Tourney: 2009-10-17/18 - BFF Paris Polo Tourney

;1015820']The atmosphere was awesome as usual. I don't think you could ever get a terrible weekend with this many polo people. The settings were picturesque as you can only have in Paris.

But...

The actual tournament itself... not so. Iain's description of court 2 above is pretty accurate, but the other court was total shit. On Saturday there was absolutely no organisation, no line reff'ing until Brayley stepped up and assumed responsibility, no goal reffing until Roxy did the same. Changing the rules mid-day is bad enough but to do it only on one court and not let the other court know...? One court was made of ped barriers and what seemed like balsa wood with plastic sheeting covering the goal ends. The ball would pop out mid court every 2 seconds, worse than Brick Lane used to be. By the middle of the first day the wood behind the goals was in splinters leaving the legs of the barriers sticking out yet still covered in plastic so you couldn't see them to dodge them (one of which I endo'd on and bent my forks). Not to mention the rough wall with stone window ledges sticking out at head height.

Fuck Nike. (If Nike sponsors a polo tournament there should at least be decent courts.)

I won't say well done Paris but will say well done London for taking care of business.
Basically I feel as though half of London polo just paid to travel to Paris, paid €20/each to enter and organise a tournament.

All in all, I had a great weekend but playing polo wasn't fun.

I don't feel resentful about paying €20, I got a sweet t-shirt, and played some great polo, on both courts. You make do with what's offered, that's how you roll when you got to someone else's event. You don't jump up on stage at a concert and re-tune someone's guitar, do you?

I did lots of reffing both days, I enjoyed it. I had a goal dissallowed the second day because of the on/off balljoint rule, but actually, the geneva goal ref and luis the main ref both called the goal, It was a LONDONER who called it a non-goal. That says a more about us as a community than paris.