Birmingham Bike Polo (Wednesday nights / Sundays - info in the thread)

yeah after last night, i was thinking a regular sunday session would be good, seems it might be better timing for some people. if we get good enough turnout, maybe we could do both a wednesday and sunday? but i guess that depends on how many people come out, weather, etc.

If you need another steel rim gazey I got a couple you could have for free (just old crap beater wheels/not fixed.

dfp - im biding on some on ebay for dirt cheap atm, but if that fails ill give you a shout, thanks mate.
hyper - if you do a monthly sunday session ill try my hardest to come back from notts for it.
old dan - the photos are being developed atm and should be ready in the next couple of days, ill post as soon as i have em.

i saw 3 geezers while i was out on bmx,i think they were going to polo... who is it thats got a one peice bar/stem combo?

think this was me and my mates. iv got the one piece stem/bar mix up lol

If I could borrow a drill again (DFP?), I'll make some thicker ends, bens set didn't have the right drill bits - I can pick up.

Gizzus a shout if you need a drill.

'old dan'? the cheek! i'd prefer 'original dan', or 'o.d'. thanks.

old dan!!! OLD DAN!!! That's quality!
How's it going you wrinkly old geriatric? ha ha

Seriously all, Wednesdays are hit and miss for me, so a weekend session would be sweet. I will endeavour to make the Wednesday night session - sometime soon.
Young Dan - OUT

iv also got drills if needed

polo was fun guys thanks for having me

so its 7:30 at either location depending on weather?

what about light? does calthorpe have lights? it practically dark at 8

yeah, there are surprisingly good floodlights at calthorpe. NIA is our back-up location... same time there if it's raining...

tonight's goings on really annoyed me, not least because for all the shouts/threats and ridiculous cuntishness of the local yoots, all of four of them actually wanted to play football. it was all a petty attempt to mark their 'territory'.

i'm all for carrying on playing there, but can see this being more of a problem in the future as the nights draw in...

if it does happen again/get worse, does anyone have any suggestions on how to improve the situation for us?

different time? different location? attempt to reason with them?

this annoyed me too but when there was just the two of them, one was genuinely interested in sharing the court and when i asked him to practice in the car park area they went. the kid that was co-operative was even waiting for us to leave at the end before they played and intially had asked how long we were playing for so there are signs of some of them (or maybe just him) being reasonable.

as difficult as it is not to throw a mallet in their spokes as they're trying to weave around us, i think its best just trying to reason with them. explain to them we only play one regular night a week, the rest of the week the courts theirs. hell even invite them to play (hopefully they'll think its boring and piss off), anything that will make them put their guard down and realise we're not a threat to their territory.

hopefully we won't see them again, but if becomes a regular thing and that doesn't work then yeah maybe a different location would be best.

i don't know, just my 2cents.

yeah, it's definitely not all of them who are being pricks. i heard at least as many 'let them play their game/they were here first/stop kicking the ball' as i did 'this is our court/get off the court/move off now'. however, the kid who was waiting at the end was all of about 12, and surely doesn't hold much sway in their group.

let's just see how we get on. i'm going out for a ride this morning, and i'll go via what looks like another court in kings heath park (probably not floodlit, but worth a look).

(rich) barber mentioned something about some courts opposite the medical school too. anyone know more?

i just thought sparkhill park has basketball courts, don't know about floodlights or if they're locked at night, will check it out tonight.

( with ref to medical school) They are definately not floodlit - which is the main thing (that wasnt an issue so much when i posted about that) -

There are basketball and tennis courts in bournville park - i'll try to check them out, there is a possibility that something may be lit around there - also a nicer area.

(ref the Yoots )Perhaps definately worth letting them know its only one night a week - and trying to reason, They weren't that unreasonable - they are just a bunch of kids with nowhere else to go and play football when its dark, sure they weren't the most polite about it - but most people aren't.

was a good evening anyway, would love to try and get better Quick - but its not exactly something you can practice very well on your own without looking like a nutter!

I'll also find out about aston university, they have a few facilities that can be booked out - and my pal works there, so he might be able to get some sway as regards us using something up there.

nice one barber, keep us posted.

so i checked out sparkhill park today, and man its good news!

the courts are nice, gates are open, so so so smooth and they're double maybe even 3 times the size of calthorpe AND theres a proper solid cage/fence around them so that ball aint going anywhere!

has floodlights too but when i got there (10.30pm-ish) they were not on. apart from it being deeper in south birmingham, i think its a good possible option.

also i won't be in london this weekend so good luck to the 'ham team, let us know how you get on.

photos I took on Sunday 20th.
please credit me if the photos are used commercially. Thanks, Daniel Gaze, Birmingham fixed gear.
woop, hope you like.

13 Attachments

nice flics dan.
what 35mm you use?

looking forward to seeing y'all buhleeeed on sunday.

Nice, thanks for putting those up. I like number 7 a lot.

I havent seen film pictures of myself except for when I was a wee kid. You forget what great depth the 35mm size has compared to the tiny ccd's in most digital camera's

let's take a ride up to sparkhill park if/when we get any more hassle at calthorpe. sounds good.

i went to look at the basketball courts in kings heath park. no floodlights, almost no coverage by the barrier... no good.

looking forward to seeing y'all buhleeeed on sunday.

come back to me when your balls drop and i might take you seriously.