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• #102
excuses !
Nice one on dodici, yorgo, shit about marc's though. -
• #103
Dodici's don't help, ask PipeGang*
*grudge
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• #104
You can see in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx2LvQwOdbA
the last two minutes of the final match, Apologies Vs. El Club.
And Yorgo, no excuses, no reasons, only one team was better than another.
Probably another day you shall be the winners, but the trophy stays at home, Barcelona.
And another think...and another thing ... the famous t-bone that he did to Marc didn´t exist, we recorded video and soon I show you the full final video.
And finally, your bikes were the prettiest of the tournament ... But these bikes are not for playing Bikepolo.more info about the tournament in Enciclika.com
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• #105
Haha!
Apologies, dissected.
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• #106
more videos and some babelfish-sounding translations there:
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• #107
*"[I]The final will be an inferno for the French. football chant against, personal provocation from the public, an accident to Marc Sich’s bike will prompt a timeout, after having repeatedly banged his Italian bike on the ground to make the bent rim sraight. The gestures of anger by the Nike curly testimonial ….( maybe not used to feeling so under pressure) do not help to calm the “boooo” of the public whi, you know, has no mercy whatsoever. The winning goal comes from Tumma or Kico (?) mallet, then looks to the sky and sticks in the air. Hugs, and a moderate invasion of the field.
In summary, the game have been made by the hearts of the players of El club and the choir of Catalans supporters. Good game, good game, deserved victory.
these guys will go far!"*[/I] -
• #108
haha!
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• #109
Ace weekend!
The round court is a lot of fun... It’s pretty slippy but once you get used to it its a great to play on.
I arrived on Friday quite late, (Spanish time) Jon at this point had already split his chin open on the rail that goes round the court. We ended up playing thowins till the early hours as more familiar faces were rolling up.
The Elks stayed in Charlies house near the arch de trionf, not too far from the bull ring court.
The tourney started around 10ish, at parc del clot *( http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=barcelona&sll=51.500152,-0.126236&sspn=0.069353,0.201359&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Barcelona,+Catalonia,+Spain&ll=41.408025,2.190423&spn=0.000909,0.002106&t=h&z=20) *an amazing venue with 2 courts side by side and dead flat and grippy. There were steps on the sides of the court (a bit like downham) which gave a great view to all the spectators and foot two bridges that at either end. GREAT VENUE.
The Spanish were mega organised and had done a great job with finding the space. By the time the draws for the groups had taken place the it was around 10ish. The boys and me had gone to the market to get some brekkie and came back to Sarah saying “oooo, you got a tough group... Munich, Apologies accepted and Polosynthesis.
So our first game were a Barca team (cant remember the name) we beat them 5-0 and were feeling pretty good... I couldn’t stop farting as id drank a shit load of beer the night before.
Next up for us was Polosynthesis (annas team) they were pretty good annas pretty unshakable in goal and the other 2 have got good shots... Actually most teams were on pretty good shooting form lots of whippy snappers! I cant really remember the score we won though.Next up was the AA. We’d kinda knew that this was gonna be a toughie as Marc was on good form and garlic boy Louis seemed to have got into his groove... Combining well with marc and tackling really well... Yorgo was yorgo, actually looking pretty solid in goal. This match for was a bit of a blur, It felt pretty tight, friendly and fair. I think there was either 2 goals or one goal in it. Either way was a great game. Which means we had to win our next game to see us through to the knockout stage.
Munich's team consisted of Eddie, Laurence and Jamie. Also we knew this game would be pretty tight. Eddie and Laurence had been playing well the night before and Laurence was finishing really well also that combined with Jamie's hard shooting and bike handling we were gonna be in a bit of trouble... Jono and ali were hooking up really well and it felt like we were gonna get a result as we scored two quick goals to make it 2 all with a few minutes to go.... Jon parked the bus (if we’d finished on a draw this would have gotten us through!) then Laurence came at us me blind side and slotted a shot in front of Jon’s wheel and right through my bb. (GUTTED!!!)
All in all a good tourney for the Elks and a great to have played the 2 teams to make the final 3.
London support was GREAT through out the tourney with Howson polo and the AA boys being a massively vocal! Cheers guys xAs I was asked to reff the last two games I really cant remember that much... I remember the football style chanting.
Alex (Barca organisers) had clearly stated in the rules briefing that play can not happen through the goals. Ie a mallet can not play the ball through the line of the goal from behind.
During the semis between Munich and Barca, Eddie defended a goal from behind the line... And then munich scored, as the scores were tied at 4-4. At this point the crowd went mental!!! Barca and Munich get together with Alex to discuss. At this point Barca were willing to concede the goal which would have put Munich through. After a bit more discussion it was decided to replay the point. (the right thing to do)
The ball was reset 321POLO!!!
Probably the longest point of the game both teams pushing pretty hard to find a hole. I think the crowd may have won this tourney for Barca as the crowd support was incredible. The cheering and booing seemed to be taking its toll. Lucas from Barca had had an incredible day and was Barca’s best player for sure with a zig and a zag around two players then converted the last goal! The crowd went mental, even more.... Cans and cones being thrown on to court and banging of the rails from around the court. Barca were now in the final against AA. Yorgo was not happy. Ha.
The final, the Marc/Lucas incident.... I am of the opinion that Lucas did not intentionally ride into marc to damage his bike. Agreed that Marc was stationary and Lucas was going pretty fast. On reflection now it seems a shame that a “mechanical” may have effected the result of the final. But generally I feel that Barca had the upper hand and the momentum on this and the last game. Sometimes that’s all you need to win a tournament final!
I really had a great time thanks Barcelona!
Rx
PS. SHOOOOOTTTTT IT!!!!!!!
Ejaculate,
candle in the wind,
butt-er-flyxx howson xx
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• #110
Yeah, the catchphrase of the weekend was SHOOOOT IT!!!!
& the chants of the Barca crowd in the final were hilarious.
Eng-gur-land...eng-gur-land...eng-gur-land! -
• #111
Loved playing with my housemates. We only lost one game in the tournament and that was to Barcelona's El Club - the eventual winners. Not bad :)
Great hanging out with the ELKs too. Will put some pics up later...
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• #112
great report Ray, thanks
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• #113
rik - litre bottles of beer. thats all. croquetas thats all. tapas thats all. rioja thats all. and havana club... not spanish buy equally as good!
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• #114
you forgot the weather
:)
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• #115
rikky it rained on sunday and monday :( we made a bike broom... i think there's photos.
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• #116
shit!
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• #117
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• #118
In Barca they... have this kid.
He was fucking nailing shots left right and centre... I think Sarah fancied him... (reverse one footer)
He skinned dt about 19 times. After he shot a one foot wheelie goal, he did a little boy pee on Daves bike.
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• #119
Ha! Yorgo gave him a LOS CONOS sticker - he was so proud and stuck it on his bike. Yorgo wasn't thinking what it means in Spanish. Oooooops.
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• #120
I am way better than him.
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• #121
yeah, but the lenght of your mallets is the same
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• #122
Yorgo tried pulling that kids mallet out of the shuffle and the little guy put it straight back in again... he was having none of it, Yorgo walked away shaking his head in dismay.
Had he been there, Rupert would've died a little inside.
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• #123
the fucking best tournament ever. only the whole sunday-rain was shitty. yesterday we've played from 7pm to 7am!!!!! 2 vs 2 vs 2 into the sun. so many lovely (new) polofriends. a 48h 26" new front wheel for free. and the circle court should be the new standard for tournaments. bcn will host another tournament in september/october!
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• #124
barca fucking rocks!
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• #125
bcn will host another tournament in september/october!
Bring it on! so gutted i couldn't make this one
Nice work, Yorgo.