Polo Rules

I can't keep track of what is/isn't a foul anymore.

I wouldn't go with 4' goals without good reason to be different to everyone else?

Oh for sure, but we have them now, and so might as well use them.

I wouldn't go with 4' goals without good reason to be different to everyone else?
Strikes me there's a good reason in that it's already the standard for ice hockey, thus opening up goals that are commercially available.

Yeah, that was the argument for 4' goals for the NAH, but the decision was for 3' goals (for whatever reason, they play with all sorts, mostly 4' ice hockey goals), I assume it's because the majority in NA feel this is the best size for bike polo. We could do our own experimenting so having bigger goals at West is no real issue.

Bench format rule questions:

Does time keep running after a goal is scored?
Do players have to be tapped in before they can sub (Americans say no)?
What happens after a goal if captains want to make a sub, do they just jump on court and yell out or something? What was the rule in the Bench micro?

^asking because I am writing up a bench format ruleset for Brisbane and the NA one isn't quite complete yet.

The goals seemed fine to me, though I don't think there was anyone there who could have (deliberately) used the extra height to score in.
Holding onto the bar was only done by beginners who (I think) struggled with staying upright otherwise.
Slight risk in that the crossbar's at roughly face height, so could go into it nastily, but I don't think that was a problem for anyone.

^ Chris "Landslide" Lansley younger brother??

^ Yes.

Bang goes my anonymity...

Time should stop after goals ideally, the other approach can be exploited but it's probably a mute point.

Tapped in subs or not has pros and cons, I prefer the tapped in approach as it means there is less disparity for falling off your bike in different parts of the court (for example, benches neat the defensive end would encourage defenders to avoid worrying about coming off their bike and possibly play like dicks as they can be easily subbed off). But if subs have to tap in anyway then it's not such an issue (but I'd ensure either the player coming off must be "in play", or that the subbed in player has to tap).

After goals the ref would have to consult the team captains (are you ready?) before resuming play, but this could be pretty slow, why not just encourage live subs and state there will be no additional stoppage for subs after a goal has been scored, this is not the convention though (most of the time you have a big delay until the teams are ready to go, or you have to restart the game because a team wasn't "ready" as they were making a sub, yawn).

I know.. Yawn!!

There will be a massive disparity in the bench areas.. Hmmm.. BUt remember when Josh Cohen dropped his chain at the Bench Micro? What to do? He can't dab back in without a chain?

Should have used a mechanical time out in that scenario, or if the time-out was used up they'd have to wait to be scored on and then sub out the player in question (everyone is auto tapped in after a goal).

(Personally I'd have liked to have seen Cohen towed to the tap out point and then off the court by a teammate, but it didn't happen, boo.)

Does time keep running after a goal is scored

No.

Maybe we should use the sub back in rule..

But in 'Merica they don't.

No.

it did in cambs. Time never stopped. but then we had the time displayed in giant numerals so that was nice.

Cool, I think that's where I read/heard about it. I understand why they do it, it's open to abuse, but ref can easily turn the ball over for abuse.

Although, I don't really know what would happen if subbing was going really slowly... Ref calls game on and they deal with it?

Cool, I think that's where I read/heard about it. I understand why they do it, it's open to abuse, but ref can easily turn the ball over for abuse.

Although, I don't really know what would happen if subbing was going really slowly... Ref calls game on and they deal with it?

There's a reason why we stop the clock in 3 vs 3, and it's just as good a reason in BM. If one team is taking too long over subs, ref can penalise them (ball turnover, delayed penalty).

But a BM game is longer, so the impact is less.

An alternative might be for the ref to add on "injury time" at the end, if they think there was time wasting.

Subs should happen during play, time and play shouldn't be stopped.

While it's not really an issue now, if we did have 4' goals, would it be acceptable for goalies to stop the ball with their hands? Either a deflection or even a catch.

In Ice Hockey I believe that's allowed.

I wouldn't want to stop one of Mo's shots with my hand... yikes!

But a BM game is longer, so the impact is less.

Incorrect. The impact is the same. Remember the Cambridge BM final?

No? explain.

The impact of 10 seconds of timewasting are clearly less over the course of 1 hour, than over 10 minutes.

Or to put it another way, the timewasting should have much less impact, because games are likely to be less even over that length of time, and teams are more likely to be more even in their timewasting (and then in the that's their own fault, if at the end they lose by 1 goal).

For BM I'd rather see continuous timing (one less thing for the ref to do), and instead the ref can call a turnover for repeated timewasting, and only stop time/add on time, for serious injury/loss of ball.

It's cumulative though? Longer game = more delays (many 10 second delays will become significant).

Sorry, I didn't explain that well at first, just updated my post.

3134021Tapped in subs or not has pros and cons, I prefer the tapped in approach

I, too, prefer the subs to tap in, whether the player they are subbing is down or not, but not if a goal has been scored (in 3 v 3 no one need to tap back in after a goal).

My guess would be that if you stop time after goals (without allowing time to be wasted - if you want a drink, or to talk tactics, or have some problem with your bike, mallet, helmet, clothing, etc get off court immediately, that's what subs are for), and make subbing players tap in when game is in play, it will make subbing a lot more comprehensible. Most teams will look to sub after goals, and only sub in play in emergencies, ie mechanicals etc.