Roamin' Polo

we only just managed to get a 6th person for the nationals! if such a small number of people want to go, we need a fair way of deciding who plays for which team.

eg: black stabbath and the b team were both formed for the nationals. myself and fin have played together in tournaments before, but never with andy... the b team were all tourney first-timers.

maybe if the brum scene grows a bit we'll be able to settle into fixed teams. as far as this idea is concerned i personally would maybe not want to trek up to newcastle (no offence, i've heard it's a lovely place, just flipping far away...), but mancs, leeds, oxford, cambridge, sheffield would probably be do-able. are there no liverpool and bristol teams?

Oxford and Cambridge are too far away from us in the same way i think, takes somethign like over 4 hours to get train to cambridge! but we can work out exactly who is in for which dates and stuff later, this was just to guage support for the idea.
Bristol have players but they are a bit too far away aswell, although there is nothing stopping you Brum players also doing this with more southern teams. Liverpool just have tricks riders as far as i knw

actually i was also thinking about doing a "northern" tournament recently where you either needed to be a resident of north of london, or BORN north of london. this would mean people who live in london could play, but probably not with their current teams, so they'd be forced to mix it up

Totally understand the concerns of Birmingham on travelling all the way up to the Toon - I think the feeling's probably mutual - also no offence intended. So this probably precludes doing some kind of league.

But that definitely doesn't stop us having mini-tournaments and getting a bit of decent competition going. I'm tending to think, as much as playing local throw-ins with your mates is great for just enjoying playing polo, unless you have to try out your skillz in competition, your game isn't going to grow as much as it could.

We would also have the same issues with putting two permanent teams together, as it's not how we play. But, we've got enough people to do it and any game weekend can include plenty of throw-ins and mixing up. I guess that's really up to each city on whether they want to try and prepare a specific team for a tournament or just all improve together but... it's all going to be good.

Really excited about this. Northern polo 2010 - fuck yeah

Everything I was thinking has been said here really. This sounds like a great idea. Newcastle were talking about this sort of thing after doing so bad in MCR.

So, whens the first date?

Racist

yeah, i did feel a little harsh saying that after london types have organised three tournaments which i've attended and really enjoyed, but us non-londoners really need to raise our games away from london in order to come with some shock and awe!

Maybe 2-3 invitational tournaments a year would be a good format.
Smaller in scale than UK Champs, BFF etc 15-20 teams maybe. inviting players who are within the same skill level.
Having it smaller means we can have more games and keep it to one day.
There is also the possibility we could include some london teams/players who are just starting out - just a thought. http://www.lfgss.com/thread41959.html

Maybe 2-3 invitational tournaments a year would be a good format.
Smaller in scale than UK Champs, BFF etc 15-20 teams maybe. inviting players who are within the same skill level.
Having it smaller means we can have more games and keep it to one day.
There is also the possibility we could include some london teams/players who are just starting out - just a thought. http://www.lfgss.com/thread41959.html

good idea, lets get the ball rolling on this. Maybe just exlude the top 6 teams from the champs?

"the uk chumps"

good idea, lets get the ball rolling on this. Maybe just exlude the top 6 teams from the champs?

That would be a start, but i think also limit it to X places, maybe 16 or so, and offer these to non-london first?
we don't want to ahve to sort out so many people again etc

Definitely in for the first UK Chumpionships - should we start a seperate thread and get this one back to roamin polo talk?

i think they are sort of the same thing? we can organise these skill limited tourneys, but in the meantime should have some roadtrips?
I think we should go to brum in May?

if we go please can we go after the 20th cause then i have no work to do

maybe we should leave it till after the Cambridge tourney then

wondered who these sheffield aand newcastle players were. how many are there? i know theres just about six players in brum. if we knew where there were most players we could go there first maybe.

Newcastle are me, philxthomas and everyone else that posts on our subforum + a few other non-forumengers. We probably average 6 people per session. I'm really up for hosting people but we have a constant court problem in that it's always busy and there's a lot of negotiating with players of other sports.

Sheffield is me, Lansdlide and swiftyH although we have about 5 otghers that are not forum users. We also have a bit of a court issue as we have only recently started and therefore have not found a suitable permanent venue yet.

i spoke with woody and others from le mallet jaune (sorry - didn't grab your names), at Cambridge, about hosting people in Brum for a 'Geneva Warm-Up' or somesuch. basically a day of team throw-ins rather than a tournament, in the hope of drastically improving in time for the Euros.

Of course, other teams would be welcome (just not them London types - the whole point is to raise the level of the non-London teams): Cambridge, Oxford, Shef, Newcastle if they can be bothered to make the long-ass journey for a day's polo... etc etc.

As Mancs is likely to be the biggest contingent, how do you feel about a date. For selfish reasons i'd really prefer it to be a Sunday, and to avoid June 13th. One of my team-mates also can't do the following two weekends (20th/27th), but is July 4th too late?

Cambridge are well up for it too! I would be most up for the 20th or 27th June, but could possibly do 4th july if need be
We need to make this happen

i'll be in brussels for the TDF on the 4th, but could probably make most sundays in june

Obviously not going to Geneva (but am in Rotterdam for le Grand Depart - anyone know of any polo action around then??), but would be keen to support this tourney warm up....

sorry some of you guys can't do the 4th, but i think that's probably the day we're going to go with as it's the only one the whole of our geneva line-up can make. maybe some of us could come up to you on your preferred sunday (20th/27th?).

we'll be sick of the sights of each other by the time geneva rolls around.

I'll try and make the fourth. I suggest Brum and any cambridge that wanna make the trip come on the 20th? then we have a fortnight in bewteen. Come in the morning, leave on the last train? (although I could put up some people if they dont wann atravel too much on one day, E.G. Cambridge)
How does that sound to everyone?

i cant do the 4th woody

Im able to make the 20th, 27th and 4th weekends: well up for this!

i'd come up on the 20th - should be able to get at least a team together from brum. easier for everyone involved to make this things one-dayers, too.