.”

FINA slowly made changes with the biggest following the European Championships in Utrecht in 1967. The public did not like seeing six playing on five. They introduced a foul after a foul. If you had three penalty points you were excluded. It was introduced without trialling. I said we should trial it first. It ended up being a disaster punishment that did not fit the crime. (You accumulated three points and then you got a penalty).

“You could stop a certain goal (by pulling the leg of a counter-attacker) and only gained a third of a point penalty,” Hoad said.

“This rule was thrown out at the first opportunity and there was a lot of debate about it. There was nobody who was vehement that it should remain.”

Speeding forward to current times, Hoad said that “dead time” is reduced and swimming reduced.

The recent introduction of the shorter pool length and possession times for men have been greeted warmly by Hoad and laments that European competitions have not had a chance to play these rules. Only European men’s teams contesting the 2025 World Cup had a chance to play these new rules.

He pointed to the upcoming World Aquatics Championships in Singapore where the rules have been defined further with a 28-second possession time for men and women, plus an 18-second re-possession time.

“We’ll see after the World Championships how this turns out as no teams have had the chance to play these in competition.”

World Aquatics Technical Water Polo Committee Chair Tamas Molnar confirmed the rule change this week, stating that the 25m pool and 28-18-second combination would be played by both genders.

Hoad champions the recent Australian league finals in which the men’s gold-medal final finished 22-20 with USA import Hannes Daube scoring 12 goals, only two of which were penalty goals. Aussie Shark Luke Pavillard scored 10 goals in a finals encounter, four of which were penalty goals.

“I thought it was an improvement. Closer to basketball. The elimination of referees’ whistles is very difficult to achieve. I have listened to Bruce Wigo’s arguments and I think they have traction,” Hoad said.

Editor’s Note: Tom Hoad has been inducted to the Western Australia Sporting Hall of Champions (1996), Water Polo Australia Hall of Fame (2009), the International Swimming Hall of Fame (2011), and the Sport Australia Hall of Fame (2021).