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Prince William shows his support for the British Women's water polo team in Manchester
8th July 2009
Prince William urged youngsters to try out and support water polo today when he visited Manchester to show his support for the British women’s team.
Prince William played the sport while he was at St Andrews University and is a keen follower.
He was selected to represent Scotland Universities in an international tournament in 2004 and also played while serving in the Army.
Prince William was among the crowd who cheered on the British women's water polo team to a 17-6 win over Slovakia at the LEN European Nations Trophy in Manchester yesterday.
He said: "We saw a fantastic performance from the British women's team. It was a stunning match and I hope more people have the chance to see out water polo players in action, and get behind the teams."
"Water polo is very personal to me," said Prince William. "I used to play regularly and it's a fantastic game. It's physical, competitive and really engaged me.
"It would be great to see more children playing water polo and enjoying swimming as I found it great fun."
Water polo suffered a 75 per cent funding cut which has left many London 2012 hopefuls facing financial struggles.
Many athletes have given up full-time jobs or education to move to Manchester, where British Swimming's High Performance Water Polo Centre is based, in the hope of competing at the 2012 Games.
British Swimming chief executive David Sparkes, who described Prince William as "water polo's number one fan", said the atmosphere in the Manchester Aquatic Centre was "electric".
Sparkes said: "It was a convincing victory over a strong Slovakian team and the Prince clearly enjoyed the game.
"His support of the teams is strong and asked if he could be kept informed of the future of the water polo programme in Britain."