Tournament Proposal: Swiss Bike Polo League

Tournament Proposal: Swiss Bike Polo League

Objective:

To establish a bike polo league in Switzerland, with a format to be determined, providing Swiss teams with additional opportunities to meet and play throughout the year, complementing the annual Swiss Championship. This league aims to strengthen community cohesion, improve the level of play through more frequent competition, promote inclusivity, and energize the entire community.

Competition format:

  • Number of Teams: 10 to 12 teams.
  • Format: The exact format is yet to be defined, but it should align with the Swiss Championship. The idea is to have a league with games spread over several days (3 to 4 non-consecutive days) throughout the year. Matches could take place, for example, on 3 Saturdays during the year.
  • Schedule: The competition days will be scheduled in advance, considering the teams’ availability.
  • Location: Matches will be organized in different Swiss cities, depending on the availability of courts and local organization. Central cities could host these events to minimize travel distances.

Specific rules:

  • 4v4 Mixed Format?
  • Match Duration: 16 or 18 minutes?

Structure:

  • Matchups: Each team will play against all other teams at least once during the season.
  • Standings: Teams will earn points in the overall standings (win: 3 points, draw: 1 point, loss: 0 points).
  • Final Standings: A final ranking will be established after the last match day, determining the league champions. Considering the existence of the Swiss Championship, we could even use the league’s final standings to set up the groups for the championship. This would reward consistent performance throughout the year and add extra stakes to the league participation.
  • Tiebreakers: In case of a tie in points, goal difference, the number of goals scored, and head-to-head results will be used as tiebreakers.

Advantages of this format:

  • Flexibility: Teams are not constrained by a tight schedule, making it easier to participate over several months.
  • Cohesion and Competition: This format allows for regular competition and strengthens bonds between players from different regions, while fostering gradual improvement.

Organization:

  • Coordination?
  • Registration: Teams must register by a set deadline.
  • Costs: Registration fees will be determined based on organizational costs (court rentals, refereeing, etc.) and shared among the teams.

More questions and considerations:

Presence of Teams:

  • Consider whether all teams need to be present on each league day.
  • Explore alternatives such as flexible match scheduling, allowing teams to meet anytime in a city of their choice.
  • A combined approach could include three main common match days, with the possibility for teams to reschedule and make up missed games at another time.

Time Commitment:

  • Assess how much time participants are willing to invest.
  • Develop a format that allows participation even if a team only has one/two Saturdays available throughout the year.

Team Stability and Participation:

  • Reflect on the ability of teams to remain stable, especially for those who rarely attend tournaments.

This proposal is a starting point. I invite all teams and players to discuss the details to refine the format and ensure it reflects the values and expectations of the Swiss bike polo community.

12 Likes

This sounds like a really cool idea and I’m all for it. So I want to stir up some discussion on this, particilarly on this point:

Final Standings: A final ranking will be established after the last match day, determining the league champions. Considering the existence of the Swiss Championship, we could even use the league’s final standings to set up the groups for the championship. This would reward consistent performance throughout the year and add extra stakes to the league participation.

How should absences or subs be handled for teams? For example, the past two years I’ve been in GVA I haven’t made it to a Swiss champs because of work. But I would have had lots of opportunities to go to League tournaments.

1 Like

It’s not a final product that I’m proposing here. I totally agree that this should be managed.
I think the suisse league would just be an additional proposal for team matches. But taking part in the Swiss league doesn’t mean you have to take part in the Swiss championship, and vice versa.
What I’ve written here is not fixed. We could also imagine a ranking by club. Clubs have team slots and it’s the teams representing the club’s slots that score points for the club. We can imagine anything !

1 Like

For sure, I figured it wasn’t final. I just wanted to get some ideas going and this seemed like a pretty good place to start.

I’d be interested to hear from other Swiss Club Members!

2 Likes

Really cool initiative! Think this could be a lot of fun and good for Swiss polo in general.

Personally though, I would not partake if it was mixed mandatory (even though I will definitely try and play this with a mixed team if not :upside_down_face:)

Yeah let’s make this happen!
It’s probably easier to form an orga team to finalize the concept, idealy with members of the different clubs. If they want, the orga team can then get back to the whole community to ask opinions, make votes, etc.
If there are people working on it and creating something beautiful I’m highly motivated to participate, (almost) whatever decisions they take on the format :kissing_heart:
Would anybody be down to form an orga team?

3 Likes

I like the idea. I forwarded it to the players in zurich. certainly someone of our club will support the orga team

Group created on Telegram, contact me to join

we miss people from St.Gallen und Basel
@matti @Basil-St.Gallen ?

1 Like

Thank you for the message clement. I will share this discussion with st.gallen. and id also join the telegram group. What do you need from me? Phone number?

Yes :)