Bristol Harbour Inaugural Canoe Polo Tournament Sunday 6 October – by Dylan Tomlinson
After two difficult summers for outdoor polo in the South West I am pleased to report that the Bristol harbour canoe polo pitch has successfully hosted its first tournament. Six teams from Bristol & Bath took part in a friendly (?) tournament consisting of two mini-leagues and a knockout (that’s more like it).
The play-list was Avon, Avon Ladies, Bristol Pitbulls (that’s us), Bristol Uni & Bath Uni A+B teams and they all turned up at 10am on a sunny October Sunday morning to help setup the pitch. The easy bit involved pulling the pontoon away from the dock-side and untangling about 100m of floating ropes. The harder part needed some paddlers enthusiastic enough about their warm-up routine to paddle the 1/4km across the dock to where the floating goals are moored and then tow them back. Once everyone had had their say about which end each goal should go, one either end at was agreed on and shortly before 11am we were ready to play.
We, of course, is rather over-stating it. The Bristol team of (from left) Lee Nichols, Mark ‘laid back’ Gillett, Tony Barrass, Harvey ‘too sexy for my shirt’ Lyons, Darren Courtnage, and Daniel Peel. Notable absences were Rob Hignell off sailing a proper boat, Simon Reid flying to Paris and myself, having had a recent shoulder repair. That these three happened to be to club’s top league goal scorers was to prove fateful.
Due to the peculiar seeding system the Pitbulls first played Avon Ladies, who were duly beaten 9-0, though this wasn’t going to be Pitbulls last whitewash. The only thing that prevented the score from being higher was the length of time it took to get the ball out of the net – everybody having neglected to cut a hole in the bottom. The cry of ‘you should have had enough practice by now’ after the 7th goal did nothing to help but neither did Lisa Gunton’s absence from the Ladies team, apparently doing something involving her life.
Bath University A went down fighting 4-1 in the Pitbulls last game before lunch. It was touch and go in the first half as Bath provided rather more spirited opposition than Avon Ladies. They got the first goal and the Pitbulls had to pull their rubber skirts up and get on with it. The Pitbulls rose to the occasion, pulling back to 2-1 up by half time. Second half goal from Tony & Harvey finished off an increasingly fractious game, the students evidently not being used to losing. Pitbulls were through to the knockout.
In the best journalistic tradition, a rather long lunch break meant I missed the first round but I am told that, again, Pitbulls conceded an early goal, this time to Bristol University. A swift change of tactics at half time meant that Tony was assigned to ‘take out’ in the nastiest possible way their #18, allowing the rest of the team a chance to stop defending their goal and score. Which they did, twice. Pitbulls were now through to the final.
Avon had unsurprisingly won their league and the first round of the knockout, they were ready for the final against Pitbulls. As I steadied that camera to catch the first sprint and waited for initial clash, I was rather surprised to see a yellow and black Avon boat plough down the pitch, pick up the ball and pass before a Pitbull player had entered the field of view. They were fast. A whistle from the ref shortly after proved that they could score as well. It went down-hill from there.
The Pitbulls suffered attack after attack, frequently being allowed the few seconds rest allowed by trying to get the ball out of the net after a goal, scored by Avon. Their performance went to pieces the more goals were scored. It was not going well when a small ray of hope appeared. The Avon #6 decided he liked the dock water so much he went for total immersion after a tackle. (Was it Rich or Dave? – see the Spot the Swimmer competition at the end). Unfortunately, he was in no fit state to continue the game, even less fortunately for Pitbulls, Avon had a substitute and went on to a 7-0 whitewash and were the overall tournament winners.
Thanks must go to Adrian Sims of Avon, for organising and running the event. Though actually winning your own tournament may be regarded as bad form, having to ‘first create your polo pitch’ before playing is no mean feat. A little background information on the docks facility may be in order. Bristol Canoe Club has long had boat storage at Baltic Wharf and once also had the ability to hang slalom poles or polo goals over the water. These were removed when the new ferry landing ramp was installed outside the Cottage pub. Mention was made at the time of hoping to provide an alternative venue for slalom and polo and this was pursued over the last few years by various people within the club. In 2001, after surprisingly few meetings the Harbour Master agreed to proceed, though ominously he did not have a specific budget for the work.
The new facility was provided by the Harbour Master’s office working with the BCU SW Committee. It is a 25mx11m pitch created between the dock-side, a long floating pontoon and a pair of floating goals. The pontoon and its floating ropes were salvaged from the Caen Hill site near Devizes, closed in 2001 by foot & mouth and in 2002 by being declared an SSSI. The floating goals, mooring chains and a length of dockside, conveniently close to the Cottage Pub were made available by the Harbour Master, Geoff Lane. Most of the work to achieve this was done by Adrian Sims and other members of Avon Canoe Polo Club. John Cochram persuaded the BCU SW Committee to support the project and thanks should go out to all of them for their efforts.
More events are planned for next year. The final tournament of the South West Invitation League will be held here and we hope to have at least two other friendly events next summer. These will have to be agreed with the Harbour Master and published on his ‘Notice to Mariners’. Work is progressing on trying to increase the size of the pitch as it is not as big a s Bristol South and some way short of the 35x15m recommended for National League events. In the mean time the pitch is free for clubs to use for practice at any time, though if you are going to paddle after dark remember to carry lights or else the Harbour Master will get you 🙂
Dylan Tomlinson
