The British League will be welcoming a new name to the men’s competition next season – Sedgefield, whose outstanding record of junior development over the years has included winning nine national age group titles.

Sedgefield gain automatic entry to Division 5 now that a qualifying tournament is no longer required. Also involved will be Watford Saxons, who dropped out after the first phase of the 2019/20 season.

The Durham club was founded in 1997 by ex-international George Carpenter, who, in 1986, became the first player to score 100 goals in a season in the former men’s National League while representing Durham City (repeating the feat the following year, with 105).

Another two decades passed before another player registered a ton – George’s son Scott! Scott starred for Lancaster before emigrating to Australia, where he represented the national team and also captained Melbourne’s Victoria Tigers to the Australian National League title.
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Over the years, numerous international players have enjoyed their first water polo experience at Sedgefield. Matthew Bowden was the first from the club to play for GB men while Sedgefield provided two members of GB’s 2012 women’s Olympics team – Angela Winstanley-Smith, who later played professionally in France before coaching the New Zealand national women’s team, and Chloe Wilcox.

​After reviewing the latest Covid advice from Government and Swim England, the BWPL Committee agreed at its latest meeting to continue plans for a full 2021/22 season from September. Everyone will now have fingers firmly crossed that restrictions are greatly eased by then and that pools are well and truly open!

The deadline of 1 May for clubs to withdraw from the League – and for teams to confirm they wish to take part in qualification – remains.

It’s appreciated that this deadline is tight for clubs currently uncertain how they will be situated in four months’ time. The problem for the League management team is that there is much work that must be done in the immediate future on key areas such as pool bookings.

The schedule blueprint for the next two seasons is available to view under Forms and Documents on the Information page, helping teams assess their likely commitments.
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The qualification tournament for women’s teams is planned for 11/12 September. No qualification event will be needed for men.

​In April 2023, British water polo will mark a very special anniversary – 60 years since the very first national league match in this country. It took place in the Midlands and saw Otter’s men defeat the representative Birmingham & District League team 5-3.

We’ve come a very long way since then! The men’s competition grew rapidly from eight founder teams to four divisions by 1986; the expansion of the women’s National League was just as spectacular, increasing from seven teams in its inaugural season of 1988 to four divisions 20 years later.

More than 200 different teams have played national league polo in the UK. Many competed for a short time and are long forgotten; just an honoured few have featured in every season.

We’ve now put together a year-by-year record of every one! Check the ups and downs of your team by clicking on Year by Year in this website’s History section.

​The British League’s new Champions Cup and Super 5s competitions are to be official qualifiers for clubs entering European Champions League and Euro Cup.

British Swimming made the announcement today as it published a proposed event schedule for senior and age group British teams, as well as those representing the Home Nations, for the remainder of 2021 and 2022. See https://www.britishswimming.org/news/water-polo-news/water-polo-teams-look-future-new-schedule/

The aim, it says, is to lay “the platform for a progressive, long-term vision for the sport in this country.”
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BWPL chairman David Andrews said today: “This news is very welcome, in particular the fact that success in the BWPL will lead to formal entry to LEN events. This acknowledges the quality of competition that we endeavour to provide year after year for all the top clubs in England, Scotland and Wales.”

​John Lake, former player and influential coach of West London Penguin, has died a month short of his 81st birthday after a long illness.

Stephen Baker, ex-chairman of the former men’s National League, writes: “John lived for his family and his sport. He was a more than useful player, representing Sutton and Cheam but spending most of his career at Penguin as well as swimming for Spencer SC, where his achievements included winning a European Masters 200m backstroke title in the 1980s.

“From the late 1970s, John coached Penguin to the men’s NWPL second division title and was then responsible for reformulating an aging side to a young dynamic team with much potential, guiding young players to international success. In the late 1980s he became head coach of the new Penguin women’s team, remaining so for the next 30-plus years.”
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John, brother-in-law to Penguin legend Ron Turner, worked as a tertiary level teacher of PE in colleges and was then pool manager of the Shell Centre. 

This is the link for people to add messages to a memory board - ​https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/p5SHA1uj

The long-standing system of grading referees is to end following Swim England Water Polo Leadership Group’s launch of a new structure.

Qualifications will now be based on a referee’s level of competence at club, regional, national and international competitions. And the structure includes a development pathway from club right through to international level.
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The BWPL encourages all members of its Referees’ Panel to complete a survey - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/WPO2021 - along with other refs across the country. This will help build an accurate database of qualified officials and determine who is active. Closing date for responses is 11 April.

The League Committee met today (21st February) and discussed at length prospects for a resumption of matches next season.

A start in September remains the aspiration. But League chairman David Andrews says: “This would require the vaccination programme to have made significant progress and, to a large degree, restrictions to have been lifted.

“It would also rely on a reasonable expectation that restrictions would not be reintroduced, as we witnessed last autumn. Clearly, this all requires a crystal ball which we do not have but hopefully it will help clubs understand the thought processes we are going through.

“The Committee meet again in mid-April when we will review when best to seek our member clubs’ and teams’ commitment to the new season. In the meantime, we will be reviewing Swim England’s advice and guidance on a planned return to pools and competition as it appears.”

British water polo will not be benefiting from UK Sport financial support in the immediate future, it was revealed today.

British Swimming submitted an investment application and detailed strategic plan for the sport last September. This was done in partnership with the home nation governing bodies of England, Scotland and Wales, the wider polo community – including BWPL – and the British Water Polo Leadership Group.
British Swimming’s application was not successful – news described as “very disappointing” by the Leadership Group.

However, UK Sport did officially recognise the work done on the strategy and governance of the sport, most notably the collaborative approach taken by all concerned. The Leadership Group statement added: “We have been made aware that there is likely to be future funding support for sports in our position and we believe that the work done to date will put us in a strong position to successfully apply for this in due course. 
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“Although funding would have accelerated our development, we will continue to push forward in our ambition to develop the performance end of British Water Polo.”

And, finally, some positive news . . . ! The League Committee have agreed that, with the Covid-19 pandemic situation hopefully easing over the next few months, we can begin to plan for the start of a full 2021/22 season next September.

Sadly, the Champions Cup won’t be happening, as envisaged, in April/May. This is due to a variety of problems (not least, the current ban on training for over-18s). But it will re-emerge in 2022 as a super new prestige event featuring BWPL’S top clubs.

For all teams, it’s now a matter of keeping fingers firmly crossed that there will be a return to action next September.  The intention is that the qualification tournament and Championship 1 play-off take place in the early part of the month, followed by the full programme starting in late-September.
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A key date will be 1 May. The pandemic continues to have a calamitous impact on many water polo clubs and that date will be the withdrawal deadline should any current team not be in a position to tackle the new season. 1 May is also the deadline for applications from potential new clubs.

Last week, a green light to play again . . . and now? Wham! A new raft of Government coronavirus restrictions which once again will impact on water polo.

In his House of Commons statement yesterday, Boris Johnson said that the ‘rule of 6’ is being extended to indoor adult team sports – anyone aged 18 years and over.

To what extent will our sport be affected?

Swim England today clarified the situation for BWPL, confirming that sessions will be limited to training and playing in bubbles of six people only but that “the new rules state that organised indoor sport or exercise classes can take place in larger numbers, provided groups of more than six do not mix.

“This means six could play a three-versus-three game in one area of the pool, while another group of six do the same in a different part of the water.”
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The latest guidance does not apply to under-18 indoor team sports, which can carry on as before. Swim England is seeking further clarification on how this applies to mixed groups of athletes aged over 18 and under 18, but the current interpretation is that each group must be limited to six. It is also understood that coaches are not included in the six as long as they maintain social distancing. For details of today’s Swim England statement, go to https://www.swimming.org/waterpolo/clarity-coronavirus-restrictions/.