Machine Politics vs Beaver Boys, May 2011. Photo by Bruce Carver
The offensive player is jamming the ball moving up the side towards his offensive end. The defensive player leans his shoulder and bike into the offensive player and causes him to wreck. Is the defensive play a foul?
Play to whatever rules your club sees fit, but the current rules say that shoulder to shoulder contact is okay. Incidental bike contact is never called at tournaments but if it becomes obviously uncontrolled and with the intention of a t-bone or locking up front wheels to cause a crash, then it is deemed illegal.
And I'm sure that half of the people on the site will disagree with that in some way or another!
queue thread: Where does physical contact belong in the future of bike polo.
I felt it was a legal defensive move. If you play hard on offense you should expect the same. I wanted some feedback for the next time it happens.
Thanks
Some people feel a t-bone or blindside or a tripped rear wheel are legal defensive moves. Don't be one of those people.
Asking for feedback is a good move.
seriously, whenever something odd happens, i raise a question mark, not really my temper.
then, i come here, read up, ask questions, verify, and then when it happens again... then i can tell them what i found out.
this shit thing is, when it does happen again and i say "hey fuck off, the rules say blah blah blah..." i usually get blown off, or they say i'm bitchin and whining. i just don't like playing dirty is all.
It really depends on who you are playing with, some people have different comfort levels of what is and isn't safe, and so will try and tell you what you are doing is against the rules. really what you should be doing is playing them according to their comfort levels and maybe pushing it a little to help them expand but not so much as to freak em out, after all there are lots of ways to shut down a play or a shot.
it also depends on whether the bike on bike contact was incidental, which isn't clear from the description. if the contact was incidental (a.k.a. didn't affect the play), wasn't a t-bone or a thrown wheel, didn't involve skidding into you, and wasn't done recklessly, then no foul.
but without knowing all of those things, there's no way for us at home to tell.
Sounds clean to me. Defense was playing the ball, physically. As long as there was no chicken winging involved, i'd say move along, nothing to see here.
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