Eighteen Covid-ravaged months after it was due to happen, the men’s 2019/20 Championship 1 programme is finally set for completion – at Watford Woodside pool, 11/12 September.

Two games remain to be played that will decide which team claims the remaining 2021/22 promotion spot to Division 1 alongside champions Polytechnic and Cheltenham. On Saturday, 11 September, Sutton & Cheam face Welsh Wanderers. The next day it’s the turn of Wanderers to take on Watford.

For Sutton, the challenge is straightforward. Victory over Wanderers would guarantee progress to Division 1, irrespective of what happens in the Wanderers-Watford clash.

But the scenario is very different if Wanderers manage a win or a draw. It would mean that their clash with Watford the next day turns into a winner-takes-all battle for promotion.

Venue for the women’s qualification tournament on 11/12 September has been confirmed as Liverpool Aquatics Centre.

A spectacular event is guaranteed – seven teams playing a total of 21 quickfire matches, with the top three progressing to Division 3 at the start of the full season at the end of September.
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Taking part will be two teams that dropped out after phase one of the 2019/20 season (Liverpool Water Beatles and Manchester Comets); a previously well-established League member bidding for a return (Sunderland); and four new applicants (Durham Palatinates, Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth, St Andrew’s University and Solihull). A full schedule for the weekend is now published on the fixtures page. 

​Competition among women’s teams for places in the British League has hit record levels.

No fewer than SEVEN clubs will be battling for three places in Division 3 next season when the qualification tournament takes place on 11/12 September (venue to be announced). That’s even though English Roses decided to withdraw from the League, which meant that Watford, sixth-placed team in Division 3 during the 2019/20 season, regained automatic entry for the new campaign.

Taking part in the qualifier will be two teams that did not progress to the Championship last time out, Liverpool Water Beatles and Manchester Comets, plus Durham Palatinates, Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth, St Andrew’s University, Solihull and Sunderland.
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English Roses’ departure ended a successful spell of several years in the League in which their players happily demonstrated that water polo can be very much a sport for all ages!

Former BWPL official Frank Ohme has been confirmed as one of the referees for the delayed Tokyo Olympics this summer.

Frank (pictured), who refereed regularly in the BWPL during his time in Wales as a lecturer in astro-physics at Cardiff University, has become one of the world’s leading officials – a regular in the World League and Champions League as well as refereeing top games at the FINA World Championships in Budapest.

Now back in his narive Germany and based at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, he was also appointed to the Olympics panel for the event’s original date of 2020.

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.