The Kid Who Invented Bike Polo

Some children purchase toys with their pocket money. I was buying cigars. I needed them for my horse. Or, rather, to win one.

It was the 1950s, and a tobacco store was promoting a contest. The prize would be the descendant of a horse that had triumphed at the Kentucky Derby. Applicants were required to submit a proof of purchase of a cigar with each entry. Thus, to improve my chances, I had to shop for more stogies. Luckily, at that time youngsters could buy beer, cigarettes, and almost anything else an adult could.

Back then, I was a tomboy in elementary school and lived near Boston. I was sure that the animal was mine. To prepare, I got my parents to agree to housing it in our shed. (Hindsight says that they never expected me to win.)

The future looked amazing. I would be a racetrack jockey and a polo player. My exploits would include a daring move from a cowboy film. Like the stuntman, I would park the horse beside a building, leap from the low roof into the saddle, and gallop away. While waiting in vain for my steed to arrive, I scouted around for a suitable roof.

When I tired of the wait for my equine adventures to begin, I invented bicycle polo. The players consisted of my little sister, a younger girl, my brother, the boys next door, and me. I decided we would substitute bikes for polo ponies, a tennis ball for polo’s ball, and croquet mallets for polo sticks. Our field was the street.

Though fun, cycle polo turned out to be a rough-and-tumble sport. Children raced from every direction toward the bouncing ball. It was a fast-paced game with clanging collisions - and no protective gear. Our match ended with the final crash, dented bikes, and bruises, but not much blood.

More than 50 years later, I made a sad discovery. I was an inventor of bicycle polo because I had never heard of the game before introducing it to my neighborhood. However, I was not the FIRST inventor. Earlier players included a group of boys who lived in New York City in the 1940s. (Their polo mallets were brooms.)

History provides clues concerning the origin of bike polo. It imitates polo (which may predate 600 B.C.) and requires a two-wheel bicycle (which was invented by a French count in the late 1700s or by a German baron in the early 1800s). It is possible to narrow the time period for the birth of the sport by studying the evolution of bikes. The Gallic version was hopeless for cycle polo because it had no steering mechanism, no pedals, and no brakes. Still, if people had tried to play then, the match would have been hilarious!

Bicycle design changed radically over the years. Shortly before 1891, three major events occurred. Between 1875 and 1890, bikes improved greatly, grew hugely popular (a demand spike), and became widely available (a supply spike, partly due to advances in mass production). The innovations included Rover safety bicycles and the back-pedal brake.

According to historians, in 1891 Richard Mecredy, an Irishman, invented bicycle polo. He is honored as the original inventor since he allegedly devised the rules for this sport.

However, I suspect that a child dreamed it up first. He or she, after learning of polo, figured out before Mecredy the basic regulations for bike polo. They are simple:

1. There are two teams of cyclists; and
2. The one that scores the most goals without directly touching the ball wins.

Later other kids who had never heard of the game thought it up independently. All of these minors qualify as inventors.

Today cycle polo is worldwide. It developed state, national, and international associations (for example, the North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Association and the Bicycle Polo Association of Borneo). Briefly, in 1908, it appeared in the Olympics. The sport holds regional competitions and world championships. Even now, it is not for the timid. Players use protective equipment, but injuries are common.

In summary, bike polo is a wild game popular with adults and children near and far. Though its origin is disputed, it was likely born during the period 1875 to 1890. The sport is the brainchild of many people. And the original inventor? I bet the title goes to a kid who was pining for a pony.