Tourney: UK Championships 2012 - Birmingham - 30 June/01 July

Yes! First on the list with the lengthy waffle-fest...

Big love to the greater Birmingham polo scene who pulled together to make this weekend possible. It was our first (long overdue) attempt at tournament organisation and despite some hiccups I reckon it went pretty well.

I received so many firm handshakes, warm smiles and glowing compliments, because some people know me, but seriously I didn't do very much of anything apart from moan and harrass. Boards, goals, materials, sponsors, prizes, paperwork, formatting, reffing, driving, administrating, whipping, accommodating and loads of other things were sorted by other people and without going into lengthy name droppings I want to say I/we know who you are and you're awesome.

As hosts it was great to have the way-in to chatting to so many people. There are literally no dickheads in UK polo. Thank you to all the unrecognised litter-pickers, stuff-carriers and favour providers from around the country.

Well done SB. Hard luck NT and Cosmic. Especially hard luck to DR for being highest-placing prizeless wonders.

Dan "Fuck the goalies" Watson

Stabby stabbers deserved a prize... you were a joy to watch!

Thanks Birmingham, what a wonderful weekend, you all rock and hosted a hugely successful national tournament, woop!

Congratulations Birmingham - that was a great event run by a great team of players and friends. Anyone who's ever organised anything of a similar scale will know that success can only come from dogged willpower, preparation and collective spirit. Jess's conviction is particularly impressive off and now on court - UK polo should ensure she doesn't get burnt out too soon. I hope Birmingham capture and retain a legacy for the future as you're well and truly on the polo map now!

Birmingham, you stepped up logistically to put on an incredible tournament, the boards, goals, BBQ, etc were all awesome!!! I just want to stress a huge THANK YOU to Lucas and all the Birmingham polo wives and friends who looked after the scores, formatting, printing of tees and lots of other annoying jobs - lots of love to you! Also thank you to Jon, Adam, James, Josh, Bill, John H and anyone else who gave us advice beforehand and for stopping me from doubting the feasibility of it all. You're all a credit to bike polo and whooooo Spring Break, you are the UK Champs!!!!!

Black Stabbath and Andy were genuinely my team and player of the tournament, I'm so proud of you all for playing some incredible polo and its pointless saying it but you really should be going to the Euros!

Oh and thanks Tab and Gitti for putting up with me, you were bloody brilliant and I'm sorry my head wasn't in the games but whooooo that game against Thumbs Up going to golden goal made my weekend....we nearly had you boys! X

Yeah like Dan said, great effort by everyone in Birmingham!

Thanks to those that stayed in the warehouse, kept it nice and tidy.
The wood is all neatly put away in there now. Ready for next time!?

Hope SB enjoy the trophy!

Good job Birmingham, you put on a great tournament and showed great strength as a scene. Def best UK Champs to date in terms of...

1) Courts: Great size. Love playing on big courts, the game opens up wonderfully.
2) Play level: Lots of good tactical play from the top teams (it's getting tighter) and great performances from the developing ones.
3) Atmosphere: Lots of fun and supportive vibes all weekend, helped by some much needed sun!

Big thanks to Dan for housing Los Cosmicos.

Well done to Black Stabbath and 5G - stoked for your tied 5th spots. BS were great to watch (your game is only gonna get better) and 5G battled hard and deserved a good finish. Chan's goal of the tourney was awesome. Chan, talk us through it again? Dan's of BS against SB was pretty awesome too!

DR were a threat all weekend with Moach holding the team in good control. Always enjoy the skills of Luca and Emmet. Our game against eachother was brilliant.

Massive thanks to Alej for stepping in at short notice to replace Todd (who so badly wanted to be there), or did I replace Todd in Los Cosmicos? Still...it was awesome to play with you, great fun on and off court - see you in Paris.

Well done NT for making the final and massive congrats to SB for becoming the new UK Champions! You guys def worked hard (on and off the court) this season to earn the title - enjoy it!

Lets hope UK teams do well in the Euros.

PS
4 v 4 was huge fun. Def think there is a format to explore there.

+1

Thank you Birmingham for a great UK Champs, you really stepped up and got it right. Courts - perfect size IMO. And that pub on Saturday was awesome, nice little BBQ too!

Congrats to SB, a well deserved win! So many highlights polo-wise, nice touch v dead rappers was the game of the weekend for me. Completely exhausted/bruised/sunburnt today after battling it out with the likes of bangarang, antlers, and dead rappers. Chuffed with joint 5th place and winning best goal (pm if you would like to hear the whole story about that goal ;) Nice to hear so many positive comments about our play from the senior teams.

Special mention to MCR's very own superstar Tum! First tourney, 3 great goals and a shit load of prizes. Nice one mate.

Thanks to Dan for putting us up and all the Birmingham crew for a faultless event.

Fuck yes Birmingham. Great weekend. Enjoyed beating Black Stabbath on Saturday to only get beaten by them the following day and knocked out of the comp. Got some seriously good stuff going on, keep playing hard chaps.

I was proud to wear the Tornadoes jersey this weekend, even if it was a bit tight. :)

I was proud to wear the Tornadoes jersey this weekend, even if it was a bit tight. :)

You make Mr Burns look studly and buff. The camera loves you though. I just tagged a million photos of you on Facebook.

For prizes there were loads of Birmingham players in contention (Mya, Andy, Dave...) but we thought it bad form to give ourselves presents. You guys will have to come to more tournaments and represent to get the schwag!

You make Mr Burns look studly and buff.

Ha!

Everyone is still happy with unlimited goals?

Yep think so, worked perfectly this weekend. It should be the norm.

Yeah, pretty sure it's right.

I do think it can slow down some games, as, especially in combination with Median-Buchholz, there is no advantage scoring more, once you have a safe lead.

But overall I think it's an improvement.

well done jono, ryan and adam. Well deserved i'm sure. Bad luck Emmet and Luca. Mo, can i have a word in my office please?

Brilliant job Birmingham, it ran smoothly and the courts were superb, so thank you to everyone who put all the work in.

I was pretty gutted not to make it a little further but had an awesome time with my team mates and enjoyed playing and watched some awesome games.

Well done Spring Break, you guys certainly deserved it x.

really enjoyed the tournament, massive well done to the brum lot. very impressed how everyone came together to help out up there, you guys have a solid scene. I doubt my missus would be as eager to help out, so well done to the birmingham wives as well! congrats SB, you're deserved champions. big thanks to my team mates oliver and matt, really enjoyed playing and hanging with you guys. can we do it again please?

oh and congratulations to matt, best up-and-coming player in the UK!!!

Ahem, thanks Mark... I think someone else got robbed here but much appreciated.

Thanks to Dan, Jess and all the other Brummies for organising, Matt for the warehouse, Finn for the brake cable, Harvey for lending me a wheel, Oliver and Mark being Antler buddies, everyone else for atmosphere and entertainment.

I want to add to the list of people praising Stabbath as well. At any other tournament they would have been all over the prizes. Great to see more competetive non-London teams. Chapeau lads!

Did anyone pickup/find a Kyptonite Mini-D in orange?

I think I might have left it round the back of the lower court.

Great Job Birmingham.

I think we're sorting out lost property tonight, so we'll post up a list of anything that got left behind.

Did anyone pickup/find a Kyptonite Mini-D in orange?

There was one on the table at the end. It should be in the tools box...

It's really been bothering me today that we couldn't give out more prizes (two sponsors dropped out last minute). I just wanted to say that Up and Coming Male was so hard to choose between all of Antlers and also that Zoe and Julia played out of their skins - Sirens vs Troika probably my favourite game to watch! Loved seeing Newmarket win against a good team too. Also, getting a team together the day before and then playing so well is awesome Max! Moach, Alej and Gitti were all bloody brilliant super subs, thanks for coming over guys...

There was one on the table at the end. It should be in the tools box...

How can I get it back?