The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder
It was a fantastic day for polo high 70’s with a nice ocean breeze. The games were on time and good at least for the first 1/2. In the first game Lucchese took on SD Farms. It was very tight for 3 and then Jeff Hall and Mr. Badiola went a little crazy with goal production and it was over at the end of the fifth and maybe a bit sooner. It was a good showing for the new team just arriving to town.
Game two between Farmers & Merchants 1 and Restoration Hardware was a very good and fast game, but there was a major flaw in my opinion, the Umpiring. It showed a little in the first, but got a bit silly in the second game. I think the new International rules are great for polo and I have no doubt it will make it a much better game, but the USPA needs to look across the Pond (as in the UK). I watched about 10 games and never saw this type of inconsistency. I know I am getting old, but I have excellent eyesight and I am sure this was the case. To go along with this there was some major confusion late in game with whistles, which were wrong or I do not understand the new rules and that maybe the case. However, there were 30 other people, who know Polo, who agreed with me. I spoke with the head Umpire and he said it was ok and gave me some reasons and answers, but I am not sure about this. First and worst on a knock in at the end of the sixth was a whistle blown with 3 seconds to go? The Pro who was hitting asked to hit and he said the Umpire said to wait and whistle blown? Why? Several players were off field and this did change advantage majorly as the call caused the play to finish 50 yards inside field instead of a knock in OT or a hard hit to near center. No one would explain.
I have a few questions …
Why the constant changing of umpire crews?
This, to me, makes it very inconsistent as the umpire staff changes every few weeks.
One response was …. Why did reps from the team not show up? Well, it is not players job to keep the rules. They should be the same all the time we are playing under them. If you change staff every two weeks, it will never happen.
Answer: US Rep. says club is responsible for changing because of money issues. Are the patrons aware of this ? I doubt it as they are the ones spending big bucks to be here. So is it the club or USPA? There is no possible reason to ship in and out 12 or more umpires to CA for a 4 to 6 team tournament. In my opinion, that alone creates inconsistency. That is also burning money the way I see it. It is simple. Rules are rules and they should be the same for all personnel enforcing them. I like the new system and think it is great for the sport, but if you have no police to enforce the enforcers, you have no rules.
Game 3 was also a good one as Klentner ranch flexed their young muscles and sent the old boys back to the barn, but again, I heard a lot of grumbling. Maybe we need to look into this as we are not exactly thriving in our sport and need more not less.
I really think it maybe as simple as publishing the rules in a simple report not the blue book and not at a meeting where everyone gets an opinion. That would be just the way it is and do it as it says. Just write it out and each player sign he received it and each Umpire as well. Use videos to control it.
see ya SUNDAY.
Letter from Melanja Jones to Steve Crowder- Regarding his Column on the USPA Nespresso America Cup
Dear Mr Crowder,
Thank you for all the kind comments in your column about Santa Barbara Polo Club.
In your recent column about the USPA Nespresso America Cup, you mentioned you were confused about a lot of things when it comes to umpiring at Santa Barbara. First of all, please contact me directly next time you have this confusion about things at the club and I will be happy to give you direct explanations. I believe you have my contact information, but in case you don’t my email is melanjaj@sbpolo.com and cell phone is 970-231-7426. You can email, text, WhatApp, or just call me if you have questions.
You had a lot of questions about umpiring and the state of polo and I can’t answer everything and I don’t like to speculate about things I don’t know about, but I can attempt to clarify the issues I am directly involved with regarding the umpire selection this year.
1. Umpire rotation at Santa Barbara. Charlie Muldoon, head of USPA Umpires LLC, said “Umpire LLC has implemented the rotation of umpires as advised from both advisors from the NBA and NHL. Through technology we are allowing the umpires to stay on top of all calls from each game officiated across the country by pro umpires. This promotes the consistency in calls that everyone wants.” The lead umpires are in place here in Santa Barbara for two months at a time, we will have the same umpires for the big 3 tournaments in our high goal season. We have 3 umpires here (the minimum required) to officiate 3 games a day, not 12 as you said.
2. Cost- This is not a cost saving measure for the club to rotate the umpires, quite the opposite. It is not easy to organize rental housing, rental cars and plane tickets in addition to paying the salaries.
3. Communication of the Rules- the USPA does a lot of this and started this in Florida the past winter. I personally emailed out the International Rules in PDF form to the players who play here. The club had two meetings as well with video examples to show them the rules. The majority of the players did come to the meetings, and the team captains are responsible for communicating with those that don’t. I disagree with your statement that the players are not responsible for learning the rules. That is like telling a police officer “sorry officer, I didn’t know I was going 70mph in a School Zone. Is there something wrong with that?”
4. Here is a link to the International Rules for anyone who cares to learn about them.
https://www.uspolo.org/assets/pdf/2016-International-Rules.pdf
Feedback has been positive from the players. 8 goal player Paco de Narvaez on FMB Too! said at the second umpire meeting, “I like the umpire rotation. I have been coming here for 16 years and the umpiring over this season is the best it has ever been.”
6 goal player Santiago von Wernich, who manages RH and will play the PCO on that team, said, “The umpiring has been very good, and much the same as it was in England this season. It is really important to have Julian Appleby, who umpires the finals in Palermo, the UK season and now here, at Santa Barbara this year.”
I look forward to providing clarity and promoting California polo. Please consider me to be your first call when you want clarity on a club issue.
Regards
Melanja Jones
SBPRC Polo Manager