Our monthly club news is now out, catch up on polo stories from around the country! - June 30, 2019

June has been another action packed month for the fantastic sport of water polo. We have had the finals of the British Championships, the great City of Manchester Summer Water Polo Festival and the London Youth Games. MANUP! has staged some amazing events and this month they organised a Water Polo tournament at the Liverpool’s iconic Royal Albert Dock. The sun is shining and the sport is basking after some great events!

The British Championships took place over the weekend of 1^st/2^nd June at the fantastic outdoor Cheltenham Lido. First off, many congratulations to the City of Liverpool Lizards who took gold medal for an amazing 5^th time. They beat City of Coventry into silver position with London Otter taking the bronze medal.

In the men’s event Cheltenham Swimming & Water Polo Club came first after beating City of Manchester in a hard fought final. Solihull Water Polo Club came in third.

The MANUP! Festival returned to the Northwest on 22 June when 12 teams competed in the iconic Royal Albert Dock in Liverpool. Eight Men’s and four Women’s teams played non-stop, back to back games in soaring summer temperatures in a fantastic outdoor location. The weather, music and competition all made for a brilliant day out for everyone and organisers were delighted that teams from Oxford, Durham and Loughborough Universities travelled to the event to participate. Hundreds of people stopped to watch the action in what was a great advertisement for our sport.

In the women’s tournament City of Liverpool Lizards continued their winning streak taking the gold medal position. Tyldesly were second and Loughborough University came third.

In the men’s event Bridgefield narrowly beat last years Salford Quays competition winners, Castleford, in the final to take gold City of Birmingham taking the bronze position. The next MANUP! event will be held at Media City, Salford Quays on Saturday August 3^rd.

More images from the day can be viewed here.

The City of Manchester Summer Festival took place on 22 June. An amazing 30 clubs entered the event from all over the country. There were five pitches in action and matches were played in two 7-minute halves. Each team got to play in at least 5 or 6 matches. The atmosphere was fantastic. Radcliffe won the born-2007 or later event. This team of under 12s has had an exceptional season so far being unbeaten in League, Knockout and Tournament matches. A tremendous effort in a young team showing incredible spirit.

Devonport came first in the born-2005 event. This was the third time that Devonport have made the journey north for the event. In addition to winning the under 15 event they got a bronze in the u12 event.

London Youth Games saw teams from all over the capitol competing on 29 June at Crystal Palace. It was a great event where competitors of all levels of experience competed. The winners were Southwark, City of London took silver and Croydon bronze.

London Otter are celebrating 150 years as a club this month. Congratulations!

 

 

 

No matches could take place without referees and we note that Mike Jukes has stepped down as the Officiating Lead on the Water Polo Management Group, while continuing to be as active ever in reffing up and down the country. We would like to thank him for all his hard work and dedication whilst serving on this committee.

Congratulations to Newquay, who won the Culdrose Water Polo Tournament in Cornwall, beating Devonport 12-5 in a thrilling final.

The women’s event was won by Aqua Babes after taking the Army water polo team to penalties. It was a great event.

We are delighted to report that the Worthing under 15 boys water polo team that won the national age group championship in Manchester last October, won the Sussex swimming Youth Participants of the Year Award at the annual presentation that took place in Brighton on Saturday 8^th June 2019. Pictured with the players is their coach Alistair Roberts.

Focussing for a moment on Watford, our congratulations go to the Ladies team who are top of the London League Division two with only one game to go.

The Watford under 13s continue their march to the London League title after maintaining their impressive clean sheet winning five out of five matches. Very well done.

We hope you find this report of interest. We aim to showcase what has been going on in English Water Polo clubs over the last month and flag up forthcoming events. If you have any news that you would like to share about your club please contact me at ah@waterpoloengland.org

2 responses to “Our monthly club news is now out, catch up on polo stories from around the country!”

1. Steven BOND says:

   July 1, 2019 at 10:10 am

   Hi All,
   There seems to be some confusion regarding the item on Steven Murphy. Whilst Steven who is the Head Swim Coach from Mid Sussex Marlins won Sussex Coach of the year , he has no connection with Water Polo.
   The relevant news item from this awards ceremony was that Worthing U15’s Boys Water polo team won the Sussex ASA Youth Participants Award. I can provide more information if need be.

   Reply
   • cheerychris says:

     July 1, 2019 at 10:20 am

     Thanks for your email Steven. and apologies for the misunderstanding. I have now removed the reference to Steven Murphy but would be pleased to receive details of the Worthing U15 polo achievements which we will then post instead. If you could provide a picture too that would be great – send to cd@waterpoloengland.org

     Many thanks

     Kind regards
     Chris
     WPE Admin

     Many thanks

     Reply

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