Swimming SA forms independent committee to run water polo

9 Dec 2024

Another layer has been added to the fight for control of water polo with Swimming South Africa planning to launch an independent committee to run the sport.

Amid growing interest from a faction of water polo to break away from the Swimming South Africa (SSA) umbrella, the federation has instituted an independent committee to run the sport.

The independent committee will come into formal operation on 1 January 2025.

The director of coaching, technical director and high-performance coaches have already been appointed while the CEO has not yet accepted the position, but has been canvassing water polo circles to sell the idea of the committee to constituents.

This has come to light after Daily Maverick reported that an independent “rebel” faction of water polo was attempting to break away from SSA to run the sport.

Read more: Water polo faction lobbies to break away from erring Swimming South Africa

After hosting a town hall and vote in Cape Town in early November with more than 100 SSA members, the independent “rebel” group has continued its quest to grow.

The group recently hosted a similar town hall in Johannesburg on 20 November where the about 80 SSA constituents present voted unanimously to go independent, without SSA.

The third area where the independent group will have a town hall is in KwaZulu-Natal — expected to be held early in 2025.

Above board

However, according to SSA’s constitution and by-laws, the president, in this case Alan Fritz, is permitted to “appoint Ad Hoc Committees and/or specialised committees, with persons of knowledge in special areas…”

One of the SSA independent committee members appointed, Steven la Marque, who was water polo director of coaching for the six years before the Tokyo Olympic Games, held in 2021, has been offered the role again, this time as part of the newly formed committee. He spoke to Daily Maverick about it.

La Marque has not yet formally accepted the position, but expects to in due course.

“Alan Fritz’s mindset is he wants water polo to run water polo, but it needs to run under the auspices and structures of SSA,” La Marque said.

Questions have been raised about how independent the new committee will be, given that it was appointed directly by SSA and not voted for by constituents.

The new committee won’t have the extra hassle of applying for recognition from World Aquatics that will face the “rebel” group, because the committee will report directly to SSA and remain under the body’s umbrella.

“World Aquatics will only recognise one body from a country and that federation in South Africa is [currently] SSA,” La Marque said.

“World Aquatics will not recognise any other body. For that body to break away from SSA to operate, there’s a whole process that needs to happen…

“We have to be solution-oriented; we have to get the structures working properly.”

World Aquatics’ constitution stipulates that only one national governing body can rule over its aquatic sports, according to law 5.2. But when there is more than one national body governing a sport, World Aquatics will judge the merits of each claim for recognition on a “case-by-case basis”, depending on which body serves the athletes of the sport best, according to law 5.5.

That is why gaining support from water polo members throughout the country is important to the disgruntled faction.

Moving forward

According to La Marque, it’s not an ostrich putting its head in the sand situation at SSA.

There is an acknowledgement that water polo hasn’t been run as well as it could be.

“When I see how water polo has deteriorated…” he said. “It’s not just at a national level. It’s around the country.

“All people know about it on a national and international level… There’s nothing happening at a lower level.

“Social water polo is big; schools water polo is big, but elite water polo – KZN for example doesn’t even have a men’s first division.”

“Alan [Fritz] has realised, like he would, this is the way we want to go and if I can add value in that role then I’m happy to do it.”

This might open the door for other aquatics disciplines such as diving, open water swimming and artistic swimming to also request their own committees to run their sport. However, the appointment of people by SSA and the lack of a voting process to put people into those roles might make those sports hesitate.

“There’s a lot of complaints about SSA and some of it is justified, but that doesn’t mean we have to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” La Marque said.

“What we need to do is stop, regroup and start moving forward.

“We understand that things have gone wrong. We understand that things haven’t been done perfectly, but we want to say stop, regroup and let’s move forward.

“New broom sweeps clean, let’s get the structures in place.”

“Because of the World Aquatics legislation, we have to operate under SSA.

“The roles and responsibilities that SSA used to fulfil – regarding international tours and tournaments – is now going to be run by this new committee.” DM

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Above board

Moving forward