Friday, November 4, 2011

Toronto's perfect polo goals

A top shelf, curved rear corners, heavy duty but not too tight net, good width, decent height, and in true hockey style- bright fuckin' red!

I saved this picture earlier in the year and forgot to post it, but ever since then these goals have become the standard by which all others are measured. At the Open in Milwaukee there were three types of goals- large guage PVC, thin guage metal, and medium gauge metal. The PVC ones were way too deep and had to be weighed down with cases of beer (which quickly disappeared when the booze ran out and the goals started scootin). The thin metal goals were bent all to hell and wouldn't sit level or still. The third set, made by the Madison club, were the best of the bunch. They could've been a bit heavier and had a better net, but when it comes to serious goals heavy metal is the only way to go.

Which brings me back to the Toronto goals- they're basically hockey goals with polo sizing- a tried and true design. The past year or so the polo community has made the transition from cones to goals, but let's hope 2012 is the year of heavier, better, standardized goals!

-W.
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8 comments:

  1. One addition that could improve these, would be a loose piece of netting hanging in the back down to about 2 inches off the ground. Like the nets at World's in Seattle.

    That way the drops dead when it hits the back of the net.

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  2. Absolutely.

    Remember those hockey goals at the Skatium in St.Louis? They have some sort of large diameter braided material (boat rope?) laid across the inside-back of the goal. Heavy, soft and they soundly stop the ball.

    So yeah, something easy and cheap like that for polo goals.

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  3. what grand rapids doesn't have in polo skill we make up for with our new nets. just you wait.

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  4. I disagree about the netting, the extra shit just hanging there is a half assed way of doing it the right way, look at hockey nets. they have a pad going around the tube that sits on the ground, for our goals if we ever get space they will have a concave pad that kicks the ball up into heavy netting, which we should also be using albiet expensive. no chance of bouncing out. i saw plenty of shots bounce out at worlds, that netting was almost fishing line, and it was shottily attached and often came outside the plane of the goal to catch a mallet/wheel/axle nut.

    The other thing about net design that i've seen in "nice nets" is they have zip tied (not even big ones) the net in place, which can break on hard shots, I had two shots go in on me at worlds that I swear went in the side of the net, because it was a hard shot right outside the post and hit the netting in the right way. My wheel was glued to the front post, even Jon said "that went through the side" after one of them, still counted.

    In fact the second goal by baby face in the final in MKE I think went through the side of the net, I had the perfect vantage point to see this. but because i was drinking a beer and eating a sammy Chris the other un-official other goal judge called it a goal, while i didn't. maybe he thought i was drunk or just stupid, but I had been playing not an a half hour earlier and sober then so ? My point is we should be over building these things almost to a comical point if you want to "catch and drop" like a hockey net does.

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