In the last two weeks 150 of these cards have been placed on bikes and posters have been put in various bike stores around central and east Adelaide (thanks to Norwood, Trak, JT's, Lifecycle, Super Elliots, and Biomechanics). It has taken a few hours but I feel like there has been some good response and enthusiasm. Yesterday I handed my last card to a trio of bike messengers heading out of Rundle Street. They were so keen they were already heading to Bunnings to buy materials for polo mallets!
Also this weekend I have constructed a set of 6 mallets and bought some goal cones. I have a little bit more research to do regarding a suitable ball. The backyard cricket ball I have tested is a bit sticky and difficult to dribble. I was hoping to find a harder plastic hockey ball. If anyone has one of these please bring it along.
If you just got here please read the older posts for useful info.

Only two weeks to go!

Rules of Bike Polo

PoloInfo and The Rules

What to bring?
A sturdy bike
Your helmet
A mallet, if you have time to build one. (6 mallets will be available for use)
Gloves recommended
Sunscreen
Beverages of your choice
A friend, the more the merrier
A sense of humour.

What to expect?
Bikepolo is a semi-contact sport and spills do happen. However, the pace of the game is slower than most people expect so injury is uncommon. There are only 3 players in a team.

A few safety rules.
Wear a helmet
No T-boning other bikes. Parallel contact, bike on bike, player on player is allowed, no grabbing or pushing other players
Mallet must held be below handle bars at all times. Backswings must remain below seat height.
Malleting is strictly prohibited (thrusting your mallet through another bikes wheels)

The rules of the game:
1/ Rules may change for safety reasons
2/Teams will be selected schoolyard style. Preselected teams can be entered if desired.
3/ Games are played three on three.
4/ The direction of play and time of game/goal count will be decided at the coin toss.
5/The ball is hit with the end of the mallet and shuttled with the side of the mallet. To score a goal the ball must be hit with the end. A shuttled goal will not count.
6/ Dabbing (putting a foot down ) excludes that player from play until they "tap in" by touching a marker on the side of the court with their mallet. A player who is out of play cannot interfere with the ball, goals or other player until they "tap in"
7/ An out of play ball may be tossed back into play by a spectator
8/ The team that scores a goal must ride back around their own goal posts to allow the opposing team to control the ball to at least halfway.

All players and bystanders are responsible for their own actions and their own property. Please respect the property that we play on.

Bike polo can be considered an activity of a social gathering rather than a fully organised competition. If you know you exhibit antisocial behavoiur or extreme competetivness please leave those attributes at home.
Likewise, The Adelaide Bike Polo Club will be using community areas without official permission. If we have to move for any reason we will and we shall respect the rights and opinions of other community area users.

Anyone for a game

Let there be bicycle polo in Adelaide. And so it came to be that the website for the Adelaide Bicycle Polo Club was created.

Welcome. You are probably this site/blogs first viewer and, perhaps, second player.

ONE LESS HORSE

Bicycle Polo is the mechanised equivalent of traditional polo with far fewer rules. 3 cyclists per team formed on the day, played on hard court, with frequent stops to sip coffee or swill beer. Any bike is a candidate (but don't bring your $10K carbon roady) and any cyclist can be a mallet wielding player. Cycle couriers, commuters, mountainbikers,track hounds, sunday streeters.. Bike polo is not just another way to hit a ball through goal posts, it is a collective of those who appreciate the diversity and social aspects of bicycle culture.

Bike polo has been played in a reasonably organised fashion in Melbourne for about a year and is taking off.
http://www.bikepolo.com.au
You can find much information there about rules and such.

Adelaide Bike Polo is in its infancy and is on a recruitment drive.
If you are interested in playing in this very casual and laid back sport, most likely on sunday afternoons in an as-yet-undetermined inner city carpark/netball court send a quick message or questions to
bikepolo.adelaide@gmail.com
and to be on the mailing list.

I will be updating this from time to time with more information and tidbits. If you feel so inclined, subscribe to the feed.

Neil.