London League V Rules

The rules will be largely based on the LO ruleset, but with a few changes, to suit the bench format.

http://www.lhbpa.org/resources/LHBPA_Bike_Polo_Rules.pdf

Timing:

Games will be 1 hour of continuous time. Time should only be stopped for a major break in play, such as a serious injury where the player cannot be moved, or the ball is lost.

Time will not be stopped for goals, resets, mechanicals, etc.

If the ref feels a team is wasting time, for example after a goal, they can call game-on, regardless of where the ball or players are, a team should cross within 10 seconds of a goal.

At the first break in play (goal, reset, ball out of court) after 30 minutes, teams will swap ends.

The team who would have got the ball if play had continued (the team scored on at a goal, the team getting the ball on reset, etc) will start the 2nd half in possession.

In the event of a draw after 60 minutes, overtime will be played in 15 minute increments

Each captain will have 3 tactical timeouts, of a maximum length of 1 minute (time will be stopped during the timeout). Only the captain can call those timeouts, and only when their team is in possession of the ball

Rolling Subs

Teams can make subs at any point, and as many as they like.
Players should not be dabbed when they sub out. If they are, for example for a mechanical, injury, etc, then the player coming in must tap in.

Subs should wait at the end of the court, of out play, for Newington this means staying in goal, for Downs either in goal or outside the gate, and for Mitch one team in goal, the other team by the ramp.

Only 3 players must be on court at a time. If a team has 4 players on court, or subs otherwise interfere with play, the ref can penalise them.

A team does not have to have 3 players on court during active play, the captain of the team subbing is responsible for doing it at a suitable time, the opposing team does not have to wait for subs to be made, and can continue/resume play.

Penalties

The following penalties are available to the refs. Note that tapout is not a valid call.

Refs should try and play advantage where possible. This will follow the football style, where the advantage expires at the refs discretion once they are happy it's been restored.

Turnover - the most basic penalty.

Powerplays

Powerplays should be called where advantage needs to be restored.

2 Minute Powerplay - for fouls where advantage has been lost which can't be restored by a turnover.

5 Minute Powerplay - for fouls where a major advantage has been lost which can't be restored by a turnover, or violent behavior has lead to an illegal advantage.

Powerplays can be called against a player, or also against a team (for example in the case where 4 players are on court, or repeated timewasting, and no single player is at fault). If against a team, any two players from that team can play.

Note, both powerplays are over as soon as the team with 3 players scores.

Penalty Shot

Penalty Shot - where a foul or other illegal action has lead to a direct goalscoring chance being stopped, for example a zombie footdown, a thrown mallet, a t-bone from the last defender, etc

In addition to the penalty shot, the ref may call a powerplay, which would be cancelled in the event the penalty is scored, or a misconduct. For example a thrown mallet, being dangerous play, would also lead to penalty for that player.

Misconduct penalties

In the event of repeated foul play, violent misconduct, or any illegal action which don't disadvantage the opposition, a ref can call a misconduct. Here the player may not be played during the length of the misconduct, but can be subbed.

A misconduct can be added onto a powerplay, so initially the team will play as two, but can sub the player after the powerplay expires.

5 Minute Misconduct - When a player has committed an action which they need to be punished for, but didn't affect play, or where a number of incidents have occured during the course of the play. Examples could be violent behavior, breaking someone's mallet with a hack, referee abuse, throwing a mallet (off ball).

Game Misconduct - The most serious penalty. The player is removed from the rest of the game. This would only be used for serious violent behavior, such as fighting, or throwing a bike/mallet, which has lead to injury to a player, ref, spectator or damage to a bike.