Few rules in bike polo

If you can ride a bike, you can compete in bike polo.

Bike polo made its debut in Oamaru at the Victorian Heritage Celebrations and the Timaru Bike Polo Club are hoping bike-crazy locals will establish their own club.

Richard Brown, who is a co-founder at the Timaru club, said they had received a positive response when they played Christchurch near the Precinct.

"Even your mayor had a go," he said.

Bike polo was introduced to New Zealand about three years ago and Mr Brown said they would love to start a South Island tournament.

"You get pretty hooked," he said. "You just need to be able to ride a bike."

Mr Brown began on a bike bought from the dump.

There are three rules to bike polo; you can't put your foot on the ground, you can only hit the put into the goal and you can't be an idiot. "Those are the actual rules. It's really casual like that," he said.

The Australasian Bike Polo champs are being hosted in Timaru next year, which qualifies teams for the world champs.

Mr Brown said the club met every Sunday for some social matches, which were followed by a cold beer.

"Oamaru is a bit crazy about bikes, so there's no reason why not," he said.

You can visit their Facebook page by searching Timaru Bike Polo.