What do you need to play polo? Well, you either need a large field and a lot of horse or a large swimming pool. But there is another game, namely bicycle polo. The Minnesota Daily, the sport is starting to make a comeback, and not just in the land of a thousand lakes. The paper notes that the Minneapolis Bike Polo team placed fifth our of 36 teams in a tournament this past March in Little Rock, Ark.
The first match was reportedly held back in Ireland in 1891 when bicycles were used in place of horses. Cyclist Richard J. Mecredy may not be of the Abner Doubleday notoriety but perhaps one day he’ll be as famous – at least to the players of bicycle polo.
The game had made a comeback throughout the 1990s with a variety of rules, but in 1999 players in Seattle moved to the hard-court version, and since 2007 has seen a spike in players – with the game now being played around the world, including the United States, Ireland, England, Germany, France and even far off places like Indonesia, Argentina and Pakistan. Cycle polo was even recognized by the International Cycling Union in 2001.
The game is currently played on both grass fields and on the hardcourt, but alas no water bicycle polo version… yet.
[Via Minnesota Daily: Bikers gear up for polo season]