EDINBURGH BIKE POLO

Water polo

Vincent — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:42:37 +0000

First there was water polo, then there was bike polo, now…. water bike polo! EBP is branching out.

Thanks to jerkalert.co.uk for the shots!

Pedal on Parliament – Saturday 28th

retrodirect — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:58:51 +0000

This is a rallying cry; come join us. The great big family that is Edinburgh Bike Polo is happy to support Pedal on Parliament. Here’s what the organisers have to say:

Pedal on Parliament – as the name suggests – will be a ‘flash’ bike ride on Holyrood – and a fun day out for all the family. Although we’re making a serious point about making cycling safer and easier, the day itself will be light-hearted, with a picnic at the end. The pace will be slow and easy for people to keep up – however little their legs may be. It will be non-confrontational and we’ve got the full co-operation and permission of the police and the council and all the relevant authorities. We’ll do our best to make sure that the good folk of Edinburgh can go about their normal Saturday business (although we’d be delighted if they chose to join us instead) so we won’t be blocking roads or holding anyone up any more than we have to to be safe.

Here at Edinburgh bike polo we are all keen cyclists, be that mountainbiking, roadriding, touring, trials and whatever else; we all use bicycles for transport, fun and some of us for work aswell. We want the roads to be a safer place and for councils to support smarter, better cycling infrastructure. We will all be in attendance, we urge anyone who is following this blog to come along. Say hello if you’re there.

retrodirect — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:31:34 +0000

Seems we’re being inundated with nice photography at the minute. This one has credit going to James Robertson. A picture of us playing in our stunning, temporary; but sadly now-gone schoolground court.

retrodirect — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:24:34 +0000

This game is moving on at pace. If you look back at old videos you’ll see that the standard skill level of players NOW seen at ANY regional tournament around the UK is better than seen at the worlds only a few short years ago. Here’s a recent video. With the exception of the fall at the end this is a rather beautiful save. From some of our european cousins.

Thursday

retrodirect — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 18:32:04 +0000

Praise be to Tam. These are just a small set of the photo’s taken at thursday night throw-ins, he turned up unannounced and started snapping away. Think this looks fun? The updates on this blog have got further apart but we’re more active than ever. Come play polo.

S.H.I.T (E) 3

retrodirect — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:11:58 +0000

The Final Standing from the weekend: Edinburgh taking up all the top spots.

1. Team Sensible (Edinburgh)
2. Skuid (Edinburgh)
3. Slag Hammer (Manchester)
4. The Smoking Nuns (Newcastle)
5. Sweethearts (Glasgow)
6. The Shuffle Brothers (Newcastle/Manchester)
7. The Pure Dead Good Scottish Bike Poloers (Glasgow/Edinburgh/Spain)
8. Thirds (Edinburgh)
9. The Rollin’ Bones (Glasgow/Edinburgh)

With thanks to all of the newcastle boys for having us and thanks to Euan for this little video, he appears to have spent a lot of time editing IN the comedy crashes. 2.45 sticks out as one of the highlights.

Enjoy!

Edinburgh Glasgow Manchester Newcastle

retrodirect — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:27:46 +0000

“S.H.I.T in England”

Did I read that right?

The S.H.I.T Tournament has outgrown it’s native soil(and namesakes) and this weekend is going south of the border. It is short for the Scottish Hardcourt-polo Intercity Tournament and will be the meeting of teams from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle. Maybe the brainpower of two countries combined will even let us think up a new tournament name.

Saturday March 17th from 11am
The venue is in Newcastle and a map is here: http://g.co/maps/dn4kt

Provisional teams list
The Smokin’ Nuns (Newcastle)
Team Sensible (Edinburgh)
Skuid (Edinburgh)
Name TBC (Edinburgh)
The Sweethearts (Glasgow)
The Pure Dead Good Scottish Bike Poloers (Edinburgh/Glasgow)
Team Manchester (Manchester)

Polo right now

retrodirect — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:59:43 +0000

We may have reached the adolescent stage of our still young sport. Bike polo spots are popping all over europe. This is a screengrab from leagueofbikepolo’s new mapping feature, see more here: http://leagueofbikepolo.com/clubs

A photo of things to come.

retrodirect — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:52:07 +0000

Just the one photo this week; it’s been a long afternoon playing polo. Here’s a test of malletcam, stay tuned for some video footage. Nice to see glasgow James over on his new bike too. More polo, more often. Yes, you’re right, it’s a photo of my bum.

The Right To Polo

tigeruppercut — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:04:37 +0000

Last month, on a sunny afternoon, it seemed a good idea to take a different route to court. It was ace! Turning off one of the cities busiest rat runs into the trees and woods (I knew they ran next to, and there was a path straight to, the court). It was all fine and well until I got lost: scrambled down loose muddy cliffs over badger sets through hawthorn bushes to reach a road, over shooting the court by half a mile.

What could have led to this series of unfortunate rambling meanderings? Finding 1, no 2, no 3 amazing courts. Hyper at the sight, I must have shot off in a random direction, to my doom…

At the court, we had the place to ourselves – a nice and smooth court- so we played our games there all day and heading to the Tap after for an afternoon of slumber and pints- a standard issue polo Sunday. Prompt Monday morning, phone calls unearthed that the courts were hands off. The contractors had still to lay rubber on top, for tennis courts…, and would not allow any sort of health and safety infringement. Pah! Game over

Maybe not. Last Sunday, we were swamped by footballers on court, we could go to the Tap for a few or check out these courts close up and see how they played. We chose polo. Access was easy and after standing around in awe for a moment, we all realised “we gotta get our shit together and get playing before we get kicked out”.

The best court we have played on in Edinburgh, maybe even in the UK. Big in size, nice surface and good fencing. It completely changed the game. Someone further up field on the break away could be caught and defended against; space could be created more easily and there felt less of a need to have a sticky-keeper because quick break aways and early (accurate) shots were less of a threat. It was a great days polo, albeit with an overriding feeling that we would get a visit from the security.

Back in the Tap and we were all knackered. Perhaps from the size of the court, but I suspect it is cos we were buzzing around like wee dafties, playing on a nice court for a change. I reckon we will be back and make the most of the space whilst it isn’t ruined by rubber.

Check out the pictures.