Did you know...
..that water polo as we know it was originally known as water rugby and the goalkeeper was standing on the pool deck? click me

...that the water polo rules we play today were formed in the 1880's ? click me

...that Water Polo was founded in England? click me

...that water polo was the first team sport added to the Modern Olympic Games? click me

...that Great Britain won the first Water Polo Olympics? click me

...that the most famous water polo match in history is probably the 1956 Summer Olympics semi-final match between Hungary and the Soviet Union? click me

17/12/07 - Four More Lancaster players join the GB Squad
Congratulations to Decland Ellwood, Elliot Traffard, Lawrence Daykin and Stefan Detko for getting in the GB youth squad. They went for trials on Sunday 16th December at Walsall and all did well!
Check out the Lancaster players in the Great Britian Squad

11/12/07 - LANCASTER MOURN THE SAD LOSS OF SHEILA LYNCH
Former swimming coach Sheila Lynch died on Wednesday 5th December due to health implications following a heart attack six weeks earlier. Sheila joined Lancaster Swimming Club in the early 1970’s - introduced by her dear and eventual life-long friend Irene Smith who still continues to teach at the club. 
Sheila gained her ASA teachers’ certificate in 1976.  She then went on to manage the Micro League and Sub-League swimmers for many years.  During that period she was also a committee member and tirelessly helped organise many of the club’s swimming galas.  Sheila eventually retired from the club in 2003. Many members and parents alike will remember Sheila for her cheerful, infectious yet no-nonsense personality.  She was also involved in teaching swimming on behalf of the local authority and educational services, etc.  Our sincere condolences go out to Sheila’s family, in particular her son David and two daughters Helen & Gail who all used to be competitive members of the club.
The funeral will take place on Tuesday 18th December, 12:15 pm at St Peter's Cathedral, Lancaster.

20/11/07 - Bristol think 'bl**dy miserable hellhole of a place called Lancaster'
Lancaster has been named a 'bl**dy miserable hellhole of a place' according to Bristol Water Polo club. We suppose everyone has their views......
....A little fact about Lancaster and Bristol; Bristol and Lancaster have dominated the National League for over a decade and shared the last 13 league titles between them. The games are always tight and the two previous meetings this season have seen one victory each.

20/11/07 - Carlisle second win
This week Ryzh, Csaba , Zak and Bret drove up to Carlisle home pool and took on Liverpool. It was a hard, ruff game to play but Carlisle won 10 - 5.

19/11/07 - BBC North West Tonight. 6.30pm till 7.00pm Monday 19th November
Howard Booth from North West Tonight said.
" Hi Zak, I'm hoping there will be a few seconds on tonight's programme at 6.30 on BBC One. As for other material, there is no scheduled date for that but I'll let the club know when it's all been decided."
So keep an eye out tonight on BBC One. If you miss it i will get a clip for the website ASAP.

09/11/07 - Four Lancaster players joined Carlisle first win-
Ryzh, Csaba , Zak and Bret joined Carlisle players Dan and Matt (who also play for lancaster) yesterday and beat Fleetwood who were in their home pool. The four Lancaster players played in a shallow deep pool which they are not used to. Carlisle play Liverpool on the 14th November at Home (Carlisle pool).

14/10/07 - Otter move to last place as they lose 6 points -
Otter played an ineligible player in matches against Penguin, Bristol and Rotherham. The league took the action under NWPL Rule 304.5 as well as ASA registration regulations. They now move from eighth to last place. A revised fixture list for phase two has been brought out as there were a couple of mistakes made on behalf of the NWPL. The only changes are a couple of time changes at the Lancaster weekend.

14/10/07 - Bristol and Manchester Results
Day One: Vouliagmeni NC 14 Bristol 3, C.N Martianez 21 Manchester 3
Day Two: C.N. Barcelona 22 Bristol 1, CSK VMF Moscow 14 Manchester 6

11/10/07 - Bristol and Manchester start their LEN games tomorrow
We will keep you informed on how the two England clubs Bristol and MAnchester do in the 2007/2008 Men Len Trophy. Bristol who are playing in Barcelona play, 12/10 Vouliagmeni NC (GRE), 13/10 C.N. Barcelona (ESP), 14/10 CN De Noisy Le Sec (FRA). Manchester are playing in Tenerife and they play 12/10 C.N Martianez (ESP), 13/10 CSK VMF Moscow (RUS) and 14/10 De Zijl LGB Vivax (NED)

09/10/07 - Phase two fixtures announced.
Dave Boot has just e-mailed out the phase two fixtures. Lancaster will start of by playing Bristol then followed by Rotherham. For the rest of the fixtures check out the National League section

09/10/07 - Jamie's Leaving Night.
Check out a couple of photos from Jaime's leaving do.

17/09/07 - Alex, James and Glen move to Manchester whilst Andy moves back home.
Alex Rutlidge, James Wannap and Glen Robinson have all moved to MAnchester to train full time with the Great Britain squad. Alex is also studying at Manchester University and James Wannap is doing a college course in Brick Laying. All three Lancaster players will be participating in national squad training. Andy Squires has made a decision to leave the national squad training in Manchester and to move back home to Lancaster.

17/09/07 - Successful start for division two National League at Salt Ayre
the 15th and 16th September division two was played at Salt Ayre. There was no delays and it run smoothly. Lancaster will be playing National League at Salt Ayre on the 17th and 18th November. PLUS this Friday (21st) Lancaster play Preston at home in the North Lancs League.

10/09/07 - Jamie scores 0.01 seconds in his last National League game before he moves to Australia.
Lancaster started their first National League weekend on a slight downer. Lancaster drew with 2006 runner up Cheltenham with the final score 11 - 11). Lancaster players Andy Squires and Ciaran James were both rapped for Acts of Misconduct and therefore got a match ban. Lancaster then went on to play Polytechnic, in their second game of the session and they beat them 14 - 6. The final game saw Lancaster loose four outfield players and Dave Bush in goals. Lancaster beat Manchester 13 - 5, with Jamie scoring his last National League goal on 0.01 seconds. For all stats and more click here.

10/09/07 - Lancaster Win DWPC tournament.
In an excellent 'Sport for All' tournament Lancaster defeated Dunfermline in a closely fought final. For more about this visit the DWPC website. Check out the team photo.

05/09/07 - Two players move to Grantham
Ciaran James and Marc Robinson moved to Grantham this morning. They are both studying at Grantham College. They both will be traveling back to Lancaster to play National League, so we will see them around!

31/08/07 - Newsletter August 2007
The Latest GB Polo newsletter available now

21/08/07 -North West ASA matches now online
Check out who your playing against in the North West ASA (Formally known as Northern Counties). Dates and times will be up shortly.

14/08/07 - GB lose and now fight for 11th place
GB took 12th place in the World University Games Water Polo when they lost 9-17 to Russia. GB were ahead 4 - 3 in the first quarter but did not seem to control the game and lost every other quarter (4-3; 1-3; 2-6;2-5)

14/08/07 - GB lose and now fight for 11th place
GB ha a 6-9 defeat by Turkey, Turkey were in the lead from the beginning of the match. GB play the Russian Federation tomorrow for 11th and 12th play off

14/08/07 - GB lose very close match
GB played Australia today. The first quarter GB were down 2 -0. They managed to pull 2 goals back to make it 3 -2 by half time.By the end of the third quarter it was 6 - 4. In the last quarter GB only managed to score one goal making the final score Australia 6 GB 5 . GB will play Turkey tomorrow.

11/08/07 - World University games, GB going for gold
A 16-7, (P1) 2 - 2 (P2) 4 - 2 (P3) 7 - 1 (P4) 3 - 2, win over South Africa completed their Group games and they took 2nd place behind unbeaten Serbia and move to the Classification round for places 1-12 on Tuesday at 2pm.

10/08/07 - World University games day two
GB played Japan in their second game. The scores were (P1) 2 - 2 (P2) 2 - 2 (P3) 1 - 1 (P4) 4- 3. GB managed to score a extra goal in the last quarter to win GBB 9 Japan 8.

10/08/07 - World University games day one
GB are in group B with Serbia, Japan and South Africa. Japan beat South Africa in their opening match. GB played Serbia in their opening match. The scores were (P1) 3 - 1, (P2) 2 - 2, (P3) 4 - 0,(P4) 4 - 4. with the final score being Serbia 13 GB 7.

09/08/07 - World University games start tomorrow
Tomorrow (Friday 10th) will be the first day for the Water Polo. GB play Serbia at 12.30 in their first preliminary round. On Saturday they play Japan at 5.00pm. Then on Sunday their last game of the preliminary round is against South Africa at 11am.

09/08/07 - GB finish 9th (Womens GB youth)
GB beat Czech Republic 11-13 to get to the 9th and 10th play offs. GB played against Serbia in a seat clinching match. By the fourth quarter it was was 10 - 10. Extra time was played Serbia were 1 - 0 up in the first quart but GB pulled it back to make it 1 - 1 by the end of extra time. With that it went into penalties which finished GB beating Serbia 3 - 1.

06/08/07 - GB lose to a strong Hungarian (Womens GB Youth)
The women had another tough match tonight. They played the Hungarians and lost 12 - 3. The first quarter GB were 4 - 1 down. By half time they were 6 - 1 down. In the third quarter they managed to put 2 goals past the Hungry goalkeeper to make it 9 - 3. The game finished 12 - 3. They played a great game but sadly the opposition were just to strong.

06/08/07 - GB Mens Youth Pictures now available
Click here for some team photos of the lads first international tournament in Bulgaria.

05/08/07 - GB lose to hosts Greece (Womens GB Youth)
After the GB Men youth finish their tournament, the girls start theirs. Lancaster players Beckie Kershaw and Becky Benson are in Greece representing the GB youth women. They had a tough first game against hosts Greece. Greece had all the advantages of being at their home pool and home supporters the final score was 12 - 3. Julia Kershaw is out in Greece giving some moral support to the GB women. Good Luck with the rest of the week!

UPDATE 05/08/07 - GB finish 4th (Mens GB Youth)
Their last match of the Diana Tournament was against Macedonia. GB went at it hard but only managed to score 3 goals while Macedonia scored 7. GB missed 2 out of 3 penalties in this game. Dan Barker added one more goal to his personal tally of five. Ciaran scored another goal to bring his personal tally to four. (Pictured right Mens GB youth player and Lancaster player Ciaran James)

04/08/07 - GB win their first international match (Mens GB Youth)
GB win their first international match against Austria 11 6. The lads were 6 1 up at Half time. Dan Barker scored two more goals to bring his personal tally to four goals. Their last game is against Macedonia.
Big thanks to Dunfermline Ali Campbell for keeping us up to date.
(pictured right Dan Barker who has scored his personal tally of 4 in 3 matches)

04/08/07 - More Lancaster players away at a international Tournament (Womens GB Youth)
Congratulations to Lancaster players Rebecca Benson and Beckie Kershaw! They have been selected for the GB Womens Youth Team. They left Manchester on Thursday evening to fly to Chania,Crete, in Greece to play in the LEN European Youth Women's` Water Polo Championships. The first match is Sunday evening at 19.45 against the host nation Greece and on Monday they play Hungary at 19.45.

UPDATE 04/08/07 - GB lose second match (Mens GB Youth)
second game of the tournament. They had an easier match than yesterday. The first quarter was a 3 all draw. At half time the score was 8 5 to Bulgaria. By the third quarter it was 12 6. But in the Final quarter GB denied any goals from Bulgaria and pulled it back to 12 - 10 so not a bad loss overall. Dan Barker and Ciaran James both scored two goals each. GB had 9 men up but only managed to score 1.

UPDATE 04/08/07 - GB lose to a tough side (Mens GB Youth)
First match of the week GB lost 3-15 to Serbia but coaches where happy with the way they played. Ciaran James scored one. Ciaran got 3 majors and got wrapped.

31/07/07 - First international Tournament hours away
Lancaster players Ciaran James, Marc Robinson Dan Barker and Matt Little will be sat at Manchester Airport at 4.30 am Wednesday Morning. They will be flying to Bulgaria to play their first international Tournament. They will be there five days and will have one training day and then play Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Austria. We will try and post the results of each day so watch this space.

22/07/07 - World University Games
Tom, Andy and Scott will be joining 8 other GB players to play in the 2007 World University Games in Bangkok which starts on the 8th August.
Britain face reigning champions Serbia as well as Japan and South Africa in the group stages, and with some of the world’s top polo nations among the 15 teams entered, competition is set to be fierce.  The last time a British team entered the event was when Yorkshire city Sheffield hosted the Games in 1991. Tom and Andy are doing an Open University Course and Scott is doing a degree at Manchester University in Business Management.

16/07/07 - Great Britain Finish 6th
It has been a good week for Great Britain in the LEN European Nations Trophy. They reached their target of finishing in the top half. GB lost their last match to Ukraine. The final score was 10 - 8. This means GB have secured a place in the LEN European Championship qualification tournament in January 2008. Tom Curwen got second top goal score of the tournament with 25 goals.

16/07/07 -Water Polo to be broadcast on Sky Sports
Water Polo will be shown on Sky sports two, three and xtra. For more details on that click here

15/07/07 - Portobello have been cleared
Portobello have been cleared to continue playing in the National League’s top division during the coming season after an Amateur Swimming Association disciplinary appeal hearing in Birmingham on 14 July agreed to lift a ban on the Scottish club from playing in England.

08/07/07 - LEN European Nations Trophy DAY ONE
Sorry for the late update! Network at MAC has been down! Tom, Andy, Scott and the rest of the Great Britain are up next!! GOOD LUCK!! Four games have been played today. Click here for more information. Some Lancaster people are helping out at MAC this week who are Mike Hesketh and Ernie Burgess on the table, Lucinda Wannap as one of the ball girls and Zak Sly  helping out on the LEN Europeans Nations Trophy web site plus Lancaster web site (of course).

26/06/07 -First International Tournament-
GB Junior squad players, Ciaran James, Marc Robinson, Dan Barker and Matt Little all got picked to play in their first International tournament in Bulgaria in August. Also Ciaran and Marc will be attending Grantham College this September.

10/06/07 -Tom Curwen in the Independent Newspaper-
Please follow the link to find article which was printed on pages 77/78 with picture in Sundays Independent Newspaper about Tom Curwen and water polo.

27/05/07 - A message from Dougie Campbell
Well done on winning another British Championship!  Send my regards to all the team and management. I've not been playing water polo since arriving in Australia but managed to watch a few games. Too busy with organizing house/job etc. Hopefully I'll get going for next season which starts in September.
Will keep in touch
Dougie Campbell

20/05/07 -Six months over due -
The 2006 under 16's North West ASA was six months late but Lancaster beat Carlisle 12 - 6. Report and photos, courtesy of Gary Ellwood, coming soon. We are going to try and get the video of the match online too. The report will follow in the Lancaster Guardian in two weeks time due to no space available this week because of Morecambe Football Club. It's been a good day for the football and the water polo.

17/05/07 - Match off on Saturday -
The e-mail from London Otter - 'I am sorry to have to inform you that Otter 1st Team are going to have to withdraw from/cancel the scheduled match against Lancaster for the ASA Cup, this weekend. Unfortunately, too many of our players have pulled-out, mostly through injury and work commitments, to provide you with any kind of decent opposition or make the journey worthwhile. Indeed, all 3 of the clubs Goalies are out of action. We thus, naturally, forfeit the game. '

12/05/07 - Pre- match-
Check out the report for the Pre-match on Saturday Lancaster V Otter. Also available now is the Blackpool report. Both of these will be in the Lancaster Guardian.

07/05/07 - Aprox £800 plus made.
Aprox £800 plus was made at The Brian Walsh, Phil Derbyshire Memorial Tournament. Everyone had some good fun and enjoyed it! Lancaster played Blackpool in the semi and Bury in the final, which they lost after some VERY bad referring (at least they admitted it after the game!). Lancaster was not to bothered as it was a fun day and a lot a money was raised for a good course! Ryzh Detko was joint first with the highest goal scorer and was presented with a trophy. Well done Lads

05/05/07 - It's BACK....
Finally, its back we have a NEW message board. Leave all your comments, messages and good luck messages! Why not leave Glen, James and the rest of the GB team a good luck message for European Men’s Youth Water Polo Qualification

03/05/07 - 2006 Northern Counties Final
Although it is 2007 a date has been set for the under 16's Northern Counties Final. Lancaster plays Carlisle at Salt Ayre on Sunday 20th May @ 6.45pm. Come along and support your home team! If you cant make it why not come along and support the seniors on Saturday 19th May at Salt Ayre @ 8pm for the ASA second round against London Otter

29/04/07- ASA under 16's -
Congratulations to the under 16’s who beat Dunfermline 9-21 (3-4; 1-6;3-6; 2-5). Lancaster now has to wait till the 30th June to play Manchester in the Semi–Final at Manchester Aquatic Centre. More information still to come  

28/04/07 - Seniors Blackpool tournament-
Lancaster have been invited to the third The Brian Walsh, Phil Derbyshire Memorial Tournament . In 2005 Lancaster won this and in 2006 Lancaster took a young team and came second. The tournament is on the 5th of May and Lancaster will be taking another young team. Good Luck

28/04/07 - ASA Seniors-
Lancaster will play London Otter on the 19th May at Salt Ayre. The start time has now changed to 8pm. Warm up at 7.30pm.

28/04/07- 2006 Northern Counties Final to be rescheduled again-
We all are still waiting for the 2006 Northern Counties Final. Again the latest date 13th May 2007 had now been called off and we are looking at a new date! More information to come.

26/04/07 - ASA under 16's update-
Lancaster beat City of Birmingham 16 - 10 last weekends(22nd April). For the report click here. This Saturday (28th) the under 16's are back down to Walsall for the 2nd Round where they meet Scottish team Dunfermline. Good Luck! P.S. Gary we know the referee needs new glasses, so don’t tell him again and get the game stopped

23/04/07 - Lancaster get second chance-
Lancaster were made to believe that the under 18’s ASA date was going to be changed due to some players being away. This date never changed and Lancaster could not get a team together in time, so Lancaster had to withdraw due to the late confirmation of fixture date. Lancaster has now been re-installed into the ASA Junior Championship. Opponents Invicta have offered to play Lancaster at an alternate day, time and venue. So watch this space to find out when we play!

21/04/07 - Mini Water Polo,Carlisle-
Check out the report (word doc) and pictures from the mini Water polo day at Carlisle.

20/04/07 - Lancaster had to pull out of under 18's ASA-
 Lancaster Junior Men have pulled out of this year's ASA Competition. We had understood that the date for the early rounds of the competition was to be changed because of the GB Junior team competing in Poland this weekend, which an ASA representative said they would look into and get back to us. The representative got back with us just two days before the competition and to late for us to organise a team. Invicta proceed to the semi-finals. Good Luck to the Under 16's who play on Sunday

19/04/07 - GB Juniors in Poland –
The GB Junior (1989+) team have arrived in Gorzow, Poland for their second warm-up tournament for the European qualifiers. Their match schedule is - Friday evening - vs Sweden: Saturday a.m.- vs Belarus; Saturday p.m. - vs Poland; Sunday a.m.- finals

01/04/07 - Olympic cycling gold medallist and former Lancaster water polo player Jason Queallyconducted the draw for the 2007 LEB Europian Natons Trophy Check it out.

22/03/07 - ASA fixtures now available - Seniors have to play London otter at home before 27th May. Under 18's play Invicta at Walsall on Sunday 21st April @ 12.15 and Under 16's play City of Birmingham on Sunday 22nd April @ 2.45pm. More details click here

22/03/07 - European B water polo website goes live- The website for the 2007 European Nations Trophy is up and running.

11/03/07 - National League 2007 - The first three weekends match times are up. Lancaster kick off the League against runners up Cheltenham.

07/02/07 - Most Promising Junior -Beckie Kershaw won an award for 'Most promising Junior' of National League 2006. Beckie played for Manchester City senior girls. Picture

07/03/07 - Watch out on Sky Sports one - Panasonic have partnered again with New Zealand Water Polo in sponsoring the Southern Cross International Water Polo Cup. Panasonic have secured naming rights for the event which will also meanthat the SKY TV live broadcast on SKY SPORT 1 will be brought to the audience in conjunction with Panasonic. Sky TV has confirmed live coverage of 4 games on Tuesday March 13th at West Wave. There is a high chance one of the games will be New Zealand V England Men.

04/03/07 - Website- www.laswpc.com has been open for three years now. We got two new websites coming soon. To access the water polo website just type www.lancasterwaterpolo.co.uk  and for the swimming site www.lancasterswimming.co.uk . www.lawpc.com  will still be access able. We will inform you when the two new sites are available.

26/02/07 - Another title to add to Lancaster’s many... Lancaster seniors won their British Championship fifth consecutive title. Check out the reports....

26/02/07 - Alex joins Tom, Andy and Scott in New Zealand- Alex has been chosen to play in New Zeeland for the Great Britain Seniors Girls. She flies out on 1st March and is there for two weeks. Great Britain will play against Netherlands (10thMarch), New Zealand (11th March), Germany (12th March) other matches TBC. Keep an eye out to see how Great Britain women and men do in New Zealand. (Alex second to the right with other Lancaster & Great Britain players).

26/02/07 - Tom, Andy and Scottoff to New Zealand- The three Lancaster lads fly out on the 1st March to New Zealand for the Great Britain Seniors mens' Southern Cross Tournament. The senior Men play Serbia (8th March), Canada (9th March), USA & Italy (10th March), Russia (12th March), New Zealand (13th & 14March)

11/02/07 - New/updated pages-
The fixture page has been update. It now has 2007 printable fixture list, Academy dates and cancelled session plus a ling to training times. A new page has been made for all the old news, so if you missed something then check out the archive page.

11/02/07 - British Champions -
Check out the times of the matches for the 2007 British Champions.

24/01/07 - British Champions -
The times for the British Champions are still not known. But Check out this useful information from charlotte O’Neill.

18/01/07 - Members Area -
Check out the New Members Area. Training Times, Rules and much more.......

07/01/07 - British Champions -
The dates for the British Champions have changed AGAIN! The National Water Polo website had them wrong. They are now back to the original dates 17th and 18th February (preliminary round) and the 24th and 25th February (Finals).