Early History 1889 – 1969 

There are few if any teams in any sport in the North of England that can match the long and successful record of the Lancaster City Water Polo Team.

North East Lancashire League is won in 1895 

Formed in 1889 and based at the Cable Street Baths, it did not take long for the team to win its first major league championship. This gave the Club the magnificent Merigold Trophy for the first time in 1895 when the North East Lancashire League was won. After this initial success the club continued to grow in stature and in reputation and by 1914 it had won the Lancashire Senior Cup for the first time.

The intervention of the Great War, no doubt, cost Lancaster many further successes but when the sport resumed after the ending of the hostilities, the Lancaster team was soon victorious with their second win in the Lancashire Senior Cup in 1919. Do you know any of these Polo Players from 1936 and what the trophies are that they have won?

The 1920′s and 1930′s

 These decades saw tremendous competition from the great teams of the day – Blackburn, Wigan, Hyde Seal and Oldham Police who all went on to win the ASA Club Championships (“English Cup”) before Lancaster again found a winning streak, and certainly the most successful era in the history of the club until recently. These years were dominated by the great George Nevinson who led Lancaster to Championship wins in the North Lancashire League in 1935 and 1939 but the outbreak of war probably prevented a further success in the Northern Counties Senior Cup. Victories in 1948 and 1949 (top) Undoubtedly the Second World War prevented a long run of Lancaster successes and when rivalry was resumed, it was to be Blackburn who were to dominate for a short period until 1948 when Lancaster recorded a memorable double in winning the Northern Counties Senior Cup and the Lancashire Senior Cup. Lancaster subsequently disposed of Blackburn to win the North Lancashire title in both 1949 and 1951. There were certainly glory days for the local club with players such as Tommy Lyth and Dick Todd known throughout the Northern polo world for their achievements. Early 60′s – Ray Holmes builds a new team round youngsters, Brian and Ron Winn, Ken Hartley, Geoff Shingler and Stuart Gardner (top) Unfortunately, the collection of major trophies ceased in 1951 but the team continued to play before packed audiences at Kingsway Baths through the fifties as a new team was built around youngsters, Brian and Ron Winn, Ken Hartley, Brian Townson and Jack Woods. Newcomers to the squad in the early sixties included Geoff Shingler and Stuart Gardner.

Junior photo from the late 1970′s taken at Kingsway

1980′s

The Years of Success 1970 – 1995 

 ”The first modern championship success in 1970 through to the winning of the English Cup in 1995.” “A period of success unrivalled by any other local team” The modern roots of the current successful team go back to 1970 when the North Lancashire League title was lifted for the first time in 20 years. This was seen at the time as a tremendous success and followed the entry of the team into the higher grade Bolton and District League in 1967 and three near misses in the North Lancashire League between 1967 and 1969. The title in 1970 was hard earned following an end of season play off victory against Bolton by 3 – 2 after Lancaster had lost both and away in the League to an aggressive Bolton side.

Irish International Ron Flude joins squad

 Shortly after this event, the future success of the team was almost guaranteed with the arrival of Irish International Ron Flude via London Polytechnic and Middlesborough. It was not long before Lancaster added to the North Lancashire League title with a fine victory in the Lancashire Grade 2 Cup in 1971. Lancaster then re-entered the Northern League in 1972 and steadily built up a championship winning side by 1978 which turned out to be a most remarkable year in the history of the club.

1970′s Ron Flude and Ron Winn develop Youth Policy

Ron Flude, ably assisted by Ron Winn, had started to develop a youth policy which brought about first wins in 1976 in the Northern League Under 18 Cup and in the Bolton and District junior League. By 1978 some of the most outstanding junior players were already filtering through into the senior side, notably Ryszard Detko to reinforce the slightly older Chris Harrison who subsequently emigrated to Australia representing his new country in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. This influx of junior players helped Lancaster to success in every competition entered in 1978 with ironically one exception – the Northern Lancashire League title which went to Southport. There were first ever wins in the Northern League and Cup, the Bolton and District League and Cup and the Northern Counties Grade 2 Cup with a Lancashire Senior Cup win thrown in as well.

Chris Harrison – Representing Australia in 1988 Seoul Olympics

 Chris Harrison played for Lancaster in the Ron Flude era of 1972 and has attributed his own success in the sport to Ron’s outstanding coaching. He became the first international water polo representative at both junior and senior level since, possibly, George Nevinson in the 1920s. He played water polo for Great Britain in the European Youth Championships in Malta in 1976. Competing at national level for the senior team in Jonkopping in Sweden, Chris notched up around 50 international appearances for the water polo team. In 1978, Chris received a scholarship to live and train for waterpolo in Budapest in 1978 and played for Ferenvaros. Chris emigrated to Australia in 1979 and represented Australia some 140 times including playing in the Fina World Cup in Germany in 1985, the World Swimming Championships in Madrid in 1986 and the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul Chris is still involved in the sport managing the Australian mens water polo team at the Sydney Olympics and he had the honor of carrying the Olympic torch through his adopted city of Randwick on the day before the opening ceremony.

Lancaster Enter the National League – 1979 

Lancaster, with this incredible success story behind them, now applied to join the National League and were elected to Division 3 in 1979. There were some local doubts about the wisdom of this move with the nearest fixture at Walsall and the majority of the teams located in the South at places such as Plymouth, Southampton and Yeovil. These doubts were soon put to rest as Lancaster took the third division title in 1980, and then consolidated their position in the second division.

1980′s Success Story for the Youth Sides/Promotion to the First Division for the Seniors

 The club’s youth policy continued to provide dividends in the mid to late 80′s with the National Under 16 Cup wins in 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1989 and National Under 18 Cup wins in 1987 and 1988. Also the outstanding young players – Colin Burgess, Neil Bowers, Chris Harrtley and Sean Love soon fought their way into the Senior side and a second place in the second division of the National League in 1989 was achieved. This resulted in a and away play off with first division Cheltenham and a resounding victory in both legs to take Lancaster into the first division for the first time ever.

 1995 ASA Senior Final

1995 ASA Senior Final when we beat Sutton & Cheam 15 – 9. Belived to be the first time winning this competition.

1990 – 1995 

 Competing against the most illustrious of teams in the land the grown players have achieved virtually the impossible for the City. The lowest league position recorded in the first division has been fourth but in 1994 the local team almost achieved what was considered to be impossible only a few years ago, winning the English first division. After tying on both points and goal difference, London Polytechnic took the title only by virtue of their better results between the two teams. A disappointed but not defeated Lancaster team fought back and gained entry into Europe and also a National success in 1995 for the first time ever at Senior level – the English Cup.

Team Line Up: Paul Squires, Mark Smith, Ian Mounfield, C. Motley, Colin Burgess, Jim Lafferty, Miles Little, Steven Knowles Neil Bowers, Rysz Detko, Chris Hartley(c), Dougie Campbell , Simon Baker

Burgess Stars for City Slickers
(Lancaster Guardian Report 22/05/99)
Lancaster City ………………12 Rotherham……………………..8

 Before the English Cup water polo final commenced Lancaster coach, Ron Winn, was quietly confident as he gave his pre-game briefing behind the closed doors, having overcome his greatest problem – that of team selection. With stalwart Ryszard Detko declaring himself fit to play after a serious hand injury, Mark Smith being available following back trouble and Chris Motley putting off possible knee surgery in quest of a medal, popular local lads, Danny Powell, Trevor Jones and Lee Cooke were the unfortunate ones to face the axe. Simon Baker was also given the chance to prove himself in goal at the expense of local veteran keeper, Colin Povey, who had been brought back out of retirement for the British Championship final in February. Surprise Rotherham had certainly faced a more difficult route to the final, beating Bristol in an early round and then producing the surprise result of the competition to defeat Penguin 10 – 9 in the semi-final after extra time with a golden goal. They were at full strength but must have had mixed feelings, having won at Salt Ayre in the 1997 league season, but then having been decisively beaten by the city team in their National League encounter in September 1998. The game itself got underway in a near continental type atmosphere with the large crowd encouraging Lancaster to make an early breakthrough in the first quarter. They seemed to have succeeded as centre forward Burgess finally forced the ball in, only to see the goal disallowed for an underwater infringement. This seemed to encourage Rotherham who had escaped several other goal attempts by the dangerous Burgess and when Motley was excluded, Rotherham opened the scoring from a man up situation against the run of play. Confidence This obviously incensed Burgess who at last got his name on the scoresheet minutes later. Rotherham then failed to capitalise on another man-up decision and again it was Burgess who made them pay dearly as he scored two further goals to give him a first quarter hat-trick. Lancaster started the second with growing confidence as mid-bath players Bowers, Hartley and Detko demonstrated their skills, while up front Mounfield started to cause the Rotherham defenders all sorts of problems – but it was that man Burgess who scored goal number four on the trot to give Lancaster a 4 – 1 lead. Rotherham, problems that their chances were fading, then came back strongly with two goals just before half-time to show their own band of supporters that they were still in the game. Not surprisingly, it was Burgess again who scored for Lancaster twice in the third quarter before Rotherham notched another goal and then in what appeared to be a one man show, he added another – his seventh, to give Lancaster a 7 – 4 lead. The Lancaster supporters were then treated to a rare treat – a non-Burgess goal, as their tough Scot – Campbell scored a fine goal and then Bowers finally succeeded after several near misses with his first of the game. In between, Rotherham’s dangerman, Kirkby, had finally scored to make the score at 9 – 5 at the the end of this period. Lancaster then began the final stage with great confidence which seemed to evaporate momentarily as Rotherham came back mid-way through the quarter with two well taken goals to bring the score to 9 – 7. Then in a crucial period for Lancaster, Mounfield finally got the better of his man to score two fine goals, making up for earlier misses, to make Lancaster near certain victors at 11 – 7. Rotherham added another in the closing stages but then Bowers scored the final goal of the game to bring the score 12 – 8.

Senior Water Polo Team 2000 NWLP Division 1 Champions 2000

(standing) R.Detko, N. Bowers, M. Little, D. Powell, D. Cartwright, G. Grieve, D. Holmes, T. Simms, J. Lafferty, (sitting) P. Squires, I. Mounfield, C. Hartley (c) D. Stewart, D. Campbell

Players that went to Israel to play in the European Champions Cup in October 2000

D. Campbell, D. Holmes, J. Lafferty, G. Grieve, T. Jones, M. Little, P. Squires, N. Bowers D. Powell, C. Hartley, D. Cartwright, C. Burgess Scores During October Tournament Avl Triglav Zivila Kranj (Slo) 13 – Lancaster 2 Hapoel Qiryat Tivon (Isr) 5 – Lancaster 4 Azov Mariupol (Ukr) 11 – Lancaster 7