Present: Neil, Jess, Dan, Stu, Asim, Andy, Monty, Matt

1)   Dan voted in as UKHBPA regional representative. In Dan’s absence Jess will deputise.

2)   Lucas voted in as captain for the Cambridge Bench Minor Tourney, with Matt deputising.

3)   All players to seed all other players on strengths and weaknesses to assist formation/strategy planning for Cambridge – see https://www.lfgss.com/thread79682.html for more details, practises next Sunday, try out various line ups of three for offensive/defensive/holding play etc.

4)   Dan to bring bases of goals to Highgate on Sundays to allow for practising not riding through goals/playing the ball back through. This should also aid discussion of better goals for future tournaments.

5)   Utilise Facebook/Forum 26 more effectively to predict and increase turnout, please can everyone try to be as prompt as possible with what days they are planning on playing as not playing (DAN), not putting your name down (CHRIS, RAZ) and putting your name down late (ASIM) can discourage good turnout.

6)   PROMOTION: Ideas for a Birmingham Polo Video needed. New ideas for flyers/stickers/T Shirts. Enquire with Tom and Barry about printing.

7)   More contribution to the blog from everyone – player profiles/bike checks/photos – anything really. Neil to start with bike check this weekend.

8)   Change throw-in format to first to ten games or 10 minute unlimited goals.

9)   Wait for spring before organising another league.

10)  Look into visiting other scenes/cities en masse to practise on Sundays, eg Manchester/Cambridge/Bristol – Asim to confirm price of minibus hire.

11)   Jess to press ahead with application to council for using Small Heath courts as a tournament venue. Date expected to be June/July – Jess/Dan to liaise with UKHBPA to confirm suitable dates.

12)  Asim needs help setting up Birmingham Bike Polo Shop – photos/videos/webstore/linking it to the blog.

… But fear not as our polo-playing motivation is as strong as ever!  We’re still playing twice-weekly, on Wednesday nights (at Calthorpe Park) and Sunday mornings (at Highgate Park). 

We generally confirm exact times/locations/how many are playing on the forum here: http://www.lfgss.com/thread14449-72.html just scroll through to the last page and there should be a list for the next game. 

Beginners are always welcome, and this time of year is a great time to start off, as you can develop all the basics in preparation for summer.

But here in Birmingham we (read: I) have stumbled upon the greatest leap forward in the polo arms race since the european cheater mallet. Jeggings! They compress the legs for a more aero profile while simultaneously maintaining your core body temperature. They have a handy side zip for easy access and blend seamlessly into your outfit. Long live the jegging.

It’s been said in many places by many people but this was an awesome tournament.  I was particularly impressed with the format which allowed lots of games for even the worst teams.

Anyway – our games as far as I remember them, one week after the event.

Blackjack 5 – Scouting for Goals 0

The first game of Swiss Rounds is always going to be a drubbing for the lesser teams, but we did well to hold on for 7 minutes and not get pushed around too hard by the big boys.  The combination of physical size (Rik/Toros chap) and speed/shooting (French chap) totally undid us!

Scouting for Goals 5 – Rusty Rims 0

Back up to +/-0 goal difference with a whooping of our own.  Not much to report beyond the scoreline.  There were two women on this team, but instead of adopting our usual ‘No, please, after you‘ chivalry, we took no prisoners!

Les ….. (French Team) 4 – Scouting for Goals 2

The close games started here, and this was a good one.  They were a lot faster than previous teams, but all pretty small, so me and Lucas used our abundant frames to good effect.  They deserved the win, but the last goal was pretty flukey, spinning and bobbling around Lucas’ back wheel.  Earlier on I had a coming-together with on of the speedier ones, and bent my l/h crank.

Scouting for Goals 3 – Degeneration 3

A hard-fought and occasionally bitter game, with a few vocal complaints from our opponents.  We were trying our hardest, but I don’t think we were playing dirty.  (Usually we come to tournaments and get pushed around ourselves!)  They seemed a bit nervy in possession, and at least 2/3rds of their team had major organisational roles, but still managed to ramp up the goals.  Probably our best result at the tournament, as these guys qualified for the Euros.

Soyo Polo Co 5 – Scouting for Goals 4

This was the first result we were honestly disappointed with, as it really could have gone either way.  Both teams must have defended abysmally for the score to ratchet up one-by-one.  I expected Chris to be their best player, dominate possession and score the goals, but he adopted more of a set-up/assist role which left space for the other guys; something we failed to do.  As the final game of the day, this one bumped us into the losers tournament on the following day.  Lucas mentioned something about if we had won this one we would have gone top-30s, which would have been incredible.  Time to get my drank on…

We arrived in a timely manner on Sunday morning, and waited patiently for our first game.  I hadn’t gone in goal at all the previous day, so announced to my team mates I would be doing (a bit) more of that…

Scouting for Goals  3 – Sickburn 2

I don’t remember much about the game, apart from it being very close and me hitting Stu (another Birmingham player) in the face with my mallet.  At the time, I thought I had just hit his finger (which is what Matt said) but apparently it rebounded into his cheek.  I still feel guilty about that, especially as I scored past him immediately afterwards!

Scouting for Goals 2 – ? 3

I forgot their team name, but they played in yellow and had and Irish chap who intercepted 90% of my feeble passes.  We gelled very poorly in this game, and deserved to be knocked into the losers bracket of the losers tournaments (the shame…)

Poloski Poles 3 – Scouting for Goals 2

Another close one, but by now our spirit was broken.  Lucas played his best attacking game of the tournament I thought, and had several near misses/saved shots.

Overall, I was pleased with our performances, and thought we played our strengths really well.  Lucas was solid in defence, and chased people away from goal well.  LJ was a lefty menace and regained possession more times than I can remember.  I scored plenty of goals (around 19, I think) and held possession well.  I also think our communication was pretty good.

I think for us to improve, we need to further develop our individual roles/strengths and learn how to stay focussed on grinding out a result.  After the first couple, all of our games were really close so every goal, save and missed opportunity really counted for a lot.  As happy as I was to score loads of goals, I should have spread possession around more to make our attack a bit less predictable.  Also, LJ shouldn’t have got drunk before that Soyo game…

It's hard to photograph a pass - Photo Pete Cox

One of the consequences of trying to play more team games is an increased focus on tactics and individual positions or roles.  I got myself thinking about what I see are my strengths and weaknesses, and the kind of game I like to play.  It seemed to me that in lots of ballgames there are partnerships between ‘playmakers’ and ‘goalscorers’, and I asked which I would like to be.

GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAL - Photo Pete Cox

Immediately, I thought about my unabashed joy when I score a goal.  Any of them are satisfying, from a close-range tap-in, to a long-range, spoke/valve-breaking, first time slapshot wheelie-goal (I may not actually have done one of those, but I can imagine the combination).  Obviously polo is about scoring more goals than the opposition, so it’s a valuable role, perhaps the most valuable, as defenders/goalies can’t win you games, they can only prevent you losing.

Then I started thinking about making nice passes.  They’re harder to judge than goals (many times in Birmingham people say ‘Nice pass’ or whatever, despite the fact that it didn’t reach its target!) and it’s hard to say who made the pass work, the passer or the receiver?  It’s definitely pleasing to spot a gap, which a teammate also sees, pass into it and have the space filled and ball collected by said teammate.  I got to thinking that passing is more interesting because it’s a relationship between two separate brains and bikes and mallets and the target is always moving.  The goal is always where it is, you just have to find the gap.  A visionary pass is a beautiful thing.  Even better if it results in a goal.

Photo by Dan LJ

Of all the people who play in Birmingham, I think Matt is the best at receiving passes.  Sometimes it is so easy to see where he is going to go, and it amazes me how easy it is to make the play, which often results in a goal.

I think a lot of us could improve this aspect of the game, especially making sure to pass in front of people, or to where they will be rather than where they are.  The way we call for passes doesn’t help, as it’s always too late, and often just helps the opposition know what you’re going to do.   I think it’s a good habit to think about your strengths and weaknesses, and decide if you’re a ‘finisher’ or a ‘possessor’ (or if you can do both or neither!).  If I were coaching Ill Pigs I’d tell Andy to focus on his fast-breaks, hold possession and set up attacks and I’d have Matt always lurking around waiting for that killer pass to whack into goal.

Slaves Of Olay 2 – 0 Lunch Club
After an hour of waiting for our group games to start, and having a knock about outside we were on court, up against SOO form Brighton. The team had one fast paced player who quickly put one past us in the first minute which gave us a bit of a wakeup call. After this we played a tight game playing fairly defensive and holding on to possession. The game stayed at 1-0 right until the last minute when we were pushing for an equaliser and were caught out on the counter.

Lunch Club 4 – 0 BBB
BBB was an all girl London (I think) team. We had discussed our mistakes from our first game and set about correcting them right from the start. Neil scored the first then I got a nice bb goal and a long range effort into an open net, Stu then capped it off at the end and we left the court happy Lunch Clubbers.

FdT 4 – 1 Lunch Club
Franky De Tourney was a Netto/Asbo fusion, and so we kind of fancied our chances as we knew they weren’t in their normal teams. It was a tough game, and our final moves (shooting and through balls) seemed to be our weak point. Their goals came fairly steadily over the 8 minutes, marred only by an own goal half way through.

Tornadoes 3 – 2 Lunch Club
Tornadoes are a newish London team (I think) that seemed to have strong support, and as the game got off to a quick start, we found ourselves 2-0 down within a matter of moments, much to the delight of the crowd. We fought back though, with Dan’s words of wisdom ringing in our ears (“They play a more physical game in London”) we got stuck in and soon enough I was in constant tap-out mode, delivering crunching challenges while Matt and Stu sped around and got two goals back quickly, drawing us level with only a minute or so to go. Despite some dubious calls from the crowd (I double-tapped at least once when someone rode over my mallet) from a heap on the floor I glimpsed a final shot dead on the whistle (apparently) fly past Stu and the game was theirs. We played well but not well enough, and finished feeling almost cheated by the crowd’s response to our aggressive play. We still managed to qualify for the knockout round, whether by skill or luck we had won a game, scored a fair amount of goals and held our heads high.

Slaves Of Olay 3 – 2 Lunch Club
The knockout rounds didn’t start for an hour so we got some fresh air, calmed ourselves down and drank some more beer. We had been drawn against Slaves Of Olay, the team we lost to at the beginning of the tournament and we were eager to exact some revenge. We started in our usual positions, Stu in goal, Matt charging for the ball and me filling the gap between them. Despite telling each other before the game to slow down with the ball and take some time to think about movement and space like the more established teams we’d been watching in the break, the game began with pace and we conceded two early goals before regaining our composure. Despite the heckles of the Tornadoes, who were goal reffing and seemed still bruised by our previous encounter, Matt and Stu pulled back two to draw level and the play was end to end until the whistle went for the end of the game. Unfortunately, seconds after the whistle, somebody shouted golden goal, and with the Slaves of Olay already in possession in front of our goal, they promptly passed the ball into the net to secure entry to the next round. This left us a bit shell-shocked, I for one had stopped when the whistle went expecting some kind of restart and extra time, rather than just continuing to play regardless of who had possession and where they were on the pitch.

After the game the ref came over and apologised for blowing the whistle, and not just shouting golden goal so we all knew what was happening. Perhaps we should have read the rules beforehand, but in Birmingham we often end at a draw, maybe we need to be more competitive in future, it seems every game needs a winner.

For a first tournament I think we did OK, we’d only had one session playing together as a team and we still scored a few and didn’t take any serious thrashings. The experience of playing with different teams was good, different styles and interpretations of the rules made it even more enjoyable. A big help would be more support, if three Birmingham teams make it to the London Open in July we should have enough heckling/cheering spur us on to win the games that we lost so narrowly.

Well done for getting that maiden victory, although it sounds like you were hard done by in the Tornadoes and second Slaves of Olay games.  I’ve said it before to Birmingham players, but we really need to familiarise ourselves with the rules.  Our ignorance has been our downfall on more than one occasion.  Also, it would help tournament organisers if everyone was willing and able to ref if necessary.

We tried shuffling in more team games, as picked by seeding, so Black Stabbath would play the next three rated players, but it quickly became apparent that it wouldn’t really benefit anyone.

Eventually, we agreed to form three new teams, comprised of one ‘a-’, one ‘b-’ and one ‘c-level’ player.  In theory it would create three roughly equal teams who could play against each other a few times at every meeting, driving standards relentlessly upwards.

We went to the Spotted Dog one night after polo to do deals and form teams.  They were as much based on pragmatism and people’s lifestyles as ability, so the young students joined together to form Ill Pigs, the lefty/veggie/co-op types set aside their principles and recruited a sausage-obsessive to form Drill Collins, and the mortgage-paying professionals formed Scouting for Goals.

It’s looking like the first time any of these lineups will play at a tournament is at the London Open, potentially Birmingham’s first (and long overdue) three-team turnout.  We may even persuade a few more people to form teams and make the journey to Hackney, who knows…

Black Stabbath isn’t dead yet, though – we’ll still occasionally use that name when we can’t get the numbers for our other teams.