Tourney: London Open 2014 – August 16th and 17th

I agree. sunday was super clean and any hooks that you did were suddenly three times as successful (and annoying) as nobody expected them!

Have a look here:
https://www.lfgss.com/comments/11771542/
Lost and found thread.

and some of them quite dangerous...

plus if you are running behind because they caught you and they got a break why should you be allowed to stop them hacking/hooking?

In football you can not tackle without being punish with a red / yellow card if you get caught by the referee right?

Perhaps that should be the way to go.

In Hockey there are exclusions for hooking stick with stick right? I don't see any difference between hockey and polo in that aspect ...

Awesome weekend. Still so tired.

Big props to Nik Tim Jono and Ryan for their efforts. Polo wouldn't exist without that hard work and it worked so well without sponsors too.

He's big, he's tall, I saw him touch the ball. Caaaaaaammmmm

Done,
Thanks loads

Awesome tournament: everything flew so smoothly. Massive thanks to Nik, Ryan, Jono and Tim to make this happen. You really went into making sure everybody had amazing time. And those everybody giving back with helping out whenever they could!

Impressed by the level of refing and openness about the additional rules: personally hope the allowed hooking will die soon, the games are just nicer without it.

Sleek and smart play by the Antwerp and Sydney teams. It works so well: positioning and controlled handling.

Raizing from the far rise were unbelievable, really original play: losing with them by three goals we just had no idea how to play them, they just always slip out of our reach.

Great time with my team mates. Thanks for keeping the spirit and pushing it to the maximum. We got lots out of every game.

Congrats Partisans, Triple J and Mondial! So much to learn from you guys!

Special thanks to all those involved in getting this tourney together. It was amazing. Sometimes when things appear so slick and organised it's easy to overlook the effort that goes in especially when this was all self funded, organised, and run by a handful of players. Massive well done and congrats too. A huge success.
Was lovely seeing all those beautiful familiar faces! Hope to see you all again soon.
x

First set of pics (from Saturday) here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/36707747@N07/sets/72157646224841037

Surely in those sports you have more players able to make a block or tackle hence justifying the punishment however when there are only 3 of you on a team it's slightly more fair. I'm not a massive fan of hooking but if your on a breakaway you can manouver to avoid a hook so I think it's an ok rule for the time being whilst working out ways to get rid of more aggressive and unnecessary hooks.
Another point. If you get rid of being able to hook on the break it puts more teams in a position where they won't feel comfortable to play 3 out. Playing 3 out is obviously down to the team but I personally feel it encourages more free flowing play so again, getting rid of hooking entirely might not be such a good decision.
It will be interesting to see what the feedback will be after the world's.
We were gutted that we couldn't send a team from Scotland this year but our polo scene is currently suffering and we are focusing on strengthening our numbers over the next few months but it's hard times as we are about to lose one of our courts and council doesn't give a toss as they are in commonwealth legacy mode.
Sounds like we missed a lot of fun...

http://youtu.be/9hBpF_Zj4OA

Just want to say a massive belated thanks to everyone who made this tourney such a success. Nik and Tim for everything, Ry and all the court builders/dismantelers, all of the food guys, Jono, Zsofia and everyone else I forgot.

Highlights - mega polo train, throwing tomatoes at hayden, playing court A with the crowd chants.

Well done everyone who pulled their weight, thanks a lot. Polo love. See you in Montpellier.

:)

Steering arm?

Go Trigger! That other guy=dick ;)

http://www.islingtontribune.com/news/2014/aug/blazing-saddles-players-court-bike-polo-success-highbury-fields

Lol

It feels amazing to hit the ball with a stick really hard.

I concur.

Dozens!

Oldest and youngest=flowery twats

That's a bit mean, they were good team mates and they're lovely people.

I couldn't agree more.

But you did have the oldest and youngest team members like the article said

Isn't Oli 13 now?

Great weekend! Thanks to everyone who came along!

Thanks to all the companies who helped us with materials and prizes:

Look Mum No Hands
Schwalbe
Mission Workshop
Square Mile
Body Bag
Bicycle Film Festival
Guts and Glory
Magic
The Bike Mechanic tent of awesome!

I had a great time being involved in this and for me one of the best moments was sitting down with everyone on the court build day to a cup of tea and realising how cool it is that we can do this kind of stuff together!

Another top moment was going to Fuchsia's to collect the food and meeting a band of merry washer-uppers who had gone there after the court build to help lighten her load a bit. I love the way this community can really take care of each other. It's why i love bike polo.

Well done to everyone who played their hearts out all weekend!

Well done Sophie for MVP. She pretty much bossed the shit out of the tournament on and off court, a constant force for positivity and action! My hero.

Thanks Hayden hayden hayden hayden woooood, man of the match, for consistently helping to do anything ever all the time before even asked and even after beering himself.

Massive love to Fuchsia for stepping up to become "Tastiest Player" and finding the gourmet vegan chef within. Polo needs people like you to approach these tournaments with commitment, enthusiasm and the epic can-do attitude you brought to it!

Cheers again for consistently stepping up year on year to help the Open work and show the rest of the world that as the biggest polo community, we really are a proper team in London, everyone bringing their skills to the table and sometimes finding out they had some they didn't know about! : Matt Cox, Ed Moog, Paul, Ana, Io, Rik, Jack, Young Paul, Suzy (who promises to play soon), Maddie, Trigger, Woody, Boags.

Thanks to Mya, the most "stylish" player for her work on the great Volunteer and Ref shirts as well as everything else!

Thank you for your great hustle all weekend and especially for the court build and take down!: Emmet, Danielle, Seb, Jimmy, Salman, Kristina.

The "1st Australian On Site Award" went to Jordan, who turned up at 8.30am and said where's the beer. Love it.

Thanks to the "Hottest Players" who manned the BBQ and beer for hours to feed you all: Troika, Shane, Matthias, Stee, Dave.

Everyone agreed that "clerks" mums made the best outfits although there was no pride but that that fashion gives you.

So one more down! Well done London!

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Pictures from the Sunday

https://www.flickr.com/photos/36707747@N07/sets/72157646742663515/

Set of pics on 321 Polo http://321polo.net/