-NEW HAVEN — In a down own parking lot on Sunday afternoons, the sp rt of kings meets the city's sp

It's polo, but in this case, the riders have handlebars, not reins, and they place their feet on pedals instead of in stirrups. Also, there's no clip-clopping of horses' hooves.

And the polo mallets? They're homemade.

"I made this one a month ago," says New Havener Dan Nugent, 24, in between games at the weekly bike polo match on Orange Street. "I found an old walking stick for a shaft."

If ever there was an anti-sport, urban bike polo may be it. There are minimal rules, a modicum of joshing and major amounts of just hanging out.

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In fact, these players say the easygoing, home-grown quality of bike polo is highly appealing to them. They tend to pedal into the lot after 4 p.m. and shoot the breeze for a while before starting their first game. They play hard, but they don't let their competitive juices get the best of them, they explain.

"We keep score, but we don't REALLY keep score," notes Dan Nicely, a twentysomething New Havener who is one of the first players to arrive. "We get maybe 20 people on a good day. There's no rivalries involved."

The group has been together a little less than a year. It was organized by Tom O'Hara, 24, and Sean Milnes, 25, both of New Haven. The pair happened to be visiting friends in Hartford and got swept up in a bike polo match there.

"It's awesome," Milnes says.

"When you get a game of four-on-four — THAT'S fun," O'Hara adds.

As a proper sport, bike polo has been around since 1891, when it was given an official format in Ireland. It's now played around the world, and since 1994 there's even been a Bicycle Polo Association of America.

Teams consist of six or seven players, with four players on the field at any given time. A regulation game goes for 30 minutes, divided into four periods of 7½ minutes each, called chukkars.

The Sunday afternoon New Haven games are most definitely not regulation.

"We set up cones on either end of the lot and the space between the cones is the length of a bike," Nicely says. "It's very free-form. It wouldn't be such a blast if it wasn't so laid-back. And people watch us, too. I get people all the time who come up saying, 'Wow! You're the guys who play bike polo!'"

Other riders are likewise motivated. "I'm into things you can do yourself that are not controlled by the media," says Mark Paschal, 29, of New Haven. "This is one of the best ways I know to spend three or four hours. Riding bikes and being with friends. It's a feeling of freedom."

The match truly starts when Nugent gathers up mallets and randomly separates them into two piles. Players ride out to retrieve their mallet and start the game.

Each mallet, by the way, features a 6-inch head cut from a section of PVC pipe. The shafts are made of wood, aluminum or plastic.

"You've got to make it yourself. That's how you know you're serious about it," says Alan Cassell, 25, of New Haven.

The opening game is a two-on-two contest pitting Paschal and Nugent against Nicely and Drew Nemetz, 24, of New Haven. The pairs tap mallets in solidarity and begin chasing a small white ball around the lot.

Any kind of bicycle is welcome, but the preferred machine is a fixed-gear bike. That means there are no brakes and a lot of tight circling and low-impact collisions.

"It's sort of like watching ballet," says Matthew Feiner, owner of The Devil's Gear bike shop in New Haven, who views things from under a nearby tree. "It's very slow and it's always about the skill of keeping the bike upright."

If a rider's foot touches the ground, he must immediately ride to a cone on one of the sidelines and tap it with his mallet before returning to the field of play.

Paschal and Nugent win the first game handily. "It's like a lightning strike," Paschal says, after a goal. "You know it happened, but you didn't see where or how."

Next comes a three-on-three game. By now, there are about a dozen players on hand, with several spectators — including a man and woman who stop on the sidewalk along Orange Street to gawk. "Polo?" the man says, incredulously.

O'Hara plays in this game, riding a bright yellow and green bike, and he's clearly got skills. He maneuvers his bike carefully and cagily, leaning low over the right side and pushing the ball upfield with his mallet.

"We've been playing once a week since April and twice a week when we can," O'Hara explains later. "There's a lot of hand-eye coordination."

On the sidelines, 23-year-old Marissa Peluso of New Haven marvels at the dynamics of the game.

"I've been playing just for a couple of weeks. I'm still a newbie," she says sheepishly. "Basic control of the bike is the biggest thing for me. It's hard not to crash. But it's really fun and a great way to ride a bike and play a sport."

Of course, a little danger can be a selling point for some people.

For example, there's 13-year-old Chris Schroeder of New Haven. He plays in the three-on-three game, mainly as a defenseman guarding the goal area.

"Scooping the ball is tough," Chris notes, during a break. "One time, my mallet got thrown up in the air and it landed in Drew's bike and got in his chain."

Doesn't that give him pause?

"Nah," he says. "Crashing's all good."

Jim Shelton can be reached at (203) 789-5664 or jshelton@nhregister.com .

NEW HAVEN BIKE POLO RULES:

These are the rules for bike polo.

general rules for bike polo:

-teams of three players with no alternate players permited. equipment subs allowed. ie bikes, wheels, mallets.
-any two wheeled bicycle is allowed at the discrection of the judges.
-mallets must have a pipe of some sort for a striking surface. also the judges call. size and materials are the biggest safety factors.
some examples of shaft material are ski poles or golf clubs cut to size and broom handle. 32 to 42 inches in length. Mallet head materials are various plastics and sometimes wood, NEVER metal. 6 to 7 inches in length and not larger around than a baseball/street hockey ball
-the ball will be a baseball
-goals will be a pair of orange cones 150cm wide for each team
-if a goal is disruped it is the responsability of the player who disruped it to fix it. no bull shiting around. anything scored on a disruped goal is at the discretion of the judges to count.
-Games will end with a team scoring 5 goals five goals.
-start of a game both teams will be stoped on there own goal line and the ball at center court. play will begin with a "3 2 1GO!" from the judges.
-players may not play the ball with there feet at any time.
-scoring. goals must be made from what started as a hit. a hit is made from the end of a players mallet. shuffels do not count as goals.
-after a goal is made. the scoring team returns to there half of the court. the scored on team brings the ball into play after both teams are on there own sides.
-call out the score after a goal.
-passing thru the back of a goal. when passed thru a goal a ball can not be hit into the goal till two differnt players have made contact with the ball. however if a ball is shot from in front of the goal line and does not score but bounces off the back wall and comes out thru the goal, that ball is in play and can be scored.
-foot down. a "TAP OUT" rule will be in effect. "circle out" is not allowed. on a footdown or "dab" that player may not hit the ball till they tap the cone. the cone will be on the side line at center court.
-contact rules. like contact is allowed. player to player, except grabbing with hands. mallet to mallet. bike to bike.
-everything else is not allowed. such as mallet to player. player to bike. mallet to bike. ect.
-throwing of mallets is not allowed at any time(uva)
-TRASH TALKING IS A MUST, So bring it!