The Sub-Aqua Association (SAA) has taken over representation of the sport of underwater hockey or octopush in the UK from the British Underwater Sports Association (BUSA).
The SAA had been working in partnership with BUSA for 18 years but says that “changes in rules and expectations” in the sport’s international governing body CMAS, which the SAA represents in the UK, had necessitated the change.
As a result the SAA will now tie up directly with the various underwater sports previously covered by BUSA – octopush, fin-swimming and spearfishing – and has begun this process by affiliating with the British Octopush Association (BOA).
“BOA members will be provided with access, recognition and support to underwater hockey recognised by CMAS,” said SAA Vice Chairman Dennis Tammadge. “In addition, BOA members will have access to obtaining sports licences to participate in international games.”
Octopush was invented in 1954 by scuba divers in Southsea as a way of adding interest to pool training, and is now played in competitions around the world.
BUSA was created in 1997 to fill a vacancy on CMAS’s sport committee when the British Sub-Aqua Club was expelled from CMAS for contravening its rules on overseas activities.
02-Jun-16
