Malice vs BAD

"Before the game Brendan broke excalibur,devastated. And then a second mallet during the game.A lot of pressure on BAD to maintain the unbeaten record. Every ball was fought for. The Malice defence and goal tending was there strength. Matt always rocked up to protect the goal, in front of Todd. Thats clever. It worked. Ian checked Brendan throughout, but not in a sexual way.
Matt smiled a lot.
Dave is a gentleman.
BAD I thought had more shots on goal. Aidan missed a couple of open goals.
Only a couple of close calls on goal for the refs to make a decision. Second game 5-0 probably due to the shock of the first win over BAD. Very fast 5 goals. I think Malice were trying to catch there breath as all the players were prepared and did go down. I think the last game BAD were up 3 - nil so Malice never gave up, and prevailed over the evil BAD. Awesome game to watch, they were absolutely knackered and must have ached the next day, week. Very physical game without being malicious. Thats the important bit. The evidence is in the photos. BAD can relax now and win the league"
Quotes from LFGSS

So sad I missed this. Check the full coverage at London Bike Polo League

Photos here, and here

Newington Crewington

My Big Tap Out

Flickr set.

Fixed Freedom

This ride was unreal. No plans, just a couple good maps, and some spare inner tubes. Other than the first day the weather was like no other. Day number one was short and sweet, slept in and only caught the train from Paddington at 9:15, was out of down town Cardiff by noon and on my way. Wales is ridiculous, spent day number two bombing through the Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean, honestly felt like I did two hills down for every one up. Winding roads the whole way through, wearing jeans and a hoodie I didn't look or feel like I was going 300km in a few days. Day one and two I was off my bike by dusk and in the pub downing as many Guinness as I could consume before heading to bed. Small town pubs are amazing, good draft and good people are a great combination. Last day was by far the longest haul, made it to Reading by 2:30 and had no idea what I was in store for to make it into The City. Got to the Newington court by half 7 and was able to get a few games in before a much needed rest. Got my only flat about 2km from my place only to realize my rear tire was completely done for, note to self when doing distance brake free, bring a spare.

Fixed Issue 2 Launch Party

Showed up too late to get an Issue, thanks for giving me yours Roxy.

Our Polo

Which art in London,
Hallowed be thy game,
Thy Championship come,
Thy League be done,
In Hackney as it is in Peckham.
Give us this day our daily throw-in
And forgive us our missed passes,
As we forgive those who score goals against us,
And lead us not into grass polo,
And deliver us from punctures,
For thine is the mallet,
The T-shirt and the disc wheel,
Forever and ever,

POLO!

Malice in the #2 Spot

Bad we are coming for you. Malice VS Zombie.

Malice VS Zombie

More amazing games from the Mitchison court. Fast throw ins all morning followed by the most tiring league game I have ever played. In the end it was 5-1, 5-1, 5-1 in Malice's favour, a score that definitely does not reflect the level of play. Ups to Dale who walked into a game we had been thinking about all week, and a big thanks to Otters and Vidal who basically just told me to go mental and see what happens. Most fun I've had on a court in a while. Great decision to play with the goals out from the nets it added a nice touch to the game. Flickr set here. Flickr set here.

Zombie RMY, using Dale as a substitute for Rob, have yet to recover from
last weekends lashings from BAD Polo and Moving Targets and they were trounced
by Malice Nternational 1-5, 1-5, 1-5. The games were long and hard with the
first and last games seeing hard fights for a goal. The fast and frequent
attacks from Zombie were no match for the excellent team-play, defense and
communication from Malice. Not too much physical play until the last game when
both teams were obviously exhausted.

4-5, 5-4, 5-3

A great night of Polo yesterday there was a big crowd and some great throw ins before and after our league games. Tough play the whole way through, after taking the first three goals we thought for a second it might be an easy match but the Sick Buckets let us know they weren't about to get shut out and ended up taking the first game, deservedly so. Amazing play from James Brown who during a pretty grimey match played hard and like a gentlemen, my vote for MVP. This weeks fixture puts us up against Zombie RMY who took us out of the BFF invitational in London, I look forward to settling the score. Malice>Zombie.

"There was a huge turnout to watch Malice International beat Sick Buckets 4-5,
5-4, 5-3. The games were close and very physical, with some great goals. There
were a couple of contentious goals - the very first was a Sick Bucket clearance,
which came off another SB wheel and straight back into the goal, and this was
allowed as a goal. A tougher call came on another 'goal' (though this time not
allowed as a goal) when the ball was kept in by a spectator and proceeded
directly into the goal. Close calls in a very close game - the best I have
watched of the league so far. Well done Malice."

Quotes from LFGSS

Limited Edition LHBP T's

By limited I mean I am just drawing these guys on with a sharpie.

De Beauvoir Town

Last Saturday started at the giant Mitchison Road court with some pretty gnarly games but after enough whinning from the council children we moseyed on over to De Beauvoir Town. This tiny little court is great, with no real chance to get to maximum velocity games are more technical and force you to deal with defenders in close quarters. I do love Mitchison but this is still my favourite court in town. North East is Polo.

"What an amazing day of polo! Couldn't believe how small the downham court
felt after the move over to there. Great though.My hip is seriously hurting.
There's this weird swollen bit floating around which isn't good.Bit of research
and I think it's this:"A fall on the hip can cause bleeding into the bursa,
forming a hematoma". Uuuurgh!Gonna take it easy this week and keep my eye on it.
If it doesn't go down over the next 2 days, it's gonna be a doctors job.
Hopefully rest will see me through. Now where did I see those "crash
pants"!"

"Yo yesterday was epic... got two sore arms... 12-5ish only 8 players
awesome.Generally a good level of play. Some oddly quick games throughout the
whole day. We must have played about 20 games each. Heres to next sat!
woop!"

Quotes from LondonFGSS

Bridges Ride The Photos

MI > NS

The creation of the London Bike Polo Leauge has with out a doubt had a massive impact on polo in London. The North East has become the centre of polo culture in recent months with new courts appearing as if from air in the neighbourhoods we all live. There probably are not another two teams who play together as often as Malice and No Sympathy do in toss in games durring the week, we know each others play as well as our own and after a heart wrenching No Sympathy defeat in Paris, last weeks league game was a chance to level the playing field. Games were great fun with only a few uncontrolled moments of anger. In the end it was 5-3, 4-5, 5-4 in Malice's favour with a finishing game that had us three points down before coming back to win it. I just want to thank Gabes, Emily and Ray for all the shit talk in recent months that motivated us to beat you.

Tap Out

More pictures of Paris' Bicycle Film Festival Polo tourney from Mathieu, who let us (Malice Nternational) stay at his place all weekend which involved coffee and toast every morning and some of the latest nights on record. A true gentleman in every sense of the word. Flickr set here.

Post Script - yes this is me on the right and no this was not my fault.

5 Day Forecast

Sunday Bloody Sunday

After a weekend of heavy drinking in Paris and a full day of BFF polo in the rain what better to do than jump off the Eurostar head over to Shoreditch and give it another go. I may have gone a little hard this weekend, as I am still finding fresh bruises, ruined yet another pair of trousers, and my bike was making some awful noises on the way into work this morning... If it looks like I am about to heave in this last photo thats because I am. Flickr set here.

Bicycle Film Festival Paris Polo Tournament

The curse of the BFF brought us another full day of wet and wonderful polo. We all got taught a lesson by the American team who came all the way from Wisconsin just to play, they talked a lot of shit all week about 'play free or die hard' in the end we chose the latter. We will soon see if any of our riders in Europe make the big freewheel switcheroo. Flickr set here. Flickr set here.