| Storia

Polo..

5th century BC, or much earlier, to the 1st century AD

    A game first played in Persia/Iran at dates given from the  and originated there. Polo was at first a training game for cavalry units, usually the king's guard or other elite troops. To the warlike tribesmen, who played it with as many as 100 to a side, it was a miniature battle. In time polo became an Iranian national sport played extensively by the nobility. Women as well as men played the game, as indicated by references to the queen and her ladies engaging King Khosrow II Parviz and his courtiers in the 6th century AD.



From Persia, in medieval times polo spread to the Byzantines, and after the Muslim conquests to the Ayyubid and Mameluke dynasties of Egypt and the Levant, whose favored it above all other sports. Notable sultans such as Saladin and Baybars were known to play it and encourage it in their court. Polo sticks were features on the Mameluke precursor to modern day playing cards.



Later on Polo was passed from Persia to other parts of Asia including the Indian subcontinent and China, where it was very popular during the Tang Dynasty and frequently depicted in paintings and statues. Valuable for training cavalry, the game was played from Constantinople to Japan by the Middle Ages. Known in the East as the Game of King. he name polo is said to have been derived from the Tibetan word "pulu", meaning ball.



The modern game of polo, though formalized and popularized by the British, is derived from Manipur (now a state in India) who played the game known as 'Sagol Kangjei', 'Kanjai-bazee', or 'Pulu'.It was the anglicised form of the latter, referring to the wooden ball which was used, that was adopted by the sport in its slow spread to the west. The first polo club was established in the town of Silchar in Assam, India, in 1834.

In Manipur, polo is traditionally played with seven players to a side. The players are mounted on the indigenous Manipuri pony, which stands less than 13 hands high. There are no goal posts and a player scored simply by hitting the ball out of either end of the field. Players were also permitted to carry the ball, though that allowed opponents to physically tackle players when they do so. The sticks were made of cane and the balls were made from the roots of bamboo. Colorful cloth pom-poms dangle at sensitive and vulnerable spots around the anatomy of the ponies in order to protect them. Players protected their legs by attaching leather shields to their saddles and girths.

In Manipur, the game was not merely a "rich" game but was played even by commoners who owned a pony.

1871: The Hurlingham Club (U.K.) fixes the modern rules of equestrian polo.


+  Bike..

1493
The earliest comes from an illustration found in a church window in Stoke Poges, installed in the 16th century, showing a naked angel on a bicycle-like device, and from a sketch said to be from 1493 and attributed to Gian Giacomo Caprotti, a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci. (detto "il Salaino", ma anche Salai, Salaij ovvero "diavolo")


1791
Later, and equally unverifiable, is the contention that Comte de Sivrac developed a célérifère .

1817
The first verifiable claim for a practically-used bicycle belongs to German Baron Karl von Drais, a civil servant to the Grand Duke of Baden in Germany. Drais invented his Laufmaschine (German for "running machine") of 1817 that was called Draisine (English) or draisienne (French) by the press. Karl von Drais patented this design in 1818 which was the first commercially successful two-wheeled, steerable, human-propelled machine commonly called a velocipede, nick-named hobby-horse or dandy horse. It was initially manufactured in Germany and France. Hans-Erhard Lessing found from circumstantial evidence that Drais' interest in finding an alternative to the horse was the starvation and death of horses caused by crop failure in 1816
(Wikipedia)




= Bicycle Polo

1891: Richard J. Mecredy (Ireland) invents the cycle polo.

1891 October : first cycle polo match in The Scalp (20 miles from Dublin, Ireland) with the
Ohne Hast C.C.

1891 October 31 : The first cycle polo rules are published in "Cycling" (Ireland).

1895: First English clubs (Northampton, Newcastle, Coventry, Melton Mowbray and Catford).

1897: First cycle polo club in the U.S.A.

15 May 1897: The Bicycle Polo Association of Great Britain was born. The headquarters is in the Sheen House Club (West of London).

27 May 1898: First demonstration of cycle polo in the Moulin Rouge (France) with Captain Wood's team.

10 September 1898: The B.P.A.G.B. publishes its own rules in "the Morning Post".

28 September 1901: First international match between Ireland and England in Crystal Palace. Ireland wins (10-5).

13 July 1908: Cycle polo match at the Olympic Games of London. Ireland beats Germany (3-1) at the Shepherds Bush Stadium (London).

The first World War stops the cycle polo movement.

1 February 1930: Second creation of the Bicycle Polo Association of Great Britain with members of Corrance C.C.

13 March 1930: New rules of cycle polo (with 8 players per team) inspired by the polo poney rules of the Hurlingham Club and by the hockey rules of the Kent Hockey Association in the United Kingdom.

3 May 1930: First match with the new British rules in Mogador.

19 June 1930: First British regional league.

31 July 1930: First match with an official referee.

27 September 1930: First match organised by the B.P.A.G.B. in Herne Hill.

1930: Creation of teams : Polytechnic, Adys, Tooting, Merton Wheelers, Corrance, Calleva, Highburry, Centaur, Oval and N.C.U.S.W. Section.

1931: Creation of teams : Epsom C.C., Norwood Paragon C.C., St. Martin's C.C., London Bicycle Polo Club, Tunbridge Wells Club and Imperial Wheelers.
The Tooting B.C. wins the first championship of England. The London B.P.C. is second.

1932: Creation of teams : Catford C.C., Clarencourt C.C., Old Portlians, Southborough & District C.C.
The Tooting B.C. wins the second championship of England. The Norwood Paragon C.C. is second.

1933-38: The Norwood Paragon C.C. wins the championships of England.

1938: The Bicycle Polo Association of Great Britain has 170 teams in 100 clubs with more than 1,000 players.

The second World War stops the cycle polo movement.

1946 : Bicycle Polo has a new start in Aquitaine, Paris area, Normandy and Pyrénées.

1966 : Creation of the Cycle Polo Federation of India.

1994 : Creation of the Bicycle Polo Association of America.

1996 : First International Championship of cycle polo in the U.S.A. with India, Canada and U.S.A.
from polo velo

THE START OF HARDCOURT BIKE POLO

1999: Hard-court bike polo is played for the first time in Seattle
2000: The first hard-court specific mallets were made out of bamboo; a street hockey ball was eventually decided on. Mallets would eventually come to be made out of ski poles and high impact piping.
2002: Hard court spreads to Portland
2003: Tournaments pop up all over the West and Midwest
2004: Hard Court Polo spreads to New York
2006: Hard Court Polo spreads to London
2007: Hard Court Polo Spreads to Jacksonville
2007 East Side Polo Invitational (ESPI) featuring 13 teams
2008 ESPI featuring 22 teams
2009 ESPI features 34 teams
2009: The 2009 Hard-court Bike Polo World Championships is capped at 48 teams
2009: Southeast Side Polo Invitational features about 25 teams.
2010: SESPI has 48 teams

from league of polo

bicyclepoloireland.com