Motoball (also known as motorcycle

polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

) is a team

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

similar to

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, with the main differences being that all players (except

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

s) are riding

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

s, and the ball is much bigger. Motorcycle polo first began as an officially organized sport in the mid-1920s.

Rules and regulations

Motoball is played in a 5v5 format. There are four players on motorcycles, and one on their feet as the goalkeeper. The matches are split up into four 20-minute periods. There is only one spot on the field the motorcycles are not allowed to go, which is the semicircle in front of the goal. The game is played with a ball nearly in diameter. The playing field is long, and at the start each team is waiting at the back line Shin guards and helmets are used for protection against collisions initiated by the riders. The riders use special prepared GasGas two-stroke 250 cc motorcycles for the game. At the sides of the bike, special frames are mounted, so riders can pinch the ball between their bike and their leg.

Commission of French Motoball

Pascale Reschko Jacquot has been president of the French Motoball Commission since 2012. In the latest FIM Europe Management Council, which was held in

Fiumicino Fiumicino () is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 80,500 (2019). It is known for being the site of Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport, the busiest airport in Italy and the ninth-b ...

, Italy, she was appointed as president of the FIM Europe Motoball Commission. It was the first time in FIM Europe history that a woman was elected president of a European Commission. The commission of French Motoball is in charge of setting rule changes and hiring referees to officiate the games.

European Championship

See: European Motoball Championship Results

Medals (1986-2024)

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline 1986 Goodwill Games Motorcycle sport Polo Association football variants Team sports Games and sports introduced in the 1930s