Mr Müller," reads the name tag on the precisely ironed short-sleeved shirt. Mr Müller has been peering through the large glass window of the Munich Transport Museum for minutes. He is about to unlock the door to let the first visitors in, but he hesitates. There are strange-looking people loitering around the large square in front of the entrance: A horde of men, often dressed in black, some with tattoos, and altogether pretty weird. Standing, lying and leaning between them are bicycles that look just as strange: narrow tyres, straight handlebars, ... The gentlemen are obviously not malicious, rather sleepy. They check tyres, pat shoulders, drink coffee from paper cups, sit on cold concrete steps.
At nine o'clock, Mr Müller briefly tears himself away from the sight of the rebellious-looking cyclists, unlocks the door and stands next to a guy with dreadlocks with his arms crossed: "Good morning, what's going on here?" "We're playing bike polo," explains the shaggy-haired man, and the conversation is soon in full swing. Lorenz with the shaggy hair talks in a gentle voice about "teams of three", "no gears", "authorised event" and "just for fun". Mr Müller instantly relaxes, obviously the gentlemen don't want to go to the museum. At some point he interjects: "Is that like cycle ball with rackets?"
Yes - because it's about getting a ball into a goal from a bike. And no - because cycle polo smells far too musty for the scene. If anything, the sport would have other roots: cycling polo is a hundred-year-old hat from the British Empire. Polo for the commoners, so to speak, who couldn't wear out three horses per game. Cycle polo also exists in Germany, as an indoor sport for women.
But bike polo as a metropolitan trend sport took a different route. They led neither across British pitches nor through German gyms, but across the car parks of Seattle, USA. Legend has it that around ten years ago, the bike couriers there used to meet up after work to play bike polo. They didn't need anything more than their robust single-speed bikes, a homemade racket and some space. Other couriers came, saw that it was good and played themselves. After work, and then in the supporting programme of bike courier championships. Spectators came, saw that it was good and wanted to play too. First in New York, Paris, London and other cities. A kind of city championship with twelve teams has already been held in London this year, and the European Championship is also scheduled to take place there. The game has long since left the inner circle of the courier scene - polo players are recruited from all sectors. And "urban bike polo" or "hardcourt bike polo" continues to spread via the internet. Players from all over the world came together for the "Munich First Bikepolo Open". Teams from five countries huddle around the tennis court-sized pitch in front of the Transport Museum.
Twelve hours after the opening match, Mr Müller has long since cordoned off the transport museum. The tournament is nearing its final, there are no injuries to report. For "L'Equipe" and the Munich "Poloholics Toros" it is the sixth match, for the eliminated teams on the beer benches and steps it is the end of a twelve-hour family reunion. A rock festival atmosphere fills the air from the beer bottles and many an herbal cigarette, and in the rectangle of boards it's once again all about honour and immortal fame in some blog on the World Wide Web. The Geneva trio wins. Then trophy, party, pack up: The pitch fencing goes back to Berlin, the Geneva and Londoners go home, the team from Milwaukee jets on to Paris for the next tournament. In a parallel world, the following press release was issued at the same time: "The RSG Ginsheim team also impressed at the home match day of the 5-man national cycling league. The quintet is (...) thus qualified for the German Championship (...) in the Kreissporthalle Schramberg-Sulgen/Schwarzwald."
You can find the entire article about Bikepolo as a PDF download below.
left: Courier bike by day and polo bike by night: the large sprocket makes all the difference.
right: Do-it-yourself disc front wheel. The Bavarian party will be sorry to lose its advertising medium.
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