The next stage of developing BWPL’s partnership with the Maltese Water Polo Federation took place during the Champions Cup weekend at Coventry when representatives from the island were among the event’s officials.

Former FINA referee Mario Dalli was one of the delegates while the referee panel included LEN referee Alex Deraffaele.

Officials line-up – L-R, back row: Damien Taylor, Simon Wiley. Middle: Delegates Mario Dalli, Andrew Allen, Jeff Parker, Trevor Pledger. Front: Jonny Richards, Alex Deraffaele, Max Gerasimov.

The highly successful Champions Cup weekend offered the chance to catch up with an important presentation – the award of the top goal-scorer award to Polytechnic’s South African Olympian Liam Neill.

The splendid, hand-carved trophy was jointly presented to the former men’s National League in 1993 by the Birkenhead and Newport and Maindee Olympic clubs in memory of one of their finest players, Pete Olson.

These days, the award goes to the top marksman in the Super 5s – and Liam Neill’s 28 goals were crucial in Poly’s march to the title.

Originally, it was presented to the top scorer in all Division 1 matches, which explains why the trophy records the names of many of Britain’s finest sharp-shooters – including Colin Burgess (Lancaster), Mike Cowburn (Tyldesley) and Tom Curwen (Lancaster), plus Lancaster’s Scott Carpenter, who achieved a century of goals or more in consecutive seasons, 2006 and 2007.

Scott’s father George was the first player to record the goals ton in the League when he played for Durham City – he managed it twice exactly two decades earlier, 1986 and 1987.
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The presentation to Liam was made by League President Trevor Pledger.

Polytechnic completed a memorable season when they beat City of Manchester 10-7 to clinch the men's Champions Cup at Coventry today.

The League champions were never really sure of completing a very special double success until the final quarter, which began with Joel Leighton scoring for Manchester to cut Poly's lead to 8-7. A smart goal by Nick Hook eventually put Poly 9-7 up and then a penalty, converted by skipper Kimon Haralambous, settled it. 

The trophy and medals were presented by BWPL President Trevor Pledger. Referees were Max Gerasimov and visiting Maltese official Alex Deraffaele.

Third place match: Penguin 13, Sutton & Cheam 7.​

Otter celebrated victory in the women's Champions Cup after defeating City of Manchester 8-6 in an excellent final at Coventry today.

The London side led from the start - 3-1 in the first period, then 4-3 at the halfway stage. It would have been worse for Manchester but for two penalty saves by their goalkeeper Sophie Jackson.

Lucy Bullock's goal from distance put Otter 5-4 up early in the third period and two more goals by Bullock made it 7-4. That's how it stayed for much of the final quarter, in which Manchester had their chances - only to be either thwarted by goalkeeper Molly Dilalla or spoil promising attacks with indifferent finishing.
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Earlier, Liverpool Lizards beat Hucknall 13-9 to take third place. Milly Wordley led their scoring with five.

Otter will meet City of Manchester in the Champions Cup women's final at Coventry tomorrow (14 May) after defeating Hucknall 10-5 at Coventry.

Hucknall were in the hunt until the middle of the final quarter when Otter held a slender 7-5 lead. Then a long break from her own half resulted in Niamhh Moloney scoring a fine goal for the London side - followed shortly afterwards by two more from Rebecca Mulcahy.

​Earlier, Manchester were too strong for Liverpool Lizards, winning 16-6. Leading scorers were Rosie Huck (4), Brooke Tafazolli (3) and Harriet Dickens (3).

City of Manchester defeated Penguin at the fourth attempt today to qualify for tomorrow's men's Champions Cup final against BWPL champions Polytechnic at Coventry.

In the sides' previous meetings this season, there had been two draws and a single-goal win for the Londoners. This time, after another nail-biting finish, it was Manchester who prevailed - 12-11.

Manchester seemed to have the game under control in a dominant second period, when they went from 3-3 to 8-3, with goals by Dan Paddon, Kai Dowling and Rory Inman, plus a couple of sharp man-up finishes by Jordan Elliot.

It was 9-6 to Manchester after three periods but Penguin battled on, recovering to trail 10-8 and then, thanks to a couple of goals from Harry Dunkerley, 12-10. Just 47 seconds remained when Andrea Tulli converted a penalty for Penguin, who then won possession and called a time-out with 20 seconds remaining.

Manchester pressed hard . . . and held out - no doubt grateful to goalkeeper Tom Manley for some brilliant saves at key points in the game.

Earlier, Polytechnic eased into the final with a 17-7 victory over Sutton & Cheam. The Championship 1 winners made a spirited start. They were 2-1 ahead after the first period - their goalkeeper Matt Holland saved a penalty - and trailed only 5-4 midway through the second.

Then Poly, bidding to complete a League and Champions League double, took charge. It was 7-5 after two quarters, rapidly improved to 12-6 in the third, including three smart goals by Liam Neill, the top marksman in BWPL Super 5s this season.   

​BWPL’s annual Dave Warriner Memorial Trophy – for outstanding service to the League and the sport in general – has been awarded this year to Denry Leighton, a loyal table official in recent times but someone with a brilliant, long-serving record in numerous different roles.

Denry (pictured on BWPL table duty - photo by Trevor Hyde) played over many years for a number of clubs, including Everton, York and Nova. He coached Rotherham Metro to the old Division 4 title when the club entered the men’s National League for the first time in 1991. And in the 1990s he officiated as a table official at the World Student Games and European Championships, both in Sheffield.

BWPL has also announced this year’s winners of the Columbus Direct Trophies – for outstanding service to League and club.

The women’s award goes to Penguin’s Rachel Bull, whose career includes spells playing for major clubs in Italy and Australia. However, her first loyalty has always been to Penguin, for whom she has been a consistent top goal scorer for a number of years. She played in every Championship 1 match this season.

The men’s winner is Neil Swainson, who holds the remarkable record of playing in every one of the last 32 National League seasons, beginning with Rotherham Metro. There were a few years when he appeared in the National League for South Derbyshire, the club where he is now chairman, before returning as an ever-present in the Rotherham team.  

Unable to attend the Champions Cup weekend at Coventry next month? Well here’s a thought – you will be able to monitor every goal and exclusion as they happen thanks to a wonderful innovation created by the League’s technology wizard James Reddick.
 
It’s real-time match progress - successfully trialled at the recent Super 5s finale weekend as well as the men’s play-off tournament at Habs, receiving glowing reports from website viewers. Apparently, "watching" the Poly-Penguin finale online proved almost as exciting as actually being there!
 
The aim is that, just like the WePlaySport filming initiative, it will become a regular feature of BWPL competitions – a big step, perhaps, towards achieving the League’s long-term aspiration of dispensing with the current paper match sheets and operating everything online. Watch this space!
 
Follow every incident in the Champions Cup matches by going to the fixtures page and clicking on Live Match Events.

The British League today launches a ground-breaking partnership with Malta water polo when one of our leading young officials, Jonny Richards, flies out to referee a number of games in the island’s Winter League.
 
The focus will then turn to the BWPL Champions Cup weekend at Coventry, 13/14 May, with Karl Izzo, President of the Aquatic Sports Association of Malta, attending as a special guest along with two of Malta’s leading officials – FINA (World Aquatics) referee Mario Dalli and LEN official Alex Deraffaele – among the appointed officials.
 
“We believe this exciting and important collaboration between our two organisations can bring huge benefits for all,” said the League’s Delegate Group chairman Jeff Parker.
 
“Hopefully, Jonny will be the first of many BWPL officials to benefit from experiencing the different environment of water polo in Malta.
 
“The aim of Karl’s visit is to observe how BWPL stages events as well as meeting League officers to explore development of the partnership going forward.
 
"We're most grateful to BWPL President Trevor Pledger for his great work in helping to set up the partnership in its initial stages.”

Photo: Johnny (right) pictured with FINA ref Massimo Angileri before taking charge of the match between Maltese clubs TA Xbiex and Barracudas.

Sedgefield and Worthing had little difficulty qualifying for men’s Division 3 next season after winning their final games at the promotion event at Haberdashers.

Six goals in the first quarter – three by John Pratt, who finish the game with seven – put Sedgefield in charge against Bridgefield. They won 16-7. Worthing beat the British Army 15-7, only breaking clear in the final period with goals by Sam Cooper (2), George Wood (2) - Photo: Trevor Hyde - Ben Curtis and Josh Coulson.

Caledonia Storm comfortably won all three matches in the Division 4 promotion tournament, also at Habs. Murray Dickson scored five as they rounded off with a 16-8 victory over Coventry.
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Avondale, Coventry and Northampton all finished on two points – but it’s Avondale who join the Scots in Division 4 next season by virtue of a superior goal difference.