Scamtown - What the Puck? | 11

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

In 2002, the Underwater Hockey World Championships were taking place in the largest city in Alberta, Canada. Teams from across the globe were set to compete in the niche sport that was gaining popularity worldwide, including a new team from Moldova. But on opening day, the Moldovan team is nowhere to be found, and what's uncovered is an elaborate ploy that shocks the sports community. Scamtown is an Apple Original podcast, produced by FunMeter. Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts.http://apple.co/Scamtown

All right, James, I know that you love watching and playing basketball, but how do you feel about some of the weirder sports that you might find on, you know, ESPN 8, The Ocho? Oh, I love The Ocho. The fact that it was inspired by the movie Dodgeball, which I've seen hundreds of times, is so awesome. It's kind of like the sports channel for people who aren't that crazy about mainstream sports, but like to watch competition. And you can find things there

like competitive pillow fighting or cherry pit spitting, maybe even underwater hockey. Now, James, have you ever seen underwater hockey? I have not. I'll be honest with you. I'm a huge Blackhawks fan

and I prefer hockey on frozen water. Well, as you can imagine in underwater hockey, a lot happens under the water, making it tough at times to see what's really going on. And today's story is kind of like that, where the truth lives somewhere beneath the surface. So get your fins and your snorkel because we're going to dive into the intercontinental plot that sent shockwaves through the sport of underwater hockey.

Welcome to Scam Town, an Apple original podcast produced by Fun Meter. I'm Brian Lazzarte. And I'm James Lee Hernandez. We're filmmakers who've been trading stories now for quite some time, obsessed and compelled to bring some of our favorites to life. We love a surprising heist, an intricate scam, or just pulling back the curtain on something you think you know. Entering a world that's stranger than fiction

and writing that line between comedy and tragedy. This is Scam Town, a place for our favorite stories that do just that. Today's episode, What the Puck? It's 2002, and Daryl Brambilla, a longtime underwater hockey player and coach, is gearing up for the World Championships. So underwater hockey, when you first take a look at it, if you've never seen it before, it looks a little bit confusing. From the surface, it just looks like a bunch of people splashing around, going underwater and coming up again. Even if you've never heard of underwater hockey, it's a legit sport. Originally called OctoPush, it was developed around 1954

to help entertain British divers during the winter. Since then, the game has exploded in popularity with a dedicated worldwide community. It's essentially, you guessed it, hockey played underwater. Each team has 10 players divided into forwards or defense. In order to play, you need a snorkel, fins, and a water polo cap to protect your ears. This is hockey after all. And even though it's underwater, injuries have been known to happen. Get ready.

Fix up. Go. The play starts. Everybody swims towards the middle of the pool where the puck is. You try and take possession of the puck, pass to your teammates, and then move it up and down the pool

till you get it down to the goal and put it into the goal. So players are diving underwater to the bottom of the pool. They're trying to get to the opposite team's goal, but what's tricky is they have to make sure to the bottom of the pool. They're trying to get to the opposite team's goal, but what's tricky is they have to make sure someone on their team is also close by,

so if they need to take a breath of air, they can pass the puck to the teammate and go back up to the surface. Ah, shit, we're tied. Yeah, let's have more fun. Six up! One thing that's clear about the sport, the people who play it love it. And the world championships are no joke.

Teams from all over the world come to play. And this year's games are happening in Calgary, Canada. And Daryl, one of the organizers, is running around the city trying to make sure everyone is ready to go. First of all, there's obviously the local arrangements you have to do, things like securing pool time, making sure your venue is approved by CMAS. CMAS, by the way, is the governing body for a lot of underwater sports. Think spearfishing, freediving, fin swimming, and, you guessed it, underwater hockey. Then we have to do things for the teams.

We have to secure hotels, places to stay, help them with any sort of travel accommodations. So when they get here, they know where they're going, what they're doing. This is like the World Cup of underwater hockey, minus all the expensive advertisements and billions of people watching. But the pressure, nonetheless, is still on. These people have traveled from around the world to play at their pinnacle event, the best of the best, so to speak. Think countries like the United States, South Africa, Colombia,

and even the tiny, landlocked post-Soviet country, Moldova. After countless weeks of long days getting everything perfect, Daryl and the rest of the organizers for the Calgary World Championships were ready to kick off the games. And no sporting event would be complete without some sort of opening ceremonies. The opening ceremonies are kind of like the highlight, just like you would have at the Olympics, you know, the kickoff to everything's about to get started.

Athletes gather in the Aquatic Center, their voices and excitement echoing through the pool hall. A lot of adrenaline, a lot of emotions going to getting our teams together. They're wearing their team uniforms. There's a lot of pride from a country's perspective. I'm here representing my country. And, you know, there's lots of photos going on, being taken, and laughter. Each country is announced and led by a flag bearer holding that country's flag. There are all the athletes waving at everybody,

and then they would circle around and then go up to the seating in the stands. All the countries are there, except for Moldova. We had a flag there for Moldova, ready to go for their country. Moldova registered three teams, a women's team, a men's team, and a youth team. And no one showed up. Not the coach, not the players, as far as we know, not even the water boy. There was nobody there to take their flag and seat the athletes. And it was a very unfortunate situation that started to develop from that point onwards.

I mean, this is unheard of. Teams don't register, pay the fee of around $1,600 Canadian dollars per team. It just don't show. We knew there was a problem right then at that point. Daryl immediately tries the various phone numbers listed on the team's contact sheet. And nothing. They were all dead ends. All of our contacts had not answered or didn't want to speak to us any longer. So we were looking for these people. Realizing that they wouldn't be showing up for any of their scheduled games, Daryl and

his co-organizers scrambled to redo the entire playing schedule. Months of work gone in an instant. The rest of the games continue from there, but in between his various duties, Daryl can't help but wonder what happened to that mysterious team from Moldova. We hope they're okay. Did somebody get injured? Were they kidnapped? There's all sorts of rumors. Even though we didn't know these people very well,

we care about everybody within our sport. And so we're generally concerned for them because nobody really knew what the true story was. And the true story is straight out of a movie. You see, this mystery of what happened to the Moldovan team in Canada gets even weirder because this isn't the first time a Moldovan underwater hockey team has disappeared. Let's take you back two years prior to the year 2000. The World Championships are in Hobart, Tasmania,

and Moldova is slated to play. Colin Heeper, like Daryl, is in charge of organizing the Hobart Games, leading a team of about a dozen volunteers. Three months before the game, a late application comes in from, you guessed it, Moldova. But this time, it's only a men's team.

So I suppose my first reaction was, oh, Moldova, where's that? So I have a bit of a look on the map. And then sort of secondly was, didn't know they played. At the time, it was, well, this is nice. We've got a new country. The team is verified by CMAS and confirmed to play. Three months pass, and the games in Hobart are about to kick off. Peter Vanderwood, one of the volunteers, heads to the airport to meet this new team. One of Peter's many jobs during the competition is to look after some of the teams. You know,

make sure that they have everything they need, know where they're going, and have a point person in case anything goes wrong. Peter's one of those guys for the Moldovan team. But unlike in Canada, the team does show up and are waiting for Peter at the airport. But there's just one problem. The Moldovan team didn't seem to speak very much English. And Peter's Romanian, or Moldovan, was basically zilch. Nada. None. Non-existent.

Australians are notoriously single-language people. So it was unusual for us, too, to meet people that didn't speak English. And I suppose they're out of their depth a bit. They're all in their, well, seem to be in their mid-20s, I suppose. All pretty fit-looking men. The Moldovan players have kind of that classic swimmer's build, lean with muscular arms and chest.

They all seemed friendly enough, excited to be in a new country and to play in this year's games. So after picking them up from the airport, Peter drives them to their accommodations. Now, each team is actually responsible for paying for their own place, and the Moldovans opt for living arrangements on the cheaper side. Sort of almost a halfway house. We've got rooms, but there might be two or three to a room.

Kind of like the YMCA. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it's probably even lower than that one, I think. It's fun to be at the shitty hotel. After getting settled and partaking in Australia's opening ceremonies, it's time for the Moldovan team to head to the pool. Colin, one of the organisers, remembers the moment the team showed up at the pool.

When they arrived, they really didn't have much in the way of any equipment at all. Apparently, on their way to Tasmania, the airline lost their luggage. But lucky for them, the underwater hockey community is down to help a team in need. We did a bit of a run around in Hobart to help with some of that specialist gear that they didn't have at the time. We've got a community of around 250-odd players, people playing down here on a regular basis. So it wasn't overly difficult for us to put that together. We just thought they'd had a bad experience, you know, with their luggage and so on. These underwater hockey guys, so helpful.

With their gear sorted, it's time for their first real match. Moldova versus Argentina. I had no idea that Moldova even played underwater hockey. Never heard of them in underwater hockey circles. A lot of other teams often turn up. A lot of European teams do turn up. It was like, cool, this is interesting. That's Jeff. Now, Jeff usually plays for New Zealand, but was pitching in for the Argentinian team, who were down a player. Tickety-boo and running. I played centre forward for them.

He suits up and hops in the pool. Things are intense, right? It's got a bit of pressure, right? It starts fast, it starts strong, and the game is relentless. Jeff and the rest of the team from Argentina, bob in the water masks on their hockey sticks in one hand and the other holding on to the side of the pool

his heart and adrenaline pumping as he waits for the game to start. The buzzer blares he kicks off the pool wall and quickly swims forward diving underwater he can see the puck right in front of him. No one's around it's's like, this is a bit strange. Sort of swam to the other end, scored a goal. During a typical game, the competition would be fierce. Bodies colliding into one another as they rush for the puck. And at this stage, there's a whole lot of pennies dropping and I'm going, something's not quite right.

You're expecting competition. You're expecting people around you. He takes in the competing team. After scoring that first goal, you're looking up and you're expecting people around you. He takes in the competing team. After scoring that first goal, you're looking up and you're seeing people that are sort of floating around on the surface looking down, possibly a little bewildered. And you're sort of thinking, something's not quite right here. So they're supposed to be world champs. Unfortunately, the rest of the game did not improve much from there.

I honestly think there's probably some of them that probably weren't even able to get to the bottom of the pool. They could swim to two meters, but just the techniques that you teach, you know, people that are joining the sport on day one and two, weren't there. Safe to say the Moldovans did not win the match. But is that so unusual?

I mean, all teams and athletes have bad days. But this seemed far worse than just a bad day. I honestly can't remember what the score was. It was well over 20. But no, it may as well have not have been in the pool almost. It was that sort of bad. The Moldovans play a few games. One against Turkey, where they get absolutely pummeled yet again.

And another one against the USA. The American team allegedly felt so bad for the guys that they stopped midway through and gave them some pointers. After a few lackluster performances, the team strangely stopped showing up for the rest of the games. I don't actually recall seeing the team at the pool again after that game. The team just vanished, leaving the equipment they borrowed in the boarding house that they stayed in. No one knew what happened.

And like Canada, the Australians were left with nothing but questions. It wasn't until later when Daryl, the organizer from the Canadian Games, started to piece together the real story. Even learning that the same thing happened in Australia two years prior. Our feeling is that was probably a test run to get this to be successful. And they used Canada to actually get the primary task done. You see, both the Australian and Canadian games were actually a target of a much larger scheme. Almost as if some of the Moldovans

never really wanted to play underwater hockey, but needed some sort of valid reason to leave Moldova. A valid reason like, oh, you know, the World Underwater Hockey Championships. Registering teams in both the Canadian and Australian games only to disappear.

A couple of years later, I had only ever heard rumors that they had turned up and then essentially tried to defect or claim asylum, but never had that confirmed. We got the wool pulled over our eyes, didn't we?

It appeared as if for some of the members of the team, underwater hockey was nothing more than a means to escape. After the championships in Australia and Canada, everyone had questions. Why do such a thing? A lot of people have searched for the answer, even trying to track down players from the team. And so did we.

Scouring the web for any lead, asking around, and even contacting the Moldovan Underwater Sports Federation, receiving the following statement back. We are aware of the situation in the past, but do not know more than you do. It was a difficult time. Some person was making money out of such a business idea. I think he's now living in Canada. I haven't heard anything more about him for more than 10 years now. I wish I could be more of help, but those days are history and all the blood is now fresh in our organization.

Now, if there was a plan to escape Moldova, could this person be the mastermind? A Moldovan Moses helping his countrymen flee to greener pastures? Or was he inspired by the story of Argo, where Tony Mendez helped smuggle American government officials out of Iran, pretending to be a film crew for a sci-fi movie that didn't exist. You really believe your little story is going to make a difference when there's a gun to our heads? I think my story is the only thing between you and a gun. I mean, sci-fi movie, underwater hockey. They both seem unbelievable. So we begin researching this mysterious figure.

But to our surprise, we find out that they are not in Canada or Australia. Oh no. In fact, this person lives in the heartland of America. Coincidentally, a mere 20 minutes from our producer Maggie. So we hired a translator and decide to cold call him. Just try him first. You know, why not? I could start in English or Romanian. He doesn't get scared. I might be KGB or something. Okay, here we go. Good morning. Good morning. I was asking him if he has time, because he answered in Romanian.

So I asked him if he has time just to make an introduction. I said, how long? I said, five minutes. Yeah, so, hi, this is Maggie. I would love to talk a little bit about your experience about underwater hockey. From what we've learned, this is the closest anyone has ever gotten to an interview with someone connected to the Moldovan teams. Now, this guy, who we're going to call the coach to protect his identity, actually seemed willing to talk. An interview is set only for the coach to back out at the last minute, telling our producer he no longer wished to participate or talk about underwater hockey. Maybe he really did think our interpreter was KGB.

But we didn't want to give up that easy. So our producer Maggie tries again. With the help of the interpreter, she spends hours on the phone talking him through everything. And finally, he agrees. But just as Maggie is getting prepped, Jan, our translator, calls. The coach is nowhere to be found.

Jan waits a couple more minutes and then leaves, telling Maggie the interview is off. In that moment, it was as if we were Daryl with all these questions. Just as Maggie was wrapping up her recording equipment, a call comes in.

It's the interpreter, letting her know that he and the coach are 15 minutes away from her house. Finally, so many people have tried to get answers from the team. Would we finally learn the truth about what happened? Well, at least the truth according to the coach. They arrive to Maggie's house and settle in. The coach is much older now, in his 70s.

He's got a warm, open face with white hair and a white beard. Kind of like your sweet old Soviet grandpa, dressed in a track suit and a baseball cap. At first, he's cold and distant, sitting with his arms crossed and answering questions with only a word or two. But when asked about his love of water, he opens up. He told me that they thought he was born in the water. He would stay so long in the water like he was born there.

Who told you that? It's like you were born in the water. Yes, my wife, my wife, my mom, my dad were telling me. What do you love about the water? What do you like about the water? Everything is beautiful. This is a different world. This is a different life.

Is it like another life? This is a different life. But we wanted to know the truth. Is it like another life? Yeah. But we wanted to know the truth. Were the games in both Canada and Australia just a ruse? A means to enter a country only to turn around and claim asylum with no intention of actually playing the sport? The reporting that came out from Canada is that the women's team showed up in Canada and then they all didn't go to the games

and they just immediately claimed. And the report from there said that the women's team arrived in Canada, but they didn't play. No, no, no. It's a lie. It's a lie. It's a lie. I'm telling you honestly. So here's the truth of what happened as the coach sees it.

During this time, it was tough living in Moldova, as well as Transnistria, a small strip of land at the edge of Moldova. Now, the underwater hockey team itself was connected to Transnistria, with many of the players coming from Moldova. And leaving the region was difficult for many reasons. Now, to offer up a little history here,

right after Moldova declared its independence from the crumbling Soviet Union, a war broke out between the young state and separatist groups, which ended in a tense ceasefire. Which is why, to this day, that eastern edge of the country is de facto its own country of Transnistria. Now, it's not recognized by any other nations, but it does have its own government flag and currency. So between this turmoil, a really rough transition to a market economy, and general uncertainty, many people in the region fell into extreme poverty. The documentary Moldova, Europe's poorest country, from Journeyman Pictures,

highlights the desperation many Moldovans faced during this time. No one cares about Moldova. Every fifth citizen lives beyond the cash economy. Half the population lives below the poverty line. Here, people sell organs and women to provide for their families or go abroad. But the coach found solace in the water, partaking in several different aquatic sports like spearfishing and underwater wrestling. Yep, that's underwater wrestling. One night, the coach is surfing the web when he stumbles upon the wide world of underwater hockey.

Let's try to play hockey. We have no idea what it is, how it works. He learns some of the rules from a Hungarian businessman who is in Moldova, who also just so happens to play the sport. And he decides to put together a team to compete in the world championships in Australia. There are guys who are doing like swimming on the water. They're strong, they're strong, they're athletes. They're doing some other stuff with water.

They're strong. I didn't have to teach them to swim, to keep their breath. They train every day for three months leading up to the games, even getting a sponsor. We had a sponsor who said, yes, we will give you money. So if you could just clarify a little bit who the sponsor was or just the sponsor. To translate, he said, I don't want to say. According to the coach, they make it to Australia and play in some of the games. Not as poorly as some of the other people, remember?

That's a fresh team. We didn't lose a lot. We scored. By the time the games ended, the coach had to leave, departing Australia alone. That's when the coach says that some of the team basically told him we're staying behind and not coming back. But he didn't know why. I heard that some people stayed and then claimed asylum or refugee status. I found out after that.

You didn't know that? I found out after. Because they were supposed to come back. We didn't have the goal of that. The coach claims that he had no idea that the players were planning to stay. According to him, he thought they would all return to Moldova. Were you surprised that some stayed? I was surprised. According to him, he thought they would all return to Moldova. It seemed as if he was left in the dark, like everyone else, heading home without a team.

But it does feel strange to think it wasn't the plan all along. How could he not know or even be involved? The coach claims that he had no idea that his teammates were planning on staying in Australia indefinitely, seemingly saying that this was their plan, that they came up with it behind his back. That's a deep level of commitment to an end goal, going through practices just to get the hell out of a country. Well, we actually spoke to one of the players on the team. He didn't want to do an interview, but agreed to answer a few questions over text. And according to him, this was the plan the whole time. Go to Australia under the pretense of being an underwater hockey team and claim refugee status.

Saying, quote, But what about the teams that were meant to play in Canada? under the pretext we were Christian believers and our rights were being violated. But what about the teams that were meant to play in Canada two years after the events in Australia? There were a few teams. So originally, they meant to have three teams from Moldova at the Canadian Games, a men's team, a women's team, and a youth team.

But only the women's team and the coach got visas. The coach opted not to go. His son was meant to play on the youth team that year, and since he didn't get a And they didn't participate. They didn't go to play. They didn't go to play. As soon as they got there, asked the embassy to allow them to stay there. The coach says that only three females went to the embassy as soon as they arrived. Though that doesn't totally align with the reporting from the time. According to news reports, at least eight members from the women's team showed up in Canada by splitting up and flying into different airports, immediately claiming asylum.

Though the coach denies knowing about any of this. To the best of our knowledge, some of the players who went to Australia and Canada are still there. They built new lives, possibly able to make more money and send some of that money back home. The guys back home were happy because they were making money there and sending money back. So a lot of people count on money from abroad. It's hard to sort out what is true or not in the coach's version of events, or what he's leaving out in his telling. But one thing's clear. Most of the people who did leave Moldova wanted to build a better life for themselves and their families.

And who can blame them for that? We never really received much information other than what we tried to gather for ourselves because we were looking for these people because they were scheduled to play in events. So we didn't really hear a lot of information. Again, that's Daryl from the Canadian Games. We had only heard, you know, through the grapevine or through rumors after making a few calls that this is what happened. And once Daryl found out,

while being sympathetic to the plight of the Moldovans, he couldn't help but feel a little betrayed. There was a bit of sadness that this had happened. On two parts, sadness that they tried to circumvent the legal process to take advantage of a country to get into that country. But also sadness because we're sad that they have to go to those lengths. And we don't know what challenges they were facing in their own home country at the time. For a lot of the underwater hockey players, they feel taken advantage of. That their kindness and sportsmanship was taken for granted.

You know, so you feel a bit stupid about it, but that's the way it goes. Also thinking that these guys must be pretty desperate to do what they've done. Desperate people will do desperate things. And I think that's unfortunately what happened in this situation. It's unfortunate it was our sport, and being a lesser-known sport, it was probably easier for them to do that. Daryl is probably right. People have tried similar schemes with other sports, but they usually got caught pretty quickly. Underwater hockey was kind of the perfect cover.

No one would suspect that it would be used in that way. And for years after the events in Australia and Canada, underwater hockey was synonymous with this story. But time has passed and people have moved on. One thing is clear, the sport and the people who play it seem like great people with a vibrant community. I'm sure if the coach wanted to jump in the water and try his hand at the sport again, the underwater hockey community would be glad to see it.

James, do you think you'd hop in the water and try your hand at underwater hockey? Of course. I love swimming. I love the water. But I would have to play Moldova. That is, if they actually show up. ScamTown is an Apple Original podcast That is, if they actually show up. If you want to check out a few extras from our show, you can find us at Fun Meter Official on Instagram.

The show is hosted and executive produced by us. I'm Brian Lozarte. And I'm James Lee Hernandez. Maggie Robinson-Katz produced this episode. Mark Hay was our researcher. Our co-executive producers are Shannon Pence, Nicole Laufer, and Matt Kay. The show was edited and sound designed by Jude Brewer. Final mixing by Ben Freer from Fiddle Leaf Sound.

Music for the podcast was composed by James Newberry. Additional music by Five Alarm. The production would like to thank the Minnesota Loons. Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts.