London tapping out!!!

In London they… have a ‘tap out’

Which is a night where there are throwin games and a ‘XXX vs the universe’

Rules of ‘vs the universe’

Teams – The person who leaves vs everyone (universe)
The person who is leaving has a mallet, opponents don’t.
If you foot down and you are the person who is leaving you tap out at the centre, if you are one of the ‘universe’ you are now out of the game and have to leave the court.
Scoring if you are leaving, normal polo rules apply (no shuffling) if you are one of the universe you can score using your bike.
The first to 1 is the winner.

Simple!

History… Originally coined due to Malice Nternationals Nick ‘tap out’ – who never used to tap out. He left for Canada in the winter of 08.

So previous tap outs and games of ‘vs the universe’
Nick… he got his very own engraved polo spocket as a goodbye pressie too
I believe we won 0-1

Andy… 1-0 to Andy (he didnt leave unfortunately just a birthday tap out)

Alocketts TAP OUT from RC on Vimeo.

MAX…and Agata 1-0 to M&A
No photos exist of this day

Braley…literally last weekend at the BBQ Armageddon 0-1

currently sitting at a draw…

Carlos is leaving soon… tap out night on Saturday.

The End?

The London League has come to an end with BAD polo (Aidan, Brendan and Dave) winning!

They had an amazing track record throughout the whole season winning 28 and only loosing 2, and played with the full line-up (i believe) every game.

words about BAD:
Ali (Los Conos)
We managed to hold BAD off for longer than we thought we were going to, however, they ran rings round us and we didn’t stand a chance. I was amazed that they barely even talk to each other but they know where each other are all the time.
Aidan (BAD) BAD vs Zombie
Yesterday was a pretty good day for B.A.D. I felt we played with confidence and purpose…in the same way we did individually on the Wednesday session.
Dave was superstar goalie…he was an impenetrable wall…a wall now with a massively swollen ankle. Dave gets man of the match in my opinion.
Brendan was as assertive as always…the back bone to our team. good work Skoota! you’re a leg-end!
The forth member of our team was great…hops you’re an integral part of B.A.D…keep on shouting! x

… Of course there is also second place which went to the kinda underdogs of the league having never played together before and changing their original line-up. Malice Nternational (Iain, Matt, Nick (left half due to moving location) and todd (voted leagues most improved player by the league)) the battle for points was pretty close with MI finishing 5 points shy of BAD and having their place top on the league a few times during the season.

Slushy bit!
In my opinion the real winners of the league are the people who took part. Players, supporters and refs. (copy and paste from another really boring blog) Through the past few months its led the london polo community to get together and play this great fun sport and yesterday was a great way to end the end of the 08-90 season with grudge matches and the end of season league and team photos.

heres a few snaps from the day:

photo by slamm

photo by slamm

photo by slamm

photo by slamm

again photo by slamm

polo!

European Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships 2009 London or EHBPC 09 London

Dear Poloistas,

The EHBPC committee is excited to announce the registration for the firstever European Hard-court Bike Polo Championships!

Registration:
Registration will open on Saturday, April 25 at 12pm GMT. You will be ableto register at http://www.ehbpc.org. It will cost £60 per team and the fee ispayable upon registering.

When registering you will be given the option to upload an image or logothat represents your team, and space to write anything you would like therest of Europe to know about your team. Please also let us know if youwould like us to accommodate you. If you are coming with girlfriends,boyfriends, cheerleaders, kids or your pet monkey please let us know assoon as possible.

We will be posting all registered teams on the website as confirmationthat your team is registered and so that Europe can see who is coming torepresent their city in the first of many European Championships!

The important details:
The tourney will take place over two days on August 1st & 2nd 2009.We are capping the tourney at 40 teams and registration will be on a firstcome, first serve basis.

In London we are voluntarily capping ourselves at 4 teams. We want to beable to host teams from all across Europe and because of the limited spaceat the tournament we ask that all of the polo communities get coordinatedand limit the registration of each city to four (4) teams (Paris,Karlsruhe, Berlin we mean you!). We’re excited to play teams that we’venever played before as we’re sure you are too. So if your city has morethan 4 fantastic teams please decide within your community which teamsshould represent your city.

We have already heard of cities organising qualifying tournaments to raisefunds for the travel expenses of the winning teams. This is a great ideaand inspiring to hear! Here in London we will have many more people comingto cheer than to play so if your team doesn’t make the cut make sure tostill come and support your city! With so many courts in London there willbe plenty of throw-ins. Whether you’re competing officially or not youwill get some good polo while you’re here.

We will keep you all updated if space for additional teams becomesavailable, however with the popularity of polo in Europe this year, we’re pretty sure registration will fill up fast so get in there quickly!

The weekend:
While the tournament itself will be Saturday and Sunday with events in theevenings there will also be lots to do the Friday and Monday on eitherside and we hope you will join us for that. We will update you at thewebsite as these plans develop.

The excitement in London towards hosting this first ever tournament iselectric and we can’t wait to have you all here. If you have anyquestions, suggestions or the like for us, please feel free to contact matt@ehbpc.org

Cheers,
The EHBPC London Committee
http://www.ehbpc.org

words by Vidal

In New York They…

In we go to our magic time machine…
About a year+ ago Yorgo started going on about “In New York they…

…use clips and straps.
…have them a bit softer.
…say: I will never support a system that doesn’t involve throwing mallet. I like it. It’s a ritual of chaos and danger that attracts curiosity and lends a twisted whimsy to our game. The act of chucking my mallet into the fray of other rods of aluminum hurling through the air while trying not to hit my friends riding below is a physical and graphic release that cannot be replicated by a clinical paper form. If danger is what you’re afraid of, you shouldn’t be playing bike polo. The mallet toss is a ritual, elementally. And that’s important.
…have team nights on thursday”

you get the picture.

MAX got some stickers made about a month ago…

and then at sunny South London Polo…

in new york they… from Brendan McNamee on Vimeo.

Polnago!

West Londons BDWaynes new dremeled polo mallet… weak but, if youre gonna break something it might as well be pretty.

Early celebrations??

BAD polos Skoota and DT having a moment of celebration after their win against JiHaD (JOL, Hassan, (sub) Tomasito)

scores sat at 5-3, 5-3, 5-2 to BAD

No, seriously, great games to watch, first game JiHaT got 3-0 up on bad, think bad thought it wasn’t gonna be that tough, then they stepped up their game. Some sweet passing by both teams. There was one patch in the 3rd game where the ball was being stolen off each team repeatedly for what felt like 5 minutes, very good level of play today. Brendan also had a great series of “shoot, pause, fall off” moments, well funny…

words by Gabes

321 Guangzhou

Bike polo in Guangzhou, China…


from: http://hkfixed.blogspot.com/2009/03/09-3-21-bike-polo-guangzhou.html

Polo Armageddon BBQ

As a finale for the World’s first ever [hard-court] bike polo league we’re having a BBQ and team grudge games/challenges on Sunday the 29th. Whether you’re a Poloista or not, come down and party, eat, and cheer on the grudges.

hot BBQ and cold beer will be provided for £5 a plate and £1.50 for iced lager & cider. Food provided by London polo’s own master chef Brian. So no need for BYOB.

We’ll be at the Downham courts (corner of Downham & Ufton roads)

Everything is a fundraiser for the European Championships in August!

– words by Mike (The Zombie)

Also to mark the end of the first London Hardcourt Bike Polo League we are having some photos taken (of teams in the league & a full league photo) and a little awards/pat on the back ceremony at the Scolt Head. Come along to raise glass to the league winners!

The mighty return of Brick Lane!

The council have finally fixed all the gaps at Brick Lane Polo court.

Last week saw the return of brick lane.

Here’s to a summer of Sunday polo.

Hello…

This is a quick hello from me to say im also gonna be updating this blog with more poloness.

Shinscar