Bike polo: How the quirky sport is building momentum in Inverness

Games were played in car parks before moving to a hardcourt at Merkinch Primary School

By John Ross

May 24 2023, 10:00 am

Players joust during the recent Great Glen Open bike polo event. Image Lizzy Wood

A bike polo club in Inverness is hoping to move up a gear after staging its first major tournament.

The Great Glen Open, the first event of its kind in the Highlands, was held recently, attracting 27 players in nine teams from across the UK.

Now organiser Matt Lafferty, founder of Inverness Bike Polo, hopes the club and sport will grow in the city.

Increasing numbers and diversity

He started the club in 2020 in the wake of lockdown and played games in car parks for more than a year.

As more people joined, play moved to a hardcourt at Merkinch Primary School last August.

It now wants to increase the number and diversity of participants and is encouraging beginners to come along to try out the sport.

The club is working with LEAP Sports Scotland (Leadership, Equality and Active Participation in Sports for LGBTI people in Scotland) to develop in a way that is LGBTI-friendly.

It will be hosting beginners’ sessions during LEAP Festival Fortnight from June 17-30.

Bike polo is growing in popularity in Inverness. Image Lizzy Wood

Matt said: “Bike polo is an inclusive sport with mixed gender teams and this is at the heart of the wider bike polo community.

“Bike polo draws interest from all sorts of people. We see people from various other cycling disciplines coming along.

“But with the unique nature of the sport we also attract those who don’t generally have an interest in participating in mainstream sports.

“I, for example, came to bike polo 11 years ago as someone who ‘didn’t do sports’ and only owned a bike because it was cheaper than the bus fare.”

He said being an alternative sport is also an advantage as everyone is new to it.

“This challenges the perception that you have to be ‘good’ to join in and removes a barrier that many face to participation in mainstream sports.

“If you can ride a bike, you can try bike polo.”

Momentum the key to growth

Matt says it wasn’t easy to attract people at the start and momentum is the key to developing the club.

“One guy riding his bike hitting a ball with a stick alone doesn’t seem like a ‘real sport’ after all.

“But I set myself up on a regular basis, and eventually one or two people started paying attention.

“As soon as that happened it was much easier to sell and the problem became having a reliable place to play.

“We had 3-4 people playing in various car parks for about a year until, last summer, Merkinch Primary opened up their new space for hire.

“Suddenly we had that consistency and, with it, new players.”

Matt Lafferty started the club in Inverness. Image Fi Mansfield.

The club meets every Wednesday from 6.30pm-8pm. It now has nine regular players and another eight who attend occasionally.

There has been renewed interest since the start of spring and the club has been making informal connections with other groups to spread the word about the sport.

Interest has also grown since the Great Glen Open, seen as a major milestone in the sport’s development in Inverness.

The two-day tournament saw nine teams battled it out across 45 games.

“When I started Inverness Bike Polo back in 2020 I already had hopes of one day hosting a tournament up here”, says Matt.

“The first Great Glen Open represented the culmination of a lot of hard work that has gone into growing the club and drawing in the people whose efforts made this possible.

Sport is older than you think

“Watching the tournament unfold and witnessing new friendships being forged between old players and new was a moment of joy for me.

“Those relationships are what bike polo is about. Competition is just the excuse we use to get together with our friends and play our weird little sport.”

Bike polo was invented in County Wicklow in 1891 by retired champion cyclist Richard J. Mecredy.