THWACK! The plastic ball flies towards the barrier, hits the top of the wall and rebounds into the hockey rink. Hearts pound and legs furiously pump as pedals spin and play continues. Bikes whizz around as players try to keep their balance and avoid the swinging mallets. On the sidelines, music is blasting from a speaker and beer cans are being passed out. By the sideboards, a joint is being rolled. It’s just another Sunday afternoon for the Boston bike polo club members who mill around waiting for this particular 15-minute round to end. 

Bike polo is a sport that’s hard to describe. Some say it’s an edgier version of traditional horse polo played on hardcourt hockey rinks with bikes instead of horses while others, particularly those in New England, say it’s more akin to hockey. If you ask Charlotte Fagan, an avid bike polo player who has travelled the world and played with numerous bike polo clubs, it’s all about having fun.

“The way I describe it is – it is a silly, fun sport to play,” Fagan says with an easy smile. “It’s just silly how much fun it is. It’s, of course, very hard in the beginning because you have one hand on the mallet and one hand on your handlebar and you’re trying to hit a ball. It’s a lot of things happening at once. But y’know, it’s really fun when you’re on the court and when you’re with your friends playing this silly sport.”

For the Boston bike polo club, pick-up games are decided with a mallet throwdown. Once the 15 minutes are up, like a time-worn ritual, members eager to play in the next round throw their mallets into the center of the rink. A designated member of the club selects six mallets, shuffles them without looking and divides the mallets into two teams of three.

“Sorry,” Fagan says, pausing mid sentence and looking towards the rink. “I just want to make sure my mallet is in for this game. This is important.”  

It’s a sport that welcomes players no matter their age, background or sporting ability. When talking to these players, it becomes clear that most stumbled upon the game or were introduced to it by a friend of a friend of a friend. The rink in Allston is located next to apump track,  attracting exactly the type of player who would be interested in a slightly offbeat sport like bike polo. Children, families and individuals often stop by to talk to players, observe and inquire about a game that not many knew existed. So, where and how did this weird, wacky sport come about?  

In the 19th century,  Irishman Richard J. McCready had retired from a life of professional cycling. To occupy his time, he owned and operated  a cycling magazine, The Irish Cyclist. The legend goes that McCready was looking for a welcome distraction from his magazine duties and created “polo on wheels” as an activity that would be both strenuous and amusing. On October 4, 189 1 the first official game of bike polo was played between the Rathclaren Rovers and Ohne Hast Cycling Club in County Wicklow. By the end of the month, McCready was ready to make bike polo an official sport and published the sport’s first set of rules in his magazine.

From there, the sport gained momentum and became immensely popular. It was especially favored within the cycling community as they believed it improved their hand-eye coordination. Soon, Ireland’s British neighbors began to take notice. Bike polo clubs began appearing all over from Newcastle to Mowbray and, seven years after McCready published the  rules, The Bicycle Polo Association of Great Britain decided to put their own rules in print in The Morning Post. Each country was now beginning to develop their own style of play.

But what about the bikes themselves?  Was there a standard bike that was used or could players bring in their own bike from home? At the time, the captain of the Birmingham, England club, A.C. Hills, was the first to assemble a bicycle with the attributes necessary for the sport of bike polo. Today, players can use any bike available, however most choose to customize their bike based on playing style. In general, the ideal bike tends to have a short wheelbase to help with tight turns and be single-speed so players can quickly accelerate and control the bike within the confines of a small court, usually street hockey rinks, basketball courts or tennis courts .

In 1897, bike polo saw its first controversy in West London. The first bike polo association was created at the Sheen House club where play tended to be rough. This drew negative criticism from London’s Morning Post and raised questions about the safety of the sport. Would this be the end of bike polo? A sport that managed to draw international interest but perhaps was too dangerous for further play?

No. McCready himself travelled to England with two teams to demonstrate how the Irish game was meant to be played. But it wasn’t his journey to England that convinced the British. It was Miss Wheeler, a young woman who participated in the game and played on the winning team. Her presence and victory also served to demonstrate the growing popularity of the sport among women. With the safety of the game quickly addressed, the first bike polo international tournament was held in 1900 at Crystal Palace where Ireland beat England 10-5.

Today, bike polo tournaments continue to be held all around the globe with the TropiClassic in Puerto Rico, the Fall Ball in Canada and Boston’s own Commonwealth Classic just to name a few. The Boston bike polo club itself boasts a diverse range of players with international experience.

“Each club has its own flavor,” Fagan explains. “A lot of times people model the best players in the club. New people coming up try to emulate that play so clubs have a distinct style and attitude. Some are more serious, some are more fun. Each one is different and even regions like European play are very different to North American play.”

If the rumors are to be believed, Boston’s bike polo club began somewhere around 2007. The members today can’t quite decide how or when the club began, but most concur that games often took place downtown, probably somewhere around Chinatown at a parking garage. From there, games would take place at various rinks scattered throughout the city before the club finally found their home in Allston.

With a sport that requires a certain amount of skill and coordination, you can’t help but wonder whether any of these players have suffered any serious injuries. Looking around, players don a range of protective gear from helmets with a cage to simple knee pads.

“I broke my collarbone,” Kevin Bueschen, a Rhode Island resident and long-time member of the Boston bike polo club recalls. “It was not the best time.”

It was September 2019 and Bueschen had been making a play for the ball in front of him. He pedalled quickly, accelerating with his mallet held out in front. Ahead, another player was slowing down and holding their mallet straight behind their own bike to try and reach the ball. Bueschen found himself moving too fast and hit the brakes to avoid a collision.  

But it was too late. He was in what players call a “jam”.

This is when the bike’s front wheel is caught on something causing it to slide. In this case, Bueschen’s front wheel happened to go over the other player’s mallet. In any other circumstance, it might have been fine. But on this day, the mallet caught under Bueschen’s bike was pulled out and Bueschen found himself flying over his handlebars and landing on his right shoulder. Initially, Bueschen registered that it hurt, but it wasn’t overwhelming. However, as soon as he was able to find his feet, he knew something was wrong. He took his left hand and felt the area around his right shoulder and found that there was no sensation. He had lost any feeling in the area.

I couldn’t feel anything,” Bueschen says. “I was like ‘I’m gonna sit this one out and head over to the hospital’. I could move my arm, everything was fine. But I was just like ‘Okay, yeah this is not right’.”

Nevertheless, that injury didn’t stop Bueschen, a veteran bike polo player who’s been to numerous international tournaments, from returning to play in just a few months.

“Are you gonna let that stop you from doing this thing that you love?”Bueschen asks. “I’m not.”

However, it’s more than just the sport itself that keeps players coming back for more. It’s the community that players find  between penalty shootouts and cans of beer. For Bueschen, it boils down to two main reasons.

First, it’s fun.

“It’s not easy but I like that challenge about it,” Bueschen says while tinkering with a bike wheel in need of repair.  “It was really fun to just hang out with people and especially playing with people who are really good. Seeing what they could do, thinking of whether I could one day be able to do that myself.”

Second, it’s the community.

“Everyone who I interacted with when I went to a tournament or when we held a tournament here that was from Massachusetts were just cool people,” Bueschen shares. “They were super nice. Everyone was very welcoming and very encouraging of the new players to get better, and to keep doing it.”

When asked about her favorite part of the sport, Fagan was also quick to credit the community that the club fosters.

“I feel like bike polo is kinda like a bar night but you’re outside playing a really fun sport with your friends,” Fagan says with a chuckle. “Everyone is here having a drink, hanging out, it’s very low key but active and just a nice way to be outside.”

What about their least favorite part of the sport?

For Benjamin Heo, a player who just recently joined the club, it’s his growing competitive nature.

“I actually find myself getting a lot more competitive,” Heo says, laughing. “I’m just good enough to the point where I realize how bad I am so I can sort of see [what] I need to work on and then [I’ll]  take the occasional spill, but that’s all part of the game.”

For others like Fagan, it’s the fact that bike polo is played outdoors all year. Yes, you read that right – all year, even in the winter.

“It is rough,” Fagan admits. “It’s quick to, sort of, lose motivation.”

Okay, so what’s the appeal of coming out on a cold winter night?

“Because what else are you gonna do on a Wednesday night?” Fagan quickly says with a smile. “I think for so many of us, it’s just so ingrained that Wednesday night is polo night and Sunday afternoon is polo afternoon that it’s the default of what to do.”

Boston players have a WhatsApp group chat and Facebook group where they post the proposed times and locations for the week as well as any social calls for volunteers to perform a variety of tasks. These tasks range from organizing the annual Commonwealth Classic tournament to shovelling snow in the winter.

“We all love the club,” Bueschen says “We’re all like a family and we want to see our family survive and do cool things.”