Otter Women are due to compete in the European Aquatics Challenger Cup on the same weekend as the Super 5s Grand Finale, 21-22 March.  Their last two Super 5s fixtures against Manchester and Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth will now be played at East Manchester on Saturday 14th March, see Fxtures page.

Please see the below update from the BWPL Committee regarding Swim England, Swim Wales and Scottish Swimming insurance. If any further information or clarification about insurance is required, please contact the appropriate governing body. 

"The British Water Polo League was recently informed by Swim England that the insurance position of a club member who resided outside the United Kingdom was that they were not covered for either personal injury or public liability insurance. As such we prevented these players playing in the league.

Following further work by Swim England with their insurers we now understand that the insurance policy does indeed cover members who reside outside the United Kingdom for public liability. They are however NOT covered for any personal injury. 

The League's current position (as at 22nd December 2025) is that players who reside abroad and who are members of a Swim England, Scottish Swimming or Swim Wales club are now insured for public liability and so are now able to participate in BWPL, providing they hold Club Compete (or equivalent) category membership and are properly registered with BWPL. 

Personal injury insurance is a matter for the individual and not for BWPL or the national governing bodies."

​BWPL is working with the Swim England Safeguarding & Welfare team to help create as safe an environment as possible for all participants, be they senior or junior, coach, team manager or official. We will be consulting with Swim England on future relevant updates to Wavepower (Swim England’s safeguarding policy), and in the meantime, and with Swim England’s support, we are writing to all involved in BWPL as follows.

While providing the best possible environment for our best players it remains key for everyone involved to contribute to the safety of others and we would ask all concerned with the League to look at Swim England’s Wavepower:

 https://www.swimming.org/swimengland/wavepower-updated-version/

Can everyone please make sure they read and understand the sections relating to “junior” players participating in “senior” competitions and therefore against senior players. As many as one in four competing in our Women’s competitions and one in eight in our Men’s competitions are currently under eighteen years of age. Wavepower pages 105-106 deal with the matter specifically, but of relevance to the League is the section on competitions:

Games and competitions (Wavepower page 106)

"The coach has a duty of care to take all factors into account when selecting a team, including, but not exclusively, the age, gender, physical capability and skills of all players in the team and of the opposition’s team."

The BWPL Delegates Group has launched its Officials' Charter, an aspirational statement that brings together the principles we want to stand by — integrity, impartiality, competence, respect, and safeguarding, while highlighting the positive impact our community makes on the sport.

Jeff Parker, Chair of the Delegates Group, declared "By sharing this Charter, we want to send a clear message: our officials’ community is united, committed to high standards, and determined to make the BWPL experience the best it can be for everyone involved."

​The Charter can be downloaded from the Info page of the website - click here.