New Year, New Club News! - December 31, 2018

Goodbye 2018 and hello 2019!  This promises to be a great year for English water polo.  We have a growing number of clubs and participation in the sport is continuing to increase.  We have enjoyed hard earned success on the international stage at many levels including the boys under 19s qualifying for the LEN European Championships for the first time in over a decade and the senior women winning the International Invitational Tournament in Portugal just before Christmas.  

The Australian Schools boys and girls teams came to the UK in December for an 11-day tour and played against a number of clubs and England teams.  We also have more players than ever taking up scholarships in America to play water polo and study.  Not bad for a sport that has very limited access to public funding!

City of Liverpool and Australian School players

The National League came to an exciting climax in December with City of Manchester topping both the men and women’s league.  The Super 5s line up will be City of Manchester, Coventry, Otter, Liverpool Lizards and Caledonia for the women and City of Manchester, Solihull, Invicta, Lancaster and Cheltenham for the men.   The first matches will be played on 19 January at Aldershot.  For more information please go to www.bwpl.org

City of Manchester women finishing top of division 1 of the BWPL

Bridgefield were the winners of the annual Liverpool & District Tournament.   This year 4 clubs took part – Liverpool, City of Chester, Warrington and Bridgefield.  The picture below of the Warrington team sums up the atmosphere at the event.  Well done to all competitors!

Lancaster City Swimming and Water Polo Club hosted its 6th Annual Christmas mini-polo Development Tournament on Sunday 16th December 2018.  This event has become very popular and 13 teams entered the event.  The Cup winners were Rotherham with Chester Romans coming in second and Bridgefield third.  In the Plate competition, Lancaster City came first, Bolton School was second and Sheffield third.  

City of Coventry held their annual awards night this month.  Congratulations to all the winners –

Men’s Winners
Most Improved- Jayson Bent
Player Of Year – Matt Elliott 

Women’s Winners
Most Improved – Kate Lane
Player of Year – Sophie Linney

Junior Winners
Most Improved – Paisley Aish
Player of Year – Asman Jabeer

City of Manchester Water Polo club will be running a Winter Water Polo Festival on January 12th.  It will be for years 2005+ 2007+ and 2009+.  Application forms can be found on the club’s website www.manchesterwaterpoloclub.co.uk

A lot of clubs are looking to increase participation in the sport.  Rotherham Metro Swimming & Water Polo Club will be offering 6 weeks of free sessions to any junior swimmers wishing to try water polo commencing Sunday 6 January. There is no minimum age limit however swim ability must be at a minimum of stage 5 as sessions are in deep water. Simply go along to Maltby Leisure Centre at 5.45pm and ask for Nicki if you want to participate.

History Corner

How much do you know about the origins of our great sport?  The term ‘polo’ is the English pronunciation of the Indian Word ‘pulu’ meaning ball.  It is thought that water polo took its origins from sport played with a ball in rivers and lakes.  In 1870 the London Swimming Club developed rules for ‘football to be played in swimming pools’ and the first official game was played in the Crystal Palace Plunge.  In 1877, William Wilson of Glasgow drew up a set of rules for ‘Aquatic Football’.  The men’s game was included in the Paris Olympic Games of 1900 as an exhibition event.  Only club teams were able to enter and the first Olympic Champions were the Osborne Swimming Club, Manchester.  A key advance was made in 1911 when FINA made the English-Scottish rules obligatory for all member nations. The women’s game was included in the Antwerp Olympics in 1920 as an exhibition sport but it was not until Sydney 2000 that the women were included within the Olympic programme.

Sue James has kindly provided us with some photographs she has found going through archives.  They show the women’s teams for Cheltenham Water Polo Club in 1923 and 1933.  Does anyone else have any historic pictures we can use to show the history of water polo in England?  Were any of the women below in your family?

GB Water Polo Podcast

And finally, we are very excited to announce a competition to come up with a title for the new GB water polo monthly podcast.  Paul Metcalfe will be starting the podcast in early 2019 and it will be hosted on the England Water Polo website.  There are generous prizes for the winner of the competition – see below.  All entries must be in by 31 January 2019 so get your thinking caps on and get those entries in!

We hope you find this report of interest.  If you have any news you would like covered please contact us at ah@waterpoloengland.org

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

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