Many thanks to Jeff Parker for providing the history of Carlisle Water Polo that appears below.
Initial Background / Development
Historically there were two water polo sides in Carlisle, each part of the two main swimming clubs in Carlisle at the time - Border
City and Carlisle City (formerly Carlisle Secondary).
In 1988 or thereabouts, in view of dwindling and ageing numbers, the water polo
section in Border City was wound up leaving the City with no representative team which played water polo in a league outside of Cumbria.
Following a number of discussions between Andy Little, Howard Foster and a number of senior players, Jeff Parker (previously of Border
City) returned to Carlisle City to take over as manager. Cy Fell also returned after many years playing for Border City.
Training
in those days was in the 20m pool on a Monday evening with no goal posts and the emphasis on fitness work. We then progressed to morning
training in the large pool before eventually securing our own Monday night session in the main pool.
By this time the team was keen
to test ourselves outside of Cumbria as the side had gone a number of years undefeated in the local league. We approached the Northumberland
& Durham League (several of the players had previous experience of the league from playing for Border City) who reluctantly agreed
to let us join. However, there was a catch - for the first year we had to play all our games away from home. This meant two trips
to Middlesbrough, Saltburn, Sunderland, South Tyneside and Durham, plus four trips to Newcastle.
After a couple of seasons, the N
& D League temporarily folded as a number of the teams concentrated on playing in the National League. In view of this we were
forced to look elsewhere and joined the North Lancashire Winter Friendly League where we finished second to a strong Lancaster City
side.
| Team |
Pl |
W |
L |
D |
For |
Aga |
Pts |
G/D |
| 1
Lancaster City |
14 |
13 |
1 |
0 |
221 |
98 |
26 |
+113 |
| 2 Carlisle City |
14 |
11 |
3 |
0 |
163 |
63 |
22 |
+100 |
| 3
Stretford |
14 |
8 |
5 |
1 |
171 |
140 |
17 |
+31 |
| 4 Preston |
14 |
8 |
5 |
1 |
122 |
122 |
17 |
+/-0
|
| 5
Blackpool |
14 |
7 |
6 |
1 |
116 |
111 |
15 |
+5 |
| 6 Lancs Univ |
14 |
5 |
9 |
0 |
154 |
190 |
10 |
-36 |
| 7
Kendal |
14 |
3 |
10 |
1 |
111 |
172 |
7 |
-61 |
| 8 Ulverston |
14 |
0 |
14 |
0 |
70 |
219 |
0 |
-149 |
North Lancs Winter League - Final League Positions
Our development was now gaining momentum and in 1994 we enjoyed an extended run to the semi-final of the Northern Counties Senior
Knockout Cup before losing to eventual winners and National First Division side Royton.
The highlight of the cup run was undoubtedly
the quarter final win away at Salford as we travelled with a small squad but eventually won a hard fought victory after two periods
of extra time.
Northern League
Our success in the Northern Counties Cup had put us on the map and we were subsequently granted entry
to the Second Division of the Northern League. This gave us the opportunity to compete against the established Water Polo teams in
the north, including several national league sides. We enjoyed three seasons in the Northern league finishing mid table each year.
| Team |
Pl |
W |
D |
L |
Pts |
| 1 Chester |
20 |
19 |
0 |
1 |
38 |
| 2 Rotherham |
20 |
18 |
1 |
1 |
37 |
| 3
Bury |
20 |
15 |
0 |
5 |
30 |
| 4 Salford |
20 |
10 |
2 |
8 |
22 |
| 5 Carlisle City |
20 |
10 |
1 |
9 |
21 |
| 6
Huddersfield |
20 |
9 |
0 |
10 |
20 |
| 7 Rochdale |
20 |
8 |
2 |
10 |
18 |
| 8 Stretford |
20 |
6 |
1 |
13 |
13 |
| 9
Burnley |
20 |
5 |
1 |
11 |
11 |
| 10 Bridgefield |
20 |
2 |
2 |
16 |
6 |
| 11 Warrington |
20 |
0 |
1 |
19 |
1 |
Northern Water Polo League 1995 - 2nd Division
| Team |
Pl |
W |
D |
L |
Pts |
| 1 Rotherham |
14 |
12 |
0 |
2 |
24 |
| 2 Bury |
14 |
12 |
0 |
2 |
24 |
| 3
Huddersfield |
14 |
10 |
0 |
4 |
20 |
| 4 Carlisle City |
14 |
7 |
1 |
6 |
15 |
| 5 Salford |
14 |
6 |
2 |
6 |
14 |
| 6
Rochdale |
14 |
4 |
2 |
8 |
10 |
| 7 Stretford |
14 |
1 |
1 |
12 |
3 |
| 8 Burnley |
14 |
1 |
0 |
13 |
2 |
Northern Water Polo League 1996 - 2nd Division
| Team |
Pl |
W |
D |
L |
Pts |
| 1 Streford |
8 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
| 2 Huddersfield |
8 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
10 |
| 3
Carlisle City |
8 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
8 |
| 4 Rochdale |
8 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
3 |
| 5 Salford |
8 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
3 |
Northern Water Polo League 1997 - 2nd Division
During this period, our progress and improvement was marked and was helped by the signing of two experienced players, Mike Poulter formerly
of Leamington plus former Scottish International Gerald Pflug from Galashiels. Gerald was very popular with all members of the team
and his experience played a major part in developing our play and making us believe that we could compete at a higher level.
One noteable
achievement during our time in the Northern League came in 1996 when Myles Little was top scorer in the 2nd Division.
Tournaments
Whilst playing in Leagues we also hosted and attended a number of invitation tournaments.
The Roll Call of winners for our own G +
J Campbell Shield is impressive and includes in 1997 Portobello (reigning ASA Holders at the time) and in 1998 Lancaster City who
completed a clean sweep that year of the National League, ASA Cup and British Championship.
Whilst never winning our own tournament
our usual target each September was the Gala '5's.
After several near misses including being runners-up in 1994 and 1995, we finally
achieved our aim on the 21st of September 1996 when after a 5-2 mauling of Hamilton in the semi-final and a 4-1 victory over Dundee
in the final we became only the second English side to ever win the tournament (a feat we successfully repeated 12 months later).
The victorious squad comprised of: Andy Little, Paul Armstrong, Pete Hetherington, Mark Little, Myles Little and Steve Little. In
the second year Howard Foster replaced Pete Hetherington.
Carlisle Water Polo Club
Following a protracted debate and interrogation
at the Swimming Club AGM in January 1998, it was decided that in order to further our ambitions it would be necessary to break away
from the swimming club and form our own club.
The initial membership consisted of a small band of approximately 15 senior players
and management and our existence was formally ratified by the Northern Counties ASA at their meeting in March 1998.
The Carlisle Water
Polo Club was duly born.
North Lancashire
This gave us the freedom to extend the number of fixtures we could play. With the support
of the existing member clubs we were allowed for first time to enter the main North Lancashire League and planned to extend our season
by also playing in the Winter Friendly League.
Both leagues proved to be highly competitive but we enjoyed a very successful season,
losing only three of 32 games played and earning a share of the North Lancs League title at our first attempt and finishing second
in the Winter League.
| Team |
Pl |
W |
D |
L |
For |
Aga |
Pts |
GD |
| 1 Carlisle |
16 |
15 |
0 |
1 |
224 |
68 |
30 |
+156 |
| 1
Lancaster City |
16 |
15 |
0 |
1 |
207 |
106 |
30 |
+101 |
| 3 Burnley |
16 |
10 |
1 |
5 |
138 |
115 |
21 |
+23 |
| 4
Southport |
16 |
8 |
1 |
7 |
121 |
120 |
17 |
+1 |
| 5 Kendal |
16 |
7 |
0 |
9 |
129 |
135 |
14 |
-6 |
| 6
Preston |
16 |
6 |
0 |
10 |
141 |
167 |
12 |
-26 |
| 7 Blackpool |
16 |
5 |
0 |
11 |
127 |
136 |
10 |
-9 |
| 8
Blackburn |
16 |
5 |
0 |
11 |
105 |
164 |
10 |
-59 |
| 9 Lancaster Univ |
16 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
68 |
249 |
0 |
-181 |
North Lancashire League - Final League Table 1998
| Team |
Pl |
W |
D |
L |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 Rochdale |
16 |
14 |
0 |
2 |
200 |
44 |
| 2 Carlisle
Water Polo |
16 |
13 |
1 |
2 |
140 |
43 |
| 3 Lancaster City Reserves |
16 |
12 |
2 |
2 |
157 |
42 |
| 4
Burnley |
16 |
9 |
0 |
7 |
139 |
43 |
| 5 Stretford |
16 |
6 |
0 |
10 |
127 |
28 |
| 6 Preston |
16 |
5 |
1 |
10 |
126 |
27 |
| 7
Kendal |
16 |
4 |
1 |
10 |
89 |
24 |
| 8 Blackburn |
16 |
3 |
1 |
12 |
87 |
23 |
| 9 Blackpool |
16 |
2 |
0 |
14 |
80 |
20 |
1998 North Lancs Winter League Table
1999 - Place in the record books
After our successes the previous season we decided to make a two pronged attack on the domestic leagues:
North Lancs League again in the west and Northumberland & Durham in the east.
This was an ambitious and busy programme involving
26 competitive games which required a major commitment from our small playing squad. To aid our cause we signed three players from
Kendal to add to the squad for the N & D League and recruited experienced players Lee Cooke and Jim Lafferty to help bolster the
North Lancs Campaign.
Both campaigns were amazingly successful. We suffered only two defeats and managed to win both league titles
- surely a feat unlikely to be equalled in view of the geographic areas covered by the two leagues.
The crucial games in the N &
D campaign were the early fixtures against National League outfit, Newcastle. In the first game away to Newcastle we found ourselves
4-0 down at the end of the first quarter but some how managed to claw our way back to earn a creditable draw. In the home game we
went one better as we recovered from 5-0 down and down to seven players to earn what proved to be a decisive 8-8 draw.
Both games
emphasised the teams strength of determination not to be beat which was crucial throughout this demanding season.
| Team |
Pl |
W |
D |
L |
Pts |
| 1 Carlisle |
12 |
10 |
2 |
0 |
22 |
| 2 Newcastle |
12 |
8 |
2 |
2 |
18 |
| 3
Newcastle Univ |
12 |
9 |
0 |
3 |
18 |
| 4 Sedgefield |
12 |
5 |
1 |
6 |
10 |
| 5 Middlesbrough |
12 |
4 |
0 |
8 |
8 |
| 6
Durham Univ |
12 |
3 |
0 |
9 |
6 |
| 7 Sunderland |
12 |
0 |
1 |
11 |
1 |
1999 Northumberland & Durham League Table
| Team |
Pl |
W |
D |
L |
For |
Ag |
Pts |
GD |
| 1 Carlisle |
14 |
12 |
0 |
2 |
152 |
63 |
24 |
+89 |
| 2
Lancaster City Reserves |
14 |
11 |
1 |
2 |
144 |
89 |
23 |
+55 |
| 3 Burnley |
14 |
8 |
0 |
6 |
114 |
104 |
16 |
+10 |
| 4 Preston |
14 |
7 |
1 |
6 |
128 |
127 |
15 |
+1 |
| 5 Kendal |
14 |
7 |
0 |
7 |
93 |
112 |
14 |
-19 |
| 6
Blackpool |
14 |
5 |
1 |
8 |
94 |
136 |
11 |
-42 |
| 7 Blackburn |
14 |
2 |
1 |
11 |
100 |
155 |
5 |
-55 |
| 8
Southport |
14 |
2 |
0 |
12 |
90 |
129 |
4 |
-39 |
1999 North Lancs Winter League Table
At the end of 1999 all the squad could take pride in what had been achieved by a local team with a hardcore of eight or nine players
who had developed together over a period of approximately ten to 12 years and had culminated in a hard earned success.
From back left - Jeff Parker (Coach), Paul Armstrong, Myles Little, Andy Little (Captain), Mark Little, Cy Fell, Mark Lancaster, Howard
Foster, Steve Little, Graham Harrison and Dave Barker.
Towards the end of 2000, club membership had dwindled and the club was on the
verge of folding.
At this time several junior players were starting to show an interest in Water Polo and several senior players were
committed to continue Water Polo in Carlisle.
It was decided the only way forward with Water Polo was to include swimming as part
of our constitution. This was approved at Northern Counties ASA and Cumbria ASA early in 2001.
This was the start of the club as we
are now.
