Rules of bicycle polo in the Burlington B.P.C.

These bike polo rules are governed by the Burlington Bike Polo Club (Minnesota, U.S.A.):

1) Foot Down Rules: No touching of foot and/or feet to ground while in play with the ball. This is known as footsie and you will hear this loud and clear if you are in violation. A main theme with this game is balance. Therefore, you need to keep your feet off the ground using balance or by leaning on your stick/mallet. If you do touch the ground with a foot while in play with the ball, you remove yourself from the current play and cannot be the next person to touch the ball.

2) Goal Post Rules: No riding through the goal posts on your bike and no hitting the ball through the back of the goals. We currently play with nets to eliminate these problems.

3) Ball hitting Rules: You can use any part of you body or bike to hit the ball during regular play. However, when scoring a goal only your mallet and bike can be used to intentionally score. For example, kicking the ball around is OK, but scoring using a kick is not.

4) Physical Contact Rules: Shoulder contact is OK, elbow contact is kept at a minimum. Hands, fists, feet, head, or butt contact are not acceptable. This game is physical, but not violent.

5) Stick/Mallet Rules: Stick hacking and/or stick on stick contact is allowed. No stick on bike, no stick in bike, and no stick on person contact. As for high sticking, we keep t to a minimum. It is your responsibility to avoid hitting other players, as wells as to avoid being hit yourself. In another words, you cannot use your stick as a weapon to stop another bike or another person. Hack at their stick all you want.

6) Goalie Rules: We play with a goal keeper; someone who waits in front of goal in anticipation of a shot on goal. Goalie leans on their stick while awaiting action and must remain off their feet as the rest of the players. However, in the event of a goal line stand, if the goalie touches their foot to the ground, that goalie may then put his foot back on his bike and resume play, but cannot be the next person to touch the ball.

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