Invicta caused the first shock of the men's Division 1 programme with a well-deserved 9-6 victory over Manchester at Ponds Forge today (13 October).

Invicta stunned Manchester by racing into a 5-1 lead in the first period - and then moving to 6-1 with a Callum Bailey goal. Manchester's Joe O'Regan, back in action after missing much of last season, then took charge for a while, cutting the deficit to 6-4 with a quickfire hat-trick.

For a while, Manchester looked quite capable of full recovery until Paul Cheetham restored a three-goal advantage for Invicta at 7-4 with a fine long shot. O'Regan scored again - his fourth of the game - shortly afterwards and only Invicta's well organised defence kept their goal intact as Manchester threatened on several occasions.

Three minutes into the final period, typically dogged defence by Invicta disrupted yet another Manchester assault. The slick Invicta counterattack ended with Bailey breaking clear of the Manchester cover and firing a vital goal. That made it 8-5 - and effectively secured the points in an excellent match.

Cheltenham trailed 2-1 after the first quarter against Lancaster - but then hammered eight goals without reply in the second. Eventually, Cheltenham won 17-9, including four goals each for Rudi Polster and Rob Parker.

In Division 2, Portobello trailed 4-2 in the second period to City of Bristol but recovered to win 8-6 thanks to late goals by Ben Scott, Ed Grundy and Fraser Rutherford.

Solihull, British League champions for the first time last season, made a confident start to a new campaign at Ponds Forge today (13 October), beating Durham Palatinates 14-8.

Durham, formerly Team Northumbria, showed they would be competitive in Division 1, taking a 3-2 lead in the opening quarter. But there was no doubting Solihull's superiority as they bagged five goals without response in the second period. Ryan Padbury (4), Jordan Elliot (3) and Jake Vincent (3) were the chief Solihull scorers, while Zach White and John Pratt both netted twice for Durham.

Joel Abbott's three goals put Sheffield 8-6 ahead against Polytechnic at the end of the third period. Poly then hit back to draw the game at 8-8 as Sergio Schiaffino scored twice, raising his tally for the game to four.

In Division 2, goals in the final quarter by Matt Griffiths, Joe Jenkins-Jelf and Ceri Griffiths clinched a 10-7 victory for Welsh Wanderers against Watford. Caledonia drew 6-6 with Penguin, hitting back from 6-3 down with goals by Chris Campbell (2) and Dominique Zahra.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Durham's John Pratt (Blue 7) shrugs off the attentions of Solihull's Joseph Hood to get in a shot. The Solihull goalkeeper is James Alton.

Liverpool Water Beatles were comfortable 11-5 winners against Manchester Comets in the opening women's Division 3 match at Ponds Forge today (13 October). Neve Annett (4) and Isobelle Robb (3) led the Liverpool scoring.

Former GB captain Fran Leighton scored six as Rotherham Metro defeated Welsh Wanderers 12-5. Later, Rotherham triumphed 11-6 in the local derby clash with Sheffield Stingrays. Leighton scored four more and there were two goals each for Lucy Rodgers and Emma Jackson.

In men's Division 5, five-goal Archia Keyghobad helped set up Sheffield Dolphins' 13-8 Yorkshire derby success against Leeds. 

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Sunderland goalkeeper Stephanie Kaiser in action against Nia Sanders, of Welsh Wanderers, in women's Division 3. Wanderers won 12-3.

The death has occurred of Dr Mike Clark, whose remarkably varied and busy life included a huge commitment to water polo as a player, official and administrator. He was 86.

Mike was a life member of the British League, an honour which in the main reflected his great service to the former men's National League, of which he was treasurer for more than two decades.

As a player, Mike was a powerful forward who, in 1966, very briefly held a National League individual scoring record of ten in a match - for Beckenham. Unfortunately, Beckenham were thrown out of the League before the end of that season for "repeated infringement of the rules" and his proud record was expunged!

Mike represented Great Britain as a player and referee at the World Student Games. For many years, he organised and ran the national British Universities water polo competitions almost single-handedly.

In his professional life, Mike was a mathematics lecturer based mainly in later years at Surrey University. He was a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics, a Goldsmith Travelling Fellow and author of several papers on numerical analysis and non-mathematical analysis.

Mike was chairman of planning for the Surrey University sports facility, occasionally the base for BWPL events. Among many other activities, he was a Justice of the Peace for 30 years; director of the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford; and member of Guildford Sports Council. The funeral took place at Woking Crematorium on Wednesday, 17 October, when the League was represented by Chairman David Andrews. 

There were goals galore on the first weekend of women's Division 1 matches at Lancaster. In winning their three games, Coventry and Liverpool Lizards both totalled more than 60. Day two saw Coventry beat Caledonia 19-7 and Liverpool overcome Sheffield Sharks 20-13.

City of Manchester, too, were victorious in both their games, beating Hucknall 11-3 today (7 October).

In women's Division 2 at Northampton, only English Roses won twice, edging out City of Bristol 11-10 in their second fixture. Spare a thought for Penguin Emperors, defeated  8-7 on day one by Mid Sussex Marlins - and going down 8-7 in their second game, this time against City of Birmingham.

 Caledonia survived a late scare against Sheffield Sharks in women's Division 1 at Lancaster today to complete a 14-12 victory.

The Scots led 12-8 at the start of the final period only for Sheffield to come storming back, drawing level with goals by Bernice Cowton (2), Victoria Bowen and Danielle Elliot. However, Sheffield couldn't maintain that momentum into the final minutes as goals by Nicola Tate and Claire Moloney settled the match.

Champions Otter fell at the first hurdle - beaten 10-4 by City of Manchester. Stephanie Whittaker claimed four of the Manchester goals.

It was easy for Coventry, whose 22-6 defeat of Hucknall featured seven goals by Kimberly Watson. Liverpool Lizards also had no difficulty in accounting for Leeds Sharks - 19-7. Top goal scorer in this match was Katie Hesketh (Photo: Trevor Hyde), with six. They followed up with a 25-8 defeat of Hucknall.

After winning women's Championship 2 last season, Mid Sussex Marlins began a new campaign in Division 2 at Northampton today with victory over Penguin Emperors - but it was a close-run affair.

Marlins were seemingly cruising at 8-4 up in the last period when Simone Lewis led an Emperors' counterattack, scoring three quick goals, bringing her personal tally for the game to six. There were still more than two minutes remaining after that, but neither team could manage another goal, leaving Marlins with the points at 8-7.

Another close match saw Birmingham draw 8-8 with Liverpool Liver Birds. Birmingham led 4-1 at one stage but needed a final goal 30 seconds from the end by Lauren Keight to secure a point.

City of Bristol made a positive start, beating Otter Lutra 11-2, including five goals from Ella-Louise Jones. English Roses enjoyed a narrow 13-10 success against Tyldesley.

In response to a recent open letter from Ian Elliot, Chair, Swim England Water Polo Management Group - plus numerous comments from concerned BWPL clubs - League chairman David Andrews has forwarded this letter to British Swimming and Swim England. 

I am writing in my position as Chairman of the British Water Polo League and on behalf of the League's membership in response to the various communications the sport witnessed last week.

Water Polo has been left with the sense that both Swim England and British Swimming have deserted it and I call upon both bodies to confirm their support going forward and, in simple terms, to tell the community where water polo is headed.

It is essential your confirmation of support contains tangible initiatives, not just rhetoric, to satisfy the mistrust that, unfortunately, now persists in the water polo community - and which is constantly drawn to the attention of the League's officials by its membership.

In particular, the lack of apparent support for our elite senior representative teams is a huge concern. Parents are already required to subsidise young aspiring players to a huge extent and, without the ultimate goal of senior national representation, this model and pathway will surely fail.

I will be sharing this letter with the League's membership and look forward to a positive response in due course.

David Andrews, BWPL Chairman

Teams and officials attending next weekend's event at Salt Ayre Pool, Lancaster, are advised to allow extra time for their journeys due to major roadworks in the town.

Local advice is to leave the motorway at the Morecambe exit and take the new Bay bypass to the sports centre.

One of the most encouraging features of the season so far has been the involvement of so many younger referees in the British League.

This picture brought together young officials - all 11 of them - at the recent men's Divisions 3 and 4 weekend in Sheffield. The majority view was that they did an outstanding job.

BWPL Chairman David Andrews said: "There have been grumbles for many years about the shortage of referees in this country - as well as the apparent lack of a comprehensive training programme.

"With the situation reaching crisis point, the League took a policy decision a while ago to offer every encouragement to those who were keen to give this challenging but essential role a go. Most of those in action at Ponds Forge have already received invaluable training and mentoring either through the National Age Groups competition or the referees' academy that BWPL inaugurated last year - and will be repeated this season."

​BWPL Young Refs XI (L-R): Shane O'Brien, Nick Daly, Joel Leighton, Jordan Elliot, Claire Walmsley, Matt Graves, Katie Hesketh, Jamie McDonald, Connor Jukes, Michael Tween, Pat Bennett.