New Winter Start Time

We will now be starting at 1pm until daylight savings starts again in October.

In other news, Ben Hughes (in his silver Nissan Navara ute) has all the gear for next week so if you can help him to get the court set up I am sure he would appreciate it.


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Content Dump

My follow polo freaks have expressed concern about my lack of blog contributions of late, to address this issue here is some content stolen from various sources:

• A great wrap up video produced by/for Brooks, it's a great one to introduce the newbies to our great game:

• One of the pre-eminent web polo sites Doug D's Hardcourt Bike Polo has changed the format of his content and withdrawn a little (still posting quite regularly though) but before dong so he published a quite extensive list of international polo sites. Check it out here (and check the site that tops the list!)

• Has everyone seen this yet? One of the most definitive signs that polo is gaining momentum and moving out of the underground: Eighth Inch's new mallet head, I'm pretty keen to check out one of these, the price isn't bad either (US$20)
  

• Yorgo has posted some coverage from his trip to Sexy Polo Beer Amigo tournament in Barcelona. I love this tattooed saddle and agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment! Be sure to check out the videos of some great goals, including one from a wheel flick!
  

• One for the gear-freaks: an ongoing thread on London Fixed Gear covering component recommendations and reviews.
  

Sock Sunday

So apparently it's sock sunday, which means you need to wear your most killer socks. Prizes for the best socks. seriously, socks.

Post Polo BBQ

There's been a suggestion that we hold another post polo BBQ, so after this weekends game we'll be heading west to the nearby BBQ's and cooking up some grub. Some food will be provided, but if you're after something more exotic than a snag then it's probably best to BYO.

(image the first result from a google image search for 'sausages' - safesearch most definitely on)

The Aftermath

The Sunday Tournament has come and gone. The victors were victorious and the losers were bruised and battered.
We managed to scrape together 11 players for 3 teams so the whole bench sub thing kind of didn't work as well as planned. But the gameplay was fierce. Personally, I was on that tournament buzz yet I was playing the same people I play with, and against, every week.

The Teams were:

Pissed Off: Dan, Stephen and Andrew
The Vampire Bunnies: Sam, Tom, Ben and Scott (unicycle)
The Mallet Mullets: Steph, Suede (unicycle), Colin and Neil.

We decided to play each other twice in 10 minute matches.
First round:

V.B vs P.O. Pissed off win 7-0 in a goal fest
M.M. vs V.B. The Mullets win a close 4-3
P.O. vs M.M. The Mullets play a relentlessly defensive game keeping Pissed scoreless but conceding a single breakaway goal. 1-0 to the Mullets

A beer break ensues and players take stock of their bruises, pretzels and scorelines.

All tanked up, Round Two commences:

P.O vs V.B. Again Pissed Off win but can only score 5 points and concede one. The beer is taking effect.
V.B vs M.M. Energy is waning as blood-alcohol raises. Mullets score 4 points to Vampires 2.
M.M vs P.O Pissed Off are pissed and pissed but dig deep to turn every attack by the Mullets into a breakaway. 5-1 to Pissed Off

The scenario now is that the Mullets and Pissed are table toppers. They have to play the two half final.

A pickup game fills the break while competitors rehydrate on some ale and catch some air.

The finals is called. Two 10 minute halves.
Pissed get to a flying start and deftly maneuver the ball between mallet head and wheel cover. Cracks show in a well lubricated Team Mullet and a couple of quick goals are scored. 2 goals down the Mullets score one back. With all disregard to personal safety the ball is pushed through the tangle of flesh and metal between the posts. 2-1
And again! the Mullets score to tie 2-2 but the energy is sapping and they let another goal slip.
Half Time, 3-2 to P.O.

Surely we need more liquid to stop this dizzyness. Another round ensues. Beer that is, not polo.

Lolling back onto the court, an end swap sees the setting sun in the eyes of Fully Pissed. The final half commences with the usual succession of quick goals from Pissed Off. Alcohol soaked muscles and memories make the sequence of events a smudge. The Mullets manage to push through 2 goals
The paper record shows a final fulltime scoreline of 7-4 to the victorious Pissed Off.

The Prizegiving follows immeadiately with various prizes for personal endeavour. Best Crash to Steph. Best Female Player to Sam, Best Goal to Stephen, Best Unicyclist(or something) to Suede and the winning team recieved the grand prize; some wheel covers, tyres, more grog and the [Sproket Rocket] Trophy.

Finally the Malvern Scar bike, faithfully restored and "donated" by Neil and Steph is drawn. The winner is Dan, well deserved too for a Pissed Off player. One who dominated on the court and was surely the top goal scorer. Congratulations!

Pickup games followed until the ball dissappeared into the inky blackness of Central Standard Time.

Thankyou to everyone who helped out with setting up and making the day really enjoyable. Ben and Colin for getting the BBQ up and running, Ben for carting around awkward lengths of coreflute, for donating the wheelcover prizes and supplying an ice filled esky.
Thanks to Tom for donating the box of Coopers Sparkling for the grand prize and the length of HDPE pipe for mallet heads.

Thanks to all the competitors who made a show and played their guts out. Awesome!

Prizez Galore

Daylight savings ends Saturday Evening! Wind your clocks back 1 hour.

Yes, you get another hours sleep in but dont be late for the tournament which begins at 2pm!

This may be the first Australian tournament that has a complete bicycle as a prize! This will be given as a spot prize by random selection. All you have to do is put your name in the hat.
It is way cool, too. Just you wait and see.

There will also be other prizes for personal endeavors such as Best/Most Painful Crash, Best Female Player and Best Goal.

The Grand Prize for the winning team is the prestigious Sprocket Rocket Trophy and a box of ale.