This was Spring Break’s second London League and we had more consistent results this season (we only lost our fixture against Cosmic). Some highlight games would be against Thumbs Up (we charged around Mitch and only narrowly beat them in each game), Kings (a beautiful morning session at Downs with some really enjoyable games against Kings in their impressive new team kit) and Nice Touch/Cosmic (again at Downs, with both teams fighting hard whilst being able to laugh/celebrate the games post-fixture).

The London Cup was a random-draw, single-elimination, unlimited goals affair and Spring Break got some great games in against Thumbs Up and Nice Touch, before being beaten by the mighty Cosmic (it was a close game, but Snoops’ long shot and Matt’s braking goal sealed the win just as we felt we had it in the bag, oops). Cosmic went on to ‘do the double’ by beating Kings in the final. Thanks to our super sub Ed for representing hard again (Adam was away).

Wooden Skulls deserve a special mention this season for braving (and destroying) the lower division (and no doubt will be promoted to the upper division for next year). It would’ve been fun to see a Wooden Skulls versus Cosmic final for the London Cup, but unfortunately they lost against Kings on golden goal (a great game earlier on in the day).

This year’s league was very well organised thanks to Max and Pique, they managed the impressive feat of a London League finishing on time (with very few fixtures forfeited). At the “end of league” party each player was presented with an awesome league patch, Julia made a delicious cake and Max’s impressive trophies (for division one and two) were revealed and presented to Cosmic and Wooden Skulls.

Copious amounts of Guinness and Tequila were drunk in celebration (it was St Paddy’s day after all) and Spring Break had to settle with trying to get their name on the trophy next year, ah well, we’re looking forward to it already.

Find full results for the London League on the London League site.

Spring Break attended the third Epiphany tournament recently to experience Rouen bike polo first hand…

The weekend was a complete joy with awesome accommodation (thanks Robin), an excellent court, wonderful people and some of the best evening antics ever. (“Qu’es ce que c’est ? Qu’es ce que c’est !”)

The over-night ferry was slightly brutal, but lots of piping hot coffee kept the drowsiness (and cold) at bay. The throw-ins on Friday were great fun and it was impressive to see so many talented (regional) players in one place, France definitely rolls deep nowadays.

Spring Break had an awful first day where we struggled to ‘click’ and were over-analysing every problem to no avail, we qualified in 14th place and headed to the pub to drown our sorrows. The Saturday evening was a blast and Rouen showed their true community spirit with teams swapping gifts throughout the evening. Bidou acted as an impressive compare and the crowd responded with laughter and cheer.

Spring Break grabbed a few hours sleep and arrived to the court a little bleary-eyed with the chants of the night before still fresh in our minds. Our first game was against Call Me Marmou (Call Me Daddy with Marmou subbing in) and we played very well, marginally being put into the loser’s bracket after a last minute goal.

The day got better and better from this point on. We agreed to avoid talking tactics and played progressively good polo. After snatching some more kip between games we came up against Cocorico and played our game of the tournament. Adam scored some brilliant goals from exciting team movement and we came off court feeling in great shape.

Unfortunately L’Equipe were consistent as ever in the following game and we were put out of the tournament in 4th place!

We didn’t record much of the weekend (as we were too busy having fun), but some travel footage and the goals from the final are below. If you like the tune used, then please buy Django Django’s awesome album as it’s out this week (they’re good friends/neighbours and have been working hard on it).

There was lots of European talent on show in the final games of the tournament and the final itself was very tense with over 5 minutes of “golden goal”, both teams could have taken it, but Hooks proved once again that they’ve been training hard. Hooks! Hooks! Hooks!

See more photos of the tournament on Pierre’e blog. We’ll definitely be visiting Rouen again in the future, it’s a wonderful place.

Update: Some people have been asking to see the final, so here it is (30 minutes)!

Last weekend saw the “best 20 teams in Europe” compete to be crowned London International Invitational Champions, the tournament was held at ExCeL as part of the London Bike Show. Spring Break were honored to be invited along (thanks go to Look Mum No Hands for our new team kit).

There were a few notable teams missing (Bambule, Tough Shit, Shaft Punk, Rakete, Guns At a Knife Fight, King Salami and Budapest Bike Polo), but it was a thrill to have so many top-tier teams in one place.

Friday and Saturday involved two group stages for qualification, most teams were playing hard from the outset to avoid losing face to one other. Spring Break were in Group A and managed a 2-2 draw against Call Me Daddy, a loss to Iron Ponies (we fumbled a loose ball to go one goal down with no time to spare) and the rest were wins. Our most enjoyable games to play were against the Tigers and Edisons where things “just clicked” and we scored some great goals. We qualified in second place behind Call Me Daddy and were ready for the elimination stage.

It was a joy to watch Group B play whilst we soaked up the atmosphere, some highlights were when Cambridge’s Electric Cream beat El Club and London’s Cosmic took L’Equipe, both with one goal in it (although L’Equipe still managed to top the group with Cosmic coming second).

Everyone disappeared for food and beers as the qualification rounds came to an end and Spring Break were briefed to be court-side for 9am the following morning!

The single-elim format on Sunday had tensions running high and Buffalo Bill took the brunt of it for the first few games (Bill is one of London’s best refs and was making an impression early on to avoid any foul play during the final games of the day). The Iron Ponies went out to London’s Nice Touch (who seemed to really find their form this weekend) and Dead Rappers beat El Club to start an awesome spell of polo (Luca joined the Rappers for this tournament and had some incredible link-ups with Emmet before being crowned MVP).

Cocorico found their form against Call Me Daddy to put them out of the tournament in round two. Spring Break lost to Hooks (convincingly) after we tried to make them lose their cool with a super-hustle-style of game. Dead Rappers beat L’Equipe in one of the games of the tournament, with Luca and Emmet catching Geneva on the breaks. Cosmic put Nice Touch out (perhaps as payback for the previous day’s game when Nice Touch took the win).

In the semi-finals Cocorico beat Cosmic and Hooks beat Dead Rappers to make it an all French final..! Cosmic beat Dead Rappers to take third in the play-off and Hooks proved they are now a pretty safe bet for success at the Euros by beating Cocorico in the final.

Josh and John did London proud once again with the creation of this tournament and it was great to have such intense games so early on in the season. Hooks have really found their form and played consistently impressive (and imaginative) polo all weekend, often frustrating their opposition with instinctive passing, solid movement in defense and an ever-expanding play book.

Below is a short video edit of the tournament, including some of the best goals (well, of the few games we managed to film). Finger’s crossed we get asked back to the Bike Show next year, it was a great way of showing bike polo to the masses, once again thanks to everyone that made the tournament such a success.

All images are copyright David Anthony Fearn (there are many more polo pictures available on the link).

So we’ll have some new Spring Break stickers and goodies coming very soon! Shout if you want some posted out once they’re done…

(It’s also a joy to have non-London players visiting for throw-ins so often, good times.)

Two-thirds of Spring Break were shipped off to Nigeria recently by 14 Bike Co to deliver some polo bikes to Fifth Chukker horse polo resort in Kaduna. (We were also required to play some charity exhibition matches in-between the horse polo games.)

It was an odd trip with an unsettling divide between rich and poor (although it was encouraging to hear that the bikes we delivered would be used by the resort to enable polo to be played by a much wider demographic). Playing on grass was an interesting change of pace from hardcourt and required a different mindset entirely… digesting the ruleset was a bit of a task in itself.

Some highlights from the trip were: talking with Nicholas (high profile horse polo expert) about the history of horse polo and him having a genuinely interested in our sport in return; working with the horse polo staff to show them how to maintain the bikes; practicing grass polo with the London contingent as the sun set each day; endless mini beers and downtime; the trip to Kaduna central market and larking about in the swimming pool at the party.

Thanks to 14 Bike Co for asking us to get involved, we may dabble in grass polo in the near future (although nothing beats the thrill of hardcourt).

Here’s a video edit of the trip, there’s very little polo but you should be able to get a feel for where we were and what we were up to.

Friday night was the first evening out which set the pace for the trip (Adam was out until the wee hours every night)! Despite this there was some quality polo being played all weekend and it was great to get to spend some time hanging around with the European polo community (both old players and new).

Saturday meant group stages and we managed all wins except against L’Equipe (2-0), the evening group seemed a little tougher than ours and everyone was keen to see how well the Paris Blue Socks (Hugo, Greg and Woods) and Eddisons (Eddie, Mo and Will) gelled together. There were also some impressive new players from Leipzig, Hamburg (Robert especially) and Grenoble (mini Wills), definitely ones to watch.

Our first game on Sunday was a bike killer with my fork shearing off beneath the crown, oh dear. Still it was another fun day and Dave and Adam really held things down (I was on Erin’s bike and held the back) until the afternoon when we were up against L’Equipe again (5-0 loss). After a quick 5 minute break we had to take on Tough Shit (playing with Andy instead of Jamie) and they were first to score with us chasing the goal difference all the way to the final whistle. Tough Shit went on to fight valiantly against Paris Blue Socks but lost by a slim margin. Eddisons beat Blue Socks to take on L’Equipe and had an impressive first game before losing beer point in a tense second game (it could have gone either way).

Some other worthwhile mentions would be for Bambule for their awesome (quick) passing plays on the break and Iron Ponies who seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to player positioning. It was disappointing to see so many teams employing a strictly defensive strategy (3 goalies?) as well as so many blocking plays (knife fights?) but the final games still seemed to rely on quick, accurate passing which was a slight relief (although the blocking plays and defensive strategies still held up well all weekend).

Thanks for putting on such an awesome event Konstanz, we had an eventful few days with you and wouldn’t change any of it! See you next year…

Some videos are below, the first is a sort of compilation/stalking Adam kind of thing, the second is the two finals in their entirety (brought to you by Karlsruhe Bike Polo, although we missed the last goal of the second game and the resulting French fireworks, oops):

Bristol did a phenomenal job at organising this event, it was located just outside Bristol with a beautiful ride along the Avon taking you to the “polo retreat” site where you could camp and take advantage of local beer and cider at £1 a pint. Some other highlights included the PA system (with Andre’s excellent compare skills), the newly serviced (and graffiti painted) courts, the court sidings at the perfect height, the food available on site, etc. It was apparent that a lot of time, effort and thought had gone into pulling everything together.

The first day was conventional swiss rounds, but as there was plenty of time in the schedule we were given six rounds to play, this was excellent as it allowed us to gel with Ed in advance of day two and also just meant more court time for each team. Bristol had a nice trick up their sleeve with the winning team at the end of day one being given a penthouse apartment to stay in overnight and after a decent performance (despite a loss to Nice Touch), Spring Break were given the keys, awesome!

We drank some more (super cheap) beers on site and then trundled off with Ady to find out where the penthouse was, Bristol is equally beautiful at night and after some cross-style riding within the harbour area (note: front brake heavy down stairs is super sketchy) we were outside our new home.

Spring Break brought Tornadoes and Nice Touch along to the penthouse and we were suitably impressed: two terraces, champagne, breakfast, loads of space and an iffy CD collection… perfect! We bought some pizzas and beers in and generally larked out before hitting the sack, ready for day two.

Day two meant double elimination and despite the odd (incredibly heavy) shower, everyone’s spirits remained undampened. We had a tough first game against Killer Bs who seemed much more sprightly than us, game two meant taking on the Tornadoes, with game three pairing us up with Electric Cream from Cambridge (a really fun game). The next game meant taking on Nice Touch to see who would go into the loser’s bracket. This was a tricky game that turned ugly due to over aggression/frustration with endless blocking and man-to-man marking. We managed to keep taking a goal lead before it was quickly snapped away by the Nice Touchers. There was a tense moment when Adam was taken off for 30 seconds for reaching across James’ cockpit but luckily Ed and I double-goalied until Adam was back in the game. After some more argy-bargy we managed to score the winning goal and avoided the loser’s bracket for once, joy.

There was a HUGE downpour at this point and play was put on hold whilst Bristol raffled off some prizes, another nice addition to the weekend. The sense of community really kicked in post-pour as a bunch of people started sweeping all the water from court one (a small tidal wave ensued) so the games could resume in the sunshine… again, really impressive organisation Bristol, nice one!

The highlight of the weekend (polo-wise) was watching Shit the Bed take on Electric Cream in the loser’s quarter final. It was a great game with some awesome fast/technical play from both teams and some sweet goals. Cream managed to equalise in the last few seconds to take the game to golden goal and after some great shots by both teams Cream managed to get the game winning goal and put Shit the Bed out of the tournament, a real shame, but they definitely went out on a high.

Electric Cream were beaten by Nice Touch in the loser’s semi final 4-3, another great game to watch which meant we had to face Nice Touch again in the final (although for once we had the advantage of a potential second final). After some sterns words from Bill (the ref) pre-game both teams seemed to go into this game looking for the passing plays and generally trying to avoid any argy-bargy/man-to-man lameness. It was a much better game than the previous one and again we managed to take a lead before Nice Touch pulled it back again. The game reached 4-4 and everyone looked pretty tired despite knowing the next goal would seal the win, after some scary moments in our half we managed to get the ball and get a fast break to Nice Touch’s goal, the ball hit the net and we’d won… there was a sign of relief that we didn’t face the prospect of an untimed second final, phew.

Thanks again to Bristol for an awesome weekend, Spring Break nab some more UK National Series points and will definitely be back for next year’s event. Thanks also to Adam and Ed for being awesome team mates, you guys rock. Below is a quick video we pulled together, it doesn’t do the event justice but might give you a feel for the weekend (cue 80s music):

All images courtesy of Gabes, view the full set on Flickr.

People Power

London Open 2011 article by Jon Marshall

The London Open bike polo tournament is a great idea on paper: encourage some of the best hardcourt players to compete in our fair city and never turn away any team with a desire to take part. Realising the idea is another story altogether though and the responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the London bike polo community, the largest group of mallet wielding enthusiasts worldwide.

Last year’s event was a big success, a big success tucked away in a remote part of Southwark. But still, we hosted 48 teams from 13 different countries and we managed to build upon our legacy after starting the European Championships in 2009. The idea of the tournament is sound, although some say we’ve created a monster: what happens when over 50 teams want to compete? 100 teams? 1,000?

It’s a good potential problem to have. There are now over 26,000 bike polo players worldwide (predominately playing within North America and Europe) and there’s a huge amount of growth expected for the next couple of years across Asia Pacific and South America. Some of the grass polo clubs are starting to take notice in Africa and India too, the hardcourt game is definitely here to stay.

Looking to the future can be overwhelming and the plan for the London Open 2011 needs putting in place: “Money? Location? Promotion?” It’s at times like this that being a recognised sport would be a huge help, we’d sign on the dotted line and watch from the sidelines as our pockets filled with cash and our stands filled with spectators, maybe. Maybe we’d simply lose the grease that keeps bike polo moving forwards: the sense of community.

We chat between throw-ins (where players share a beer and play games with random teammates until the sun goes down) and discuss the need for extra courts this year. In London it’s a hard enough challenge to find one suitable bike polo court, so how will we source two or three? The decision is made: we’ll use one of our favourite new courts atop Hackney Downs and construct the additional courts alongside it ourselves, it’s easy when many hands make light work.

We were incredibly lucky this year to have Le Coq Sportif and Crumpler join 14 Bike Co (2010 sole sponsors) in financing the event and after a few months of hard work (and lots of red tape) the tournament comes together beautifully. There’s a buzz amongst the London bike polo contingent as we pull together to promote the event worldwide and source a couch (or three) for the international players to call home for a few days.

The Friday before the tournament rolls around and all the players are encouraged to take part in a traditional London “polocat” so they can get their bearings. Some of the check points surprise the newcomers as they attempt to complete a challenge with their mallet on fire, or a brief naked roller sprint whilst getting covered in glitter by the London ladies. Liquor was consumed and new faces were introduced to each other before they were given a deadline for being on court the following morning… a few teams disappear into the distance, eager to get a good night’s sleep.

The London community are courtside at 8am to help dress the site, everyone is given a role and we await the arrival of the teams. Every bleary-eyed player has their bike checked over before being labelled “fit for purpose” and is briefed on the tournament schedule for day one (five qualification games each in swiss rounds format). The first games get underway and the excitement and heckling starts in earnest, old rivalries die hard and the different cities start to band together in support of one another.

The game vastly improves each year with increased speed, bike control, stick handling and shot accuracy. A few players show off their new way of pivot turning the bike (spinning the bike around your planted mallet), or shots from the reverse side of their bike (swinging back with your right arm and then forwards behind your back before making contact with the ball). By far the biggest improvements come in the form of team drills and set plays that are shouted between teammates mid-game: Some taking advantage of weak defensive movement, some trying to draw the other team out to mid-court and some simply playing the long balls on the breaks to a teammate that just “knows” when to go.

Saturday turns to night and the majority of players head to a local pub for free pizza and beer whilst the Londoners put the site to sleep. We join them in high spirits and everyone hashes out what went wrong (or right) during the day’s play. The top 36 teams have qualified for the double elimination brackets on Sunday and the bottom 16 will take part in a “ones to watch” tournament, there are smiles all round as everyone gets to play more polo tomorrow.

The teams have their final briefing on Sunday morning and now every game counts: Lose one game and you’ll have to fight your way back to the final via the loser’s bracket, lose another game and you’re out of the tournament until next year. The all-star teams are now upping their games, challenges for the ball become much more ferocious and the spectators start to line the courts as the tension rises.

The teams that start to dominate include: Supersonic – an all-star team comprising two-parts Polosynthese (European Champs runner’s up) and one-part L’Equipe (three times European Champions); Call Me Daddy (French National Champions); Cosmic (London League winners and UK National Champions); Nice Touch (London League runner’s up and UK National runner’s up); Spring Break (London League third place and UK Nationals third place); Hooks (European Champs third place, French Nationals sixth place) and Monkey Punch (mixed city team from Germany who were fifth at the European Champs).

Supersonic and Call Me Daddy dominate the winner’s bracket and put out Hooks, Spring Break and Cosmic with a consistently accurate game from Supersonic and a fast, decisive game from Call Me Daddy. In the loser’s bracket Cosmic dominate and show that experience counts as they put out Spring Break and Nice Touch (who beat Hooks the game previously), both less mature teams with only one season under their belts. Call Me Daddy beat Supersonic in a tense game to claim a place in the final, before Supersonic knock out Cosmic in the loser’s bracket semi-final to earn the chance to take on Call Me Daddy again (although Supersonic must win the final twice to be crowned London Open Champions).

With the sun edging behind the trees it’s all eyes on the centre court as Call Me Daddy and Supersonic prepare to joust for the ball. Both teams have a portion of the crowd behind them as the cheering (and heckles) build up to a rumble, the ref urges everyone to hush so the game can start. Call Me Daddy leap from their end of the court with impressive speed which they seem to maintain for the first few minutes but Supersonic seem to be working out Call Me Daddy’s blocking game after their previous encounter in the semi-finals. Call Me Daddy seem to tire a little and make a few errors allowing Supersonic to take a lead which they extend over the course of the 20 minute game, the final score is 4-2 to Supersonic and both teams will now have to play an untimed final to decide the victor.

The crowd rumble once again as the teams take a five minute breather before being asked to take their positions, last minute tactics talks can be briefly overheard from each end before the ref requests that the second final gets underway, the teams pick themselves up and prepare to charge, their shorts have been pulled up since the previous game.

Call Me Daddy win the charge and seem fighting fit again after their brief rest, their relentless blocking game offers the odd opportunity but Supersonic don’t seem troubled and wait for their turn to attack on the breaks. Supersonic take a lead and start to control the game with a solid defensive strategy and accurate fast passes down the court. Both teams are using their left-handed player well with Call Me Daddy’s Will opening up exciting lines to goal and Supersonic’s David being mallet-side-in for quick passes on the attack.

Supersonic extend their lead and Call Me Daddy take a goal back to make it 3-1, the players start to look tired as the minutes roll by and the passing plays of Supersonic open up more space than the blocking plays of Call Me Daddy. A couple of big crashes end in two-on-three scenarios with both teams getting another goal to make it 4-2. Supersonic then make their own blocking move in front of Call Me Daddy’s goal and it’s all over with Supersonic’s Mo scoring the winning goal to crown the team London Open 2011 Champions!

After the prize giving and site take-down everyone reflects on the weekend and all the effort that was needed to make it a reality. We were incredibly lucky to play host to one of the hottest weekends of the year and we’re also incredibly lucky to be surrounded by so many good friends that have no problem working hard in the heat of the moment.

There is a final push on Monday to disassemble the courts and put them into storage under our favorite polo pub, even the foreign players have showed up to form a human chain down through the beer latch as all the wood is tucked away neatly. Everyone resurfaces from the cellar to share a pint and reminisce once more. Talk soon turns to 2012’s event and we’re going to need more volunteers… it’s going to be even bigger and better.