Sydney Super League MVP Awards Honorees

Awarded annually to the Sydney Super League (previously Sydney Metropolitan First Grade) Most Valuable Player, meet our award Honorees, David Woods and Pat Jones.

David played water polo for Balmain in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He went on to play 130 games for New South Wales and under his captaincy the Blues won five Australian Championships in a nine-year period from 1966 to 1975. At the 1967 Championships he scored a record 43 goals and was voted into the New South Wales Sporting Hall of Fame.

He was the Captain/Coach of New South Wales from 1969 to 1972 and Coach from 1978 to 1980, winning five from seven national championships as coach.

He played for Australia in 1,219 matches including World Championships and Olympic Games. Many of these games he was captain. David represented Australia at two Olympic Games: Munich in 1972 and Montreal in 1976.

In 1981, he coached the Australia Men’s Water Polo team, and from 1991 until 1994 he coached the Australian Women’s Water Polo team. He was made a Life Member of Water Polo Australia in 2009 after serving on the board in various capacities for both Water Polo Australia and Water Polo NSW.

His service to the sport extended beyond the pool where he served on the NSW Water Polo Inc Board as Chairman and President and was recognised for his significant contribution to water polo awarded life membership of NSW Water Polo Inc.

Being involved heavily in the women’s games in New South Wales in the 60’s and 70’s, Pat was the inaugural NSW women’s team manager in 1969 and the inaugural women’s national team manager 1976.

In 1990, Pat was appointed Chairperson of the Womens Water Polo Gender Equity (WWPGEC) Committee, a role established by the Australian Sports Commission to drive equal opportunities for women in the sport. As part of this position, Pat worked tirelessly to have water polo included in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where instead, FINA disappointingly opted to run an ‘Olympic Year Tournament’ in Holland.

Pat then refocused WWPGEC’s alongside the Sydney groups efforts on pushing for women’s water polo to be included in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In 1997, Pat, the Australian women’s team and several senior and junior players famously protested in their swimmers and caps during the arrival of FINA president, Mustapha Larfaoui, and other officials. On another occasion, Liz Weekes with the assistance of Pat and Yvette Higgins, crashed an IOC Co-ordination Committee press conference where Weekes handed over a letter requesting the inclusion of women’s water polo in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

On the 29th of October 1997, women’s water polo was officially included in the Sydney 2000 games. The rest is history.

While Pat Jones’ story follows a very different path in comparison to David’s, both figures were equally influential in both our states and nations water polo history and well deserving of gracing these prestigious awards.

Stay tuned for information on the upcoming Sydney Super League 3.0 competition. We have a couple of big announcements to make!