​Otter dominated their top-of-the table battle with Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth, maintaining a proud 100 per cent record in women’s Championship 1 with a 17-8 victory at Bolton today. Pippa Danielson led the scoring with four.
 
In the closest match of all, Worthing hit back in the late stages to grab an 11-10 victory over Watford. Watford led until the final period when Grace Turner’s goal brought Worthing up to 8-8, followed shortly afterwards by another Worthing goal from Rebecca Smith. The game progressed to 10-10 before Rebecca Smith struck the winner 1.40 from the end.  
 
It was a great weekend for Tyldesley, who beat Coventry 15-10 to complete a hat-trick of wins. Honor Grimes (Photo: Trevor Hyde) scored five. Sophie Wilkinson netted five for Penguin Emperors, who won 20-15 against Exeter.
 
There will be much to play for when the Championship 2 programme concludes at Eton on 15/16 March. The top three teams will move to Division 1 at the start of the 2025/26 season, while the bottom five head for Division 2 along with Rotherham Metro, who qualified as sixth-placed team in Division 2 in the first phase of this season, and two teams from the play-offs involving Caledonia, Liverpool Liver Birds, Welsh Wanderers.

The latest women’s Championship 1 matches brought together at Bolton teams from the far reaches of the BWPL  – with Scotland’s Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth enjoying a memorable day out.

They beat Worthing – based roughly 470 miles away in Sussex – 21-11, Johanna Rayner netting six and Eugenia Arbus five, and followed up by defeating Exeter (440 miles away in the South-West) 24-10.

Meanwhile, Otter maintained their unbeaten record, Sarah Snyder and Lucy-Mai Helliwell scoring four each in a 14-5 defeat of Coventry. Otter face K & K in a crunch match at Bolton tomorrow.
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Tyldesley won twice. Holly Toone scored four in a 12-7 success against Exeter, and added eight more as Worthing were outplayed 18-10. Watford’s 15-10 win against Penguin Emperors featured hat-tricks by Kirsten Pender, Eve Barnes (Photo: Trevor Hyde) and Laura Page.

Swim England have announced that trials for senior men’s and women’s Great Britain squads will take place at Haberdashers’ School on Saturday, 15 March.

Players who would like to take part are invited to complete the expression of interest form by going to https://forms.office.com/e/7XzH1hzdbS. 

GB national programmes are organised by Swim England on behalf of Aquatics GB.

Men’s Championship 1 is heading for a dramatic finale weekend at Haberdashers on 8/9 March after the latest round of matches ended with three teams – Sutton & Cheam, Sedgefield and Watford – level at the top, each with 12 points from five matches.

The programme at Habs offers a mouth-watering mix of games, with Sedgefield due to meet Watford and Sutton while Sheffield, still very much in the picture in fourth place after beating Invicta 17-7 today, take on Sutton and Watford.

Watford were involved in another cliffhanger finish, beating Portobello 18-17 thanks to five goals from Adam Heywood and hat-tricks from Sam Carling, Zac Corcoran and Josh Barrett.

Stephen Bayles led the scoring for Sutton with five in a 16-9 defeat of Caledonia. Sedgefield entered the final period of their match with Worthing at 8-8 but then broke clear with goals by John Pratt, Rohan Henderson, Connor Keeble and Ben Alderson to win 12-10.
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In men’s Championship 2, Exeter maintained their title challenge with a 13-9 win against Manchester Hawks. Kam Powell scored five, taking his weekend tally in three matches to 17. Hucknall are level on points with Exeter at the top – they defeated Southampton 15-11 – while Rob Parker claimed another seven goals in Cheltenham Spartans’ 17-7 defeat of Lancaster.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Joao Martins in action for Worthing at Eton College. 

It’s tight at the top in men’s Championship 1 as Portobello, led by four-goal Davide Ingala beat Sutton & Cheam 12-8 at Bolton today, Sutton’s first defeat of the season.

It left Sutton on nine points from four games at the top, equal with Sedgefield and Watford, who both won again. Sedgefield were too strong for Invicta at Eton College, whose 22-5 victory featured five goals from skipper John Pratt and three each from Rohan Henderson, Ben Alderson and Connor Keeble.

Worthing held out for a 10-9 victory over Sheffield to clinch their first points of the season. They were 9-5 up early in the third period but Sheffield cut the gap to 9-8 with goals by Corran Bradley (Photo: Trevor Hyde), Daniel Farini and Elliot Kelly before George Wood eased the pressure on Worthing with his fourth strike. Kelly netted again from a man-up chance 3.44 from the end, but that was the last of the scoring. Later, Worthing won for the second time – 12-3 against Invicta.

The Scottish derby between Caledonia and Portobello provided a spectacular finish to day one. Portobello led 15-10 but survived a late scare as two goals each by Rory Nesbitt and Dominque Zahra brought Caledonia up to 15-14 – which is how it stayed.

In men’s Championship 2, Kam Powell, of Exeter, scored nine in his team’s 14-11 defeat of Hucknall. Another top individual performer was Rob Parker, of Cheltenham Spartans, who hit eight against Bridgefield – but not enough to deprive Bridgefield of the points at 14-13. 

City of Manchester stepped up their bid for a fifth double triumph as champions in men’s and women’s Super 5s with emphatic victories at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, today (9 February).

James Blenkinship scored five as the men beat Polytechnic 11-4, dominating from the start and building a 7-3 lead by the early stages of the third period.

The women’s team swept aside Liverpool Lizards 15-3, Izzy Howe leading the way with six goals.

The men’s Super 5s produced a nerve-racking finale as Penguin edged out Cheltenham 19-18 after a fourth shoot-out of this season in men’s Super 5s.

Penguin held a narrow advantage for much of the match. In fact, Cheltenham were only once in the lead – when a George Davies goal briefly put his team 12-11 up in the final period. Charles Kingsmill (Photo: Trevor Hyde) soon edged Penguin into a 14-13 lead, Davies responding once again to make it 14-14 with just 46 seconds remaining and forcing a shoot-out.

It may have ended up a disappointing weekend for Cheltenham men, but the club’s women’s team enjoyed double success, following up their day one win over Sheffield Sharks by defeating Hucknall 15-5.  

The formidable challenge of tackling matches against City of Manchester and Penguin on the same day proved too much for Welsh Wanderers in the men’s Super 5s at Ponds Forge today.

They went down 13-6 to Manchester, who are chasing their fifth title and, later on, were beaten 20-15 by Penguin, for whom Paul Sindone and Tilemachos Pissas both scored four.

Calum de Jager (4) and Caleb Simpson (3) - Photo: Trevor Hyde -  led the scoring for Polytechnic, who defeated Cheltenham 13-9.

In the women’s Super 5s, Cheltenham hit back superbly in the final stages to clinch an 11-8 victory over Sheffield Sharks. Anna Miller’s fifth goal had given Sharks at 8-5 lead midway through the third period, but Cheltenham then took charge, pulling up to 8-8 by the start of the last and then breaking clear with strikes by Charlotte Turpin, Vicki Hawkins and – with her fifth of the game -  Bella Balzaretti.
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Earlier, Manchester were too strong for Sheffield Sharks, winning 15-5, including three goals each for Izzy Howe, Rosie Huck and Brooke Tafazolli. It was just as straightforward for Liverpool Lizards, 16-1 winners against Hucknall. 

The line-up for women’s and men’s qualification tournaments at Haberdashers on 5/6 April has been confirmed.

The women’s event will be a three-way affair, with Liverpool Liver Birds up against two teams who are no strangers to BWPL competition, Caledonia and Welsh Wanderers. Manchester Comets did not enter.
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There are four teams in the men’s tournament – Otter, Rotherham Metro, Watford Saxons and the British Army.

​In both competitions, two qualify for places in the League at the start of the 2025/26 season. See fixtures pages for tournament details.

In only their third season in BWPL, Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth enjoyed the move up to women’s Championship 1 by claiming their second victory of the Liverpool weekend. They scored seven without reply in the first period against Penguin Emperors and eventually triumphed 19-11.

Leading the goal feast were Eugenia Arbus and Johanna Rayner, who both scored six, and Elisa Querolo (5).

Otter beat Exeter 13-7 to complete a hat-trick of wins while Worthing’s first victory – 16-9 against Coventry – featured four goals apiece for Grace Turner and Isobel Sadler-Bates.
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Tyldesley started strongly against Watford but a dominant third period saw Watford turn a 9-7 deficit into a 14-ll lead, Kirsten Pender and Eve Barnes both netting twice. Tyldesley rallied again in the final period, but in the end were beaten 16-15. 

Photo: Eve Barnes fires in the vital 16th goal for Watford.

After narrowly missing out on qualification for the Super 5s, Otter enjoyed double success at the start of the women’s Championship 1 programme at Liverpool, today (1 February).

Sarah Snyder scored six as they began with a 16-5 victory over Penguin Emperors. Later, they were too strong for Watford, winning 19-6, including another five Snyder strikes and six from Rebecca Mulcahy.

Consolation for Watford later on was a 15-9 win against a youthful Coventry team, Laura Page leading the way with six goals.

Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth raced into a 9-3 lead in the first quarter against Tyldesley and eventually won 15-9.

Exeter claimed a 10-9 win over Worthing. The Devon team led 10-7 after three periods, including four goals from Josephine Lamont-Tuckett; Worthing rallied in the last two minutes, scoring through Rebecca Smith and Lillie-Rose Standen.
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The division’s first penalty shoot-out occurred at the end of day one, Penguin Emperors beating Coventry 19-17 after the teams finished regular time at 15-15.