By Peter Scrivener

Griffiths has played for Great Britain's women's team for eight years

Once upon a time, Britannia ruled the water polo waves. Four Olympic golds from the first five tournaments played is testament to that.

But since those heady days, which began at the 1900 Olympics in Paris, it is fair to say that the nation that invented the sport has not enjoyed the best of fortunes.

The Great Britain men's team has failed to win a medal since defeating Belgium 3-2 in their own backyard in Antwerp to win gold in 1920.

The British women's team have yet to appear in their competition, which was admitted to the Olympic programme at the Sydney Games in 2000.

Still, at least the women will get to break their duck come London 2012, right? Not necessarily so.

Captain Ros Griffiths is bullish about their chances, but UK Sport's decision in January of this year to cut funding from an expected £4m to £1.45m over the next four years, has not helped as tough decisions have had to be made.

The British men will live, train and play overseas for some of the best teams in the world, only coming together for international competitions.

The women, however, will remain based in Manchester with the players continuing to play in a domestic league in which Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Penguins - a team from Ealing, west London - are the main protagonists.

Staying in the North West is the biggest consolation for 27-year-old Griffiths, who happens to combine playing for Manchester with teaching and coaching at Manchester Grammar school.

"I played in France for a year a while ago and learnt a great deal from playing internationally, so the men will improve if they get the volume of highly competitive matches at a high standard," the centre-back told BBC Sport.

The first thing people notice is the physical side of the game GB captain Ros Griffiths

"But I prefer to train together with the British team more often to get cohesion within the team and that then shows in the pool as we all know what each other is thinking.

"However, the funding cut was the worst case scenario. We knew there was a chance (it could happen) and we were really disappointed when the news came through.

"There was a lot of soul searching going on because we were expecting to have a bit more of a comfortable ride with improved training facilities.

"But the girls have come to terms with it. We have done well without funding before and this won't be the undoing of us. There is a strong resolve within the team to show them we can do it."

That resolve will be given a serious test this week when Great Britain entertain seven other countries in the European Nations Trophy in Manchester.

Britain play Belarus, Portugal and Slovakia in their group, while Switzerland, Croatia, Czech Republic and Ukraine are also in the tournament which runs from 7-12 July.

"Realistically, we can win it," Griffiths assured me.

"We were second in Prague two years ago, losing to France, who we drew with in the group game, in the final, so we are close.

"We have fairly high expectations. The eight teams taking part are ranked no higher than seventh in Europe and we are right on the boundary of the top six and bottom six.

"If we can win we can establish ourselves amongst the top teams."

The likes of Russia, Spain and Italy are among the elite in Europe, while the Netherlands stunned America to win the Olympic gold in Beijing last year.

For the uninitiated Griffiths described water polo as fast-paced and aggressive and a cross between rugby and handball in water.

And if you are looking for an example of the aggression that can manifest itself in a game, look no further than the game between Hungary and the Soviet Union at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Zador's injury sparked angry scenes at the 1956 Olympics

Dubbed the 'blood in the water match' it was played against the backdrop of the 1956 Hungarian revolution and the Magyar players taunted the Russians, whose language they had been forced to learn at school.

From the off, kicks and punches were liberally dished out but it was in the closing minutes, with Hungary leading 4-0 when the most controversial punch was landed.

Soviet player Valentin Prokopov took exception to something Ervin Zador said to him and caught him just under his right eye. Zador left the pool with blood streaming from the wound and officials called the game off as the crowd threatened to turn nasty.

Hungary were awarded the win and they went on to beat Yugoslavia 2-1 in the final.

Griffiths assured me that aggression of that level on the international stage is much less likely nowadays, although the game is still not for the faint-hearted.

"The first thing people notice though is the physical side of the game," she said.

"Arms and elbows can flail about but the worst I've had is a broken nose.

"In in training a couple of weeks ago I had my costume ripped in two. Some competitions make you wear two at once in case one gets ripped, but getting one ripped doesn't phase us anymore as it happens often. I probably go through two or three a week in big tournaments."

Any foul play tends to happen under water where it is not as easy for the two referees to spot everything that is going on.

"There are sneaky tactics and if the referees aren't watching properly then you can get away with a lot of pulling and kicking off when you change direction," Griffiths added.

"And the men tell us that much worse goes on in their games, involving grabbing and squeezing of the unmentionables. It's all about putting your opponent off.

"It doesn't happen as often in internationals as the better players don't need to resort to those tactics. It's more that they are outstandingly good.

"We played Russia recently and they had such quick reactions that they didn't need to grab and push."

The chasm between Britain and the world's elite teams was ruthlessly exposed by the Russians who scored 36 goals against Griffiths' team in two world water polo league qualifiers in May.

Britain went on to concede 100 goals as they lost all six of their games to finish bottom of the group.

So what are the chances of a tilt at the Olympics in three years?

"We're targeting a podium finish," declared a confident Griffiths.

"We've seen China come from nowhere to finish fifth in Beijing so we know it's possible."

Of course, the team has to get there first and that chapter of the story will start to unfold at the Manchester Aquatics Centre on Tuesday.

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