In the light of the fantastic success gained by the British cycling squad at the Olympiad in Athens, our media is full of former Olympic cycling achievements. He is a blast from the past. Bicycle polo hailed as "the common man's version of the sport of king's", bicycle polo was invented by Richard Mecreedy the proprietor of the Irish Cyclist magazine. The first match was played in County Wicklow in Ireland in 1891. The sport rapidly gained in popularity during the cycling-mad Edwardian era and soon Great Britain boasted several hundred clubs and a small smattering of professional players, more than justifying its inclusion in the 1908 London Olympics (demonstration event). Bicycle polo is still played by enough people in India to have been shortlisted as a demonstration event for the Asian Games and its growing popularity among BMX types in the USA and Great Britain may suggest its time may come again. OLYMPIC GREATS IRELAND. The Irish weren't allowed to compete as a separate nation in the main 1908 Olympic Games at White City London but the organizers made an exception for this event and the Emerald Isle ran out winners, defeating Germany 3-1 in the final at White City. I believe there are still some track records set prior to the First world War at the former White City track that still stand today. It was enormous with a swimming pool in the middle. Bicycle polo probably reached its zenith in the 1930's and famous teams in Great Britain were the Norwood Paragon and Bath Road. Most of our famous lightweight makers made special bicycle polo machines, Claud Butler still had his polo bikes with the curved seat tube listed in his 1940's catalogues. I have also seen pre-war Selbach, Grubb, R.O.Harrison polo bikes. References: Cycling, Radio5 and The Guardian.