Tourney: BFF 2010 Experimental Polo 17.10.2010

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Lovely photos will! Really like them

Thanks, I would have stayed longer but my back has been killing me lately.

+1

nice one

Lovely photos will! Really like them

Beautiful pix, Will... South in da house! I know Joe doesn't count, but he's reppin' anyway...

And I look hottt... Cheers... :o

hey guys.
is it true someone's mallet was banned from the bff tourney based on the side cuts?
i would like to know the stance of the community on this whole side-joint issue that has the americans are so pissed.

All cheater mallets got taped up... No big deal...

Nice shafts BTW... :]

All cheater mallets got taped up... No big deal...

Nice shafts BTW... :]

I don't get this whole "cheater mallet" deal coming up all of a sudden. If I remember correctly, the nicest Rik Industries mallets have this type of cutouts and many of the finest players in London used them. What happened all of a sudden?

On other issues, I'm happy the shafts are performing.
(Em, I remember you giving your shaft two weeks tops at the London Open.... what's the current situation of that shaft?)

The mallets thing was just the max copying Jared calling them Cheater Mallets, and the BFFCOMM wanted to annoy the people who used them in London. That's it.

So it wasn't anything anyone is planning on adopting from now on, you say...

exactly. The league has no rules about mallets (apart from safety stuff).

cheater.

So it wasn't anything anyone is planning on adopting from now on, you say...

It has been highlighted that the ball-joint rule applies to any open orofice on the mallet, so the side or the end.

Many European players are subverting the ball joint rule by using the side of the mallet. Witnessed at WHBPC, LO2010 and Utrecht.

I still back standardisation, double capped solid pipe. It's not my preference for mallet head, but I think it would be great for the game for everyone to be using the same mallet (variation in length of shaft only).

I mean, whatever, if people don't care...then people don't care. I think ECMs are lame, but that's just me, about 30% of the London polo scene seem to give a shit, vocally.

It would be interesting to actually know how many people are opposed to ECMs and how many are pro.

Many people who use mallets with open sides do not pin the ball to the floor as with a ball joint.

Moving for standardisation of a sport that is in it's infancy goes against the whole idea of something evolving and developing. It's like banning studs for football, or some other such stupid ban. It's a Luddite attitude.

It has been highlighted that the ball-joint rule applies to any open orofice on the mallet, so the side or the end.

Except that on frontal ball-joint you pin the ball to the ground, but you only guide the ball with the side cuts. Which is not even a scoop.

I'm not sure to want to stop the specialization/development of the gear on such a young sport...
and it's not like it gave a clear and definitive advantage to a less skilled player....

I disagree.

I guess there will be no rule on it until the Americans decide on a unified stance for their tournaments, then we will all follow that. It seems to work that way for most rules.

Is there a thread on LOBP about ECMs? I can't find one.

Here are the rules on ECMs/ball jointing from Konstanz...

"Ball dragging" is what refers to pinching the ball to the ground either by using the short side of the mallet head or if lenghtswise drilled also the long side of the mallet head. It is fully allowed on your teams half of the court. If you cross the centerline while dragging a ball, it has to be passed before a goal can be scored. While beeing in the opponents half of the court, you are allowed to drag the ball too but the head of the mallet and the ball have to be before your bikes centerpoint aka the bottom bracket. If you drag the ball in any way behind this point, it has to be passed before a goal can be scored. This prevents advantages of special built mallet heads as well as too much use of ball dragging.

Interesting wording.

I disagree that a ball can't be pinned in front of the bottom bracket, but I like the ruling.

You're kidding right?

Confusion central, no clear message, not a concise rule, patched patch of a patched bad rule in the first place.

How in the fuck are you gonna ref that. What a retarded rule.

Threads on LOBP (first is an old one, second is fresh)
http://leagueofbikepolo.com/forum/gear/2009/12/02/mallet-heads-that-trap-the-ball
http://leagueofbikepolo.com/forum/rules/2010/10/12/side-joint-mallets

This mallets have advantages and disadvantes...
Side joint = Ball joint. People who think they could cheat ref' with that are stupid.

For us rules who become global, that's not really true. For example EUro usually apply the Pass for shoot rule, and US us the no bj in opponent camp rule.

About Konstanz:
Most unenforceable rule i ever read about BJ. For me there is 4 way to rule that:
1) no rule
2)pass after a BJ (with clarification about some issues)
3)No balljoint in offensive camp
4)No BJ at all

How in the fuck are you gonna ref that. What a retarded rule.

I'm referring to the introduction of the idea of 'in front' of and 'behind' the BB. I would ref it by sight.

#justsayin'
#IMO

thanks uolmo for the links

I guess there will be no rule on it until the Americans decide on a unified stance for their tournaments, then we will all follow that.

That's exactly what I don't understand. Don't we have a polo community that stands on its own? Can't we make our own decisions?
If the side-cut mallet was so advantageous, then I guess a SJ team would have taken the trophy at the worlds.... but no,they came in fourth.

Just about the US debat on this kind of mallet:
It goes further the side joint matter, 'cause everybody agree that bj are sj and that the rule apply on any open side of mallet. The issue is about the fact that these mallets make the ball handling easier in a lot of ways.

IMO, ECMs had not been in use long enough to reason like that, gponx.

The issue is about the fact that these mallets make the ball handling easier in a lot of ways.

And how is that a bad thing?