Bike polo bloodbath

So I'd heard about bike polo through a friend of a friend who suggested I check it out when in Brisbane. Essentially it's like polocross, but instead of ponies the players are on bicycles. It. Is. Intense. Any sport where a "mallet" is the weapon of choice would seem to lend itself to some violence, but throw bikes and asphalt into the mix and injuries seem like an inevitability rather than just a risk. It's incredibly fast and the players don't hold back - resulting in some truly spectacular stacks as well as a riveting game.

Every Sunday afternoon the gang get together at Musgrave Park in West End (near the pool) for thrills, spills and, if this weekend was any indication, sausage sizzills. Then again, this weekend just passed was a special one - while I rocked up on Baby Blue expecting a casual get-together, I had actually stumbled upon the national hardcourt championships. There were teams from all around the country, heaps of fans and a great vibe. I took some video (apologies for the quality and the wobbliness) so you can see for yourself how crazy it is:



I haven't been to roller derby yet but I imagine it's quite a similar atmosphere, and I reckon we need to come up with a badass name for bike polo - along the lines of "murderball" for wheelchair rugby. Or perhaps someone could design a poloX logo with a skull and crossbones... Something about adding wheels to a sport seems to immediately up the ante!

It was a field day for photographers and sure enough there are some amazing images to be seen - check this out. There were also heaps of cool bikes to perve on:

Wish I could've stayed all day and even had a go myself after the serious games were over... From what I can gather the Melbourne team (the ones in red in the video) won the day. So if you're looking for some Sunday arvo entertainment and have a jones for bikes and a thirst for violence and longnecks, get thee to some bike polo - it happens all around the country.