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.

Caledonia had a special pre-season training event last weekend (30th-31st August) as they welcomed David Martin, head coach of the Spanish men’s national team.

Over two days David put the squads through their paces with a mix of technical drills, tactical sessions and team workshops. From working on defensive positioning to improving transition play and match awareness, everyone came away with new ideas and a real boost of confidence.

Players and coaches alike were inspired by David's passion for the sport and the level of detail he brings to every aspect of training. It was a unique opportunity to learn directly from one of the top coaches in world water polo — and the energy on poolside showed how much it meant to the group. 

Caledonia Captain Rory Nesbitt summed it up perfectly: “This weekend was a fantastic experience! Having a world champion coach take your pre-season sessions isn’t something that happens every day, or something that many people can say they’ve had, so makes it such a unique opportunity for us. Being able to listen and learn from the way David views and plays the game was an extremely interesting and valuable experience for both players and coaches which will have a great impact on us as a squad going into the bwpl season and a lasting effect on all involved going forward."

Caledonia will be putting their new skills to the test at the first Men's event of the new BWPL season, with all three divisions competing at Ponds Forge, Sheffield on 27-28 September.

Some familiar BWPL names were recently in action at the World Aquatics Masters Championships in Singapore.

Penguin Club captain Mark Bullerwell was with the Olympic Club, San Francisco, who won the gold medal in the men’s 40’s age bracket, while Penguin’s Andrei Radu Secuesu and Dan Balanov, playing for Romanian side ACS Hello Sport, took the bronze.  Cedric Torres played for Swiss side, Les Crocos Leman.

Meanwhile London Polytechnic, with Penguin Miguel Ortiz in their ranks, took the silver medal in the men’s 55’s age bracket after playing a tough final, against Darkside, from the US.  Jez Sherman captained the Poly team line-up of Alan Anderson, David Bird, Barry Davidson, Rob Eastman, Keith Jones, Neal Rayner, David Schuppler, Gary Simons, Ben Simperingham and David Stewart.

Congratulations to Max Gerasimov, of Cheltenham, who has achieved another landmark in his refereeing career following selection as an official for the World Aquatics Championships, which take place in Singapore next July. Photo: Trevor Hyde

The list of appointments also includes former BWPL referee Frank Ohme, of Germany, who of course is already established as one of the world’s leading officials.

Penguin won the men's Champions Cup for the first time at Coventry today, outplaying City of Manchester, the 2024 winners, from the start and eventually triumphing 11-8.

Manchester missed chances early on and were also thwarted by fine saves from Penguin's goalkeeper Elliot McHugh. It was a different story at the other end where Penguin finished so effectively that goals by Charles Kingsmill (2), James Salt, Adrian Carreri and Tom Hutchens put the London side 5-0 ahead by the end of the first period.

The lead went to 7-2 in the second period, Manchester's frustrations increasing as McHugh saved a penalty. Almost immediately, Hutchens scored again - a superb back-hander while heavily marked in the centre-forward position.

Manchester rallied towards the end, but Penguin were able to coast to a victory that deprived Manchester of another Super 5s/Champions Cup double. 

Photos: Above: Penguin's players celebrate their win. Below: Penguin goalkeeper Elliot McHugh thwarts another Manchester attack.