In the last City Report we talked with Anna Bland, Vicki Butterworth, Ricko Mills and Stephan McDonald  from Hawkes Bay. This week we talk to Simon Mitchell about bike polo in Brisbane Australia.

How long has polo been played in your city?
The first game of Urban Hardcourt Bike Polo was played at Musgrave Park courts on 5th October 2008

How many regular players do you have?
Last semi – official count was 54 regular players. This varies from year to year and seasonally. (30 people took the time to vote in our recent representative elections)

How often do you play?
Sunday ‘Throw Up’ every week
Saturday and early Sunday for League games, seasonally
Wednesday evening, 2 v 2 most weeks
Occasional slackers polo afternoons, any day of the week

Tell us about your courts
We have 3 courts.
(1) Musgrave Park:  33m x 33m, Dis-used tennis courts reclaimed by Bike Polo.  Often reduced with barriers to 33m x 23m. Can be split in the middle for two courts. Surface pretty lousy, with lots of bumps and cracks, but we love it!
(2) Powerhouse:  approx. 10m x 15m, great for 2 v 2
(3) Valley School:  36m x 16.5m.  Not often used but great back up for the rare occasion that Musgrave court is unavailable.

We are lucky in that we have never paid for courts.  Unfortunately none of our Courts come with lights which is a major disappointment.  We are, however, about to purchase a set of portable, battery powered LED lights.

Have you had any tournaments or demos lately?  Do you have any tournaments or demos coming up?
BHBP have held over a dozen tournaments over the years. Themed events, bench minors, random team draws (winner takes all), as well as the 2010 National Championships. Last weekend we had a bench minor, Age vs Beauty! Watch out for “Aftermath”, coming soon,  September 2012

Do you have a league?
We are currently running our second winter league. 10 Teams.  More information can be found here.

What have you found works the best to get new players?
All the usual suspects…word of mouth, community events, bike shows etc. Brisbane has a great ability to welcome new faces wholeheartedly. Sunday ‘Throw Up’ has a strong ‘culture’ that fosters inclusivity as opposed to all out competitiveness

Tell me an interesting but little known fact about your city.
Queensland is one of the few systems of government that has a unicameral parliament—which is to say a parliament with only one house. While this is less than the two houses most other states have, it is still one more than we had during the Joh years.

Answers by Simon Mitchell
Questions by Virginia Castellan
Photographs by Mace Robertson, Cooper Paul, Kristine Kenins and Bennett Rust