Tourney: London International Invitational 2012 13th-15th Jan

^^ nice vid.
good use of Breakbeat Era too…

Yeah, really good. Captures the speed and intensity better than any others.

Hey slamm did I see you in Putney this morning? Around 9.30 I think?

Just out of interest, what was the reason for the 'half-time' switch halves in the final?

Seemed weird to me for a few reasons:
The games were first to 5 so there wasn't an actual half-time (ie i could understand it on an unlimited goal, timed game).
The court didn't favour either side, so no real reason to swap ends.
We hadn't played that format at any other round - so thought it might be a little confusing for spectators who had watched some of the previous rounds.

this isn't a dig, just curious…

Final was timed - 20min

it wasn't unlimited goals though was it?

so one half was 10 mins long, the other was however many minutes it took you guys to finish off coccorico.

Just out of interest, what was the reason for the 'half-time' switch halves in the final?

Seemed weird to me for a few reasons:
The games were first to 5 so there wasn't an actual half-time (ie i could understand it on an unlimited goal, timed game).
The court didn't favour either side, so no real reason to swap ends.
We hadn't played that format at any other round - so thought it might be a little confusing for spectators who had watched some of the previous rounds.

this isn't a dig, just curious…

The half-time was something that Snoops & I had talked about as a possibility whilst we were in Nigeria. So I decided to try it (with the consent of the organisers), as the LII wasn't a Championship Tourney, with real prizes at stake etc etc.

It was just an experiment, I don't know how much of a difference it made to the game. I think the unlimited goals thing is something that we need to revisit again, personally, but I wouldn't want to have just thrown it in there in a final of a tourney, whereas half-time seemed like a more minor change, so ok to try as a one-off.

Yep, I didn't particularly understand the reasoning for it, but Bill seemed keen so I was happy to try it. Regarding unlimited goals, I think people know my feelings on it, but it wasn't the right place to try it out (especially as we hadn't told the teams before).

I think with unlimited goals, in games longer than say 12 minutes, it would make sense.

Half time is brilliant, talk tactics, take on some fluids, re-energise the game.

Better for players and spectators. Any game over 15mins should have a half time IMO. Unless it's a bench minor.

That half time break just sucked.

Am I the only spectator that enjoyed the reprieve (which I used for chatting, arguing with Mrak about who was getting beer, reclaiming my chair from Chan, and so on)?

Part of polo is the urgency of the game. The half time deflated that.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, Mrak owes me a beer.

Mrak owes everybody a beer... He owes me another from last night...

Mrak is now officially a "giver", so it's more likely that you owe him beers...

I felt half time removed all the tension/pace of the game and the second half re-commenced with calm/collected teams*. Personally I'd rather seem the teams get a little flustered/fast/desperate, the games are too short to need a half time rest.

*Teams that park two men in front of goal and avoid chasing the ball, lame.

FWIW, I asked most of the players in those half-time games what they thought, and they were fairly evenly divided into yes, no & didn't care.

I'd like to see a tournament with something like the grass court rules, ie change ends after every goal, restart with the ref throwing the ball in from half-way etc.

Bit early to be hitting the jazz cigarettes, Bill...

re-shuffle after every goal?

Long games (esp finals) degenerate into long balls or counter attacks with brutal crashes due to tired legs and exhausted tactics. A little break gives the end of the game a boost, I like to see turn of speed, creative play and accurate shots, throughout a game.

And like Erin said, a little 3 minute half time gives spectators a break too. Grab a beer, chat about awesome stuff from first half, pinch someones seat...

Half time is fine when you have 2 fixed-time halves. If you are playing first to 5, stopping the game for a three minute break when the score is 4 -4 is not great. Especially if after 'half' time, a team comes out, scores quickly and the game ends on a massive anti-climax.

I really don't like the half time break. For me Bike Polo is the first to 5. And if we have a time limit, it's the team which has the highest score after the time limit. As usual and everybody is used to it. I don't care about spectators who want to buy a beer while we have a break. They can do it before the game (as I do when I want to drink while whatching a game).
We had a time limit (20minutes) for the epiphanie final and it was 4-4 at the end. We spent 5 minutes more whithout any break (real golden goal) to put the last goal and for me, THIS is bike polo. When both team are totally tired, the last goal is for the team which will not give up because of the players' legs or minds.

The highlights video is done.

http://vimeo.com/37415130

Thanks Chan.

awesome chan!!!!!

awe-some. really nice shots, arial stuff gave a whole new perspective to the passing game on film...

still sad no one did a tracking shot on the zip-wire though.

Nice!!