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Bicycle Polo

The sport of Bicycle Polo (also called Cycle Polo, Bike Polo) is a team sport similar to traditional polo, except that bicycles are used instead of horses. There are two versions of bicycle polo: the traditional grass game and the hardcourt bike polo.

officers of 120th Battery playing Bicycle Polo at the Royal Artillery Depot, Woolwich

The sport was invented in County Wicklow, Ireland, in 1891 by retired cyclist, Richard J. Mecredy. Traditional Bicycle Polo is played on a large rectangular grass field, but the faster hardcourt version played by less players on a smaller court is getting popular. The hardcourt version is called "Hardcourt Bike Polo" or "Urban Bike Polo", and is played by three players on a hard court surface such as for basketball tennis with a street hockey ball.

The traditional game is played in a grass field. The field should be around 150 meters by 100 meters officially. The ball that should be used should be around 2.5 inches in diameter; the mallet should be around 1 meter in length. There should be two teams playing with 6 members each team, however in France it’s different, they have 7 members. There should be 4 who should play at a time (5 in France) the remaining players are substitutes.

The game lasts around 30 minutes, the 30 minutes is divided into 7.5-minute periods. In the hard court game, there are 3 members each team, there can be no substitutions. All the players must play all the time. The hard court game uses a street hockey ball. The game usually lasts around 10 minutes.

Bicycle Polo was apparently a demonstration sport at the 1908 Olympic Games. Do not confuse this sport with Cycle Ball, a sport similar to football played on bicycles.

Similar Sports

• Polo (Horse Polo) — a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to hit a ball into a goal using a long-handled mallet.
• Elephant Polo — a form of Polo, played on the back of Elephants instead of on horseback.
• Auto Polo — like polo though the players are on automobiles instead of horses (extinct sport).
• Cycle Ball — the gameplay is similar to that of association football, but is played with each player riding a bicycle.
• Cycling — there is a large range of sports involving riding a bicycle.

Related Pages

• Cycle polo demonstration sport at the 1908 Olympics
• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports

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