Ehbpc 2013

As Luca mentioned, Cambridge will talk about this on Sunday and come back with an answer on how to allocate the wildcard spots.

Did this happen - is there an answer??

IIRC (Hayden has minutes) it was just a normal qualification process. Top 6 teams go to main tournament. The following 3 go to the wild card. If a team drops out the spot will be allocated to the corresponding team.

Cambridge getting shit sorted! Gonna be a good one!

More or less sure 2 wildcard and 1 main spot will open up as The Netherlands will prob only send one team, if they will send a team at all.

The main slot would just end up as an extra team from the wildcard, but yeah, I imagine there will be a few more extra wildcard slots available.

Yupz and from what i understand now is that NL is not gonna send a team.

No team at all?

That's a shame, but good for everyone else.

IIRC (Hayden has minutes) it was just a normal qualification process. Top 6 teams go to main tournament. The following 3 go to the wild card. If a team drops out the spot will be allocated to the corresponding team.

So 9 slots to be decided by the end of play on the Saturday of the tournament aka 'Qualification Saturday'.

How long are those slots viable for ie. when is the cut off date that Cambridge want confirmation the teams are committed to going by?

When is the cut off date that EHBPC want empty slots returning?

Any unfulfilled slots by these dates, I assume that it is only the Cambridge committee who can appoint non-qualifying team or teams? How/when should those non-qualifying teams make themselves known?

When is the cut off date that EHBPC want empty slots returning?

It's not confirmed yet, but I believe it's in the week after our champs.

So basically it needs to be decided that weekend. Which makes the whole thing much easier, anyway, as teams are actually there to discuss it.

The 'viability' of the slots is not up to us. If a team qualifies for the main tournament and then for what ever reason cannot attend should just let everyone know (most likely on this thread) then the spot will be allocated automatically to the corresponding team.

Eg. La Schmoove/Electric cream 2011 Barcelona

I don't understand 'automatically' or 'corresponding' in this context.

Nine teams will qualify/be selected on the Saturday, if say the second seeded/qualified team drops out within the first week do all the teams nudge up one place, with the ninth/final place then becoming available?

If this is the case, I assume you mean the empty ninth place goes 'automatically' to a team that registered/attended qualification and finished highest?

If, after that list is exhausted, will the slot then be offered/filled by a non-qualified team?

It's very simple... As you say the top 9 teams (6 main + 3 wildcard) will qualify on the Saturday. For example regarding the drop out thing, if the 5th ranked team dropped out then yes the teams will be 'bumped' up meaning that the 6th placed team would become the 5th ranked team. Then the 7th ranked team would make it into the main tournament with no wildcard. And then the 10th ranked team would make it into the wildcard.

Does that help?

Oh and a better example is Larry Kahn, who is a former uk tiddlywinks champ who isn't going to make it to the 2013 uk championships but has been allowed on the uk team because the uk TW Association agree that he is one of the best players and should represent his country.

By the way, the above was a lie, a well researched lie (Larry Kahn is a professional tiddlywinks player who has played for the uk team recently, didn't go to the qualifiers last year and has previously won the uk TW cup) but a lie none the less... I assume the person who repped me for it would like to know. :)

It would be better not to use the term 'Wildcard' in this instance as the term was defined to most by Berlin WHBPC 09 organisers as a pre-tournament which was open to teams not competing in regional qualifiers.

And, that Krakow poster is awful.

If something dreadful were to happen to a player in the run up to this tourney, I'd consider subbing in.

It would be better not to use the term 'Wildcard' in this instance as the term was defined to most by Berlin WHBPC 09 organisers as a pre-tournament which was open to teams not competing in regional qualifiers.

^ This.

If something dreadful were to happen to a player in the run up to this tourney, I'd consider subbing in.

Now that's not going to aid my sleeping... ;-)

I'd agree that qualifying round is probably a better name for it, but I don't think it really matters.

Wildcard was a bad choice for it, as no other sport would call that a wildcard.

But the name is irrelevant to all of this, for those who don't get in through the qualification tournament should focus on the date the first-come-first-served list opens, and get on it, or failing that, just turn up and hope.

And, IMO, this "wildcard" is a much better format for the future of European polo, than a pure first-come-first-served wildcard.

For one, the European polo community is now too big to just allow everyone who wants to, to play. And that's only going to get worse over time, and we have more and more competitive players.

Doing it this way means it doesn't just become a "who is on the internet most and can click a button quickest" competition. Every country has some slots, and it means that the second and third teams, from some of the new countries won't get through, but will get exposure to playing good teams, and hopefully take new skills home, coming back next year even stronger.

And by setting deadline for claiming wildcard spots, it means that those good teams who missed out still have a chance to get in the usual way.

And, IMO, this "wildcard" is a much better format for the future of European polo, than a pure first-come-first-served wildcard.

For one, the European polo community is now too big to just allow everyone who wants to, to play. And that's only going to get worse over time, and we have more and more competitive players.

Not sure I agree. I think a 'true wildcard' can be good for tournaments in many ways. It provides an alternative route for teams into the euros, vis-a-vis, creating a separate opportunity to qualify. Last years qualifier was a total washout which prob affected the accuracy of results. This year Cosmic, due to personal commitments, are struggling to attend.

IMO 1 day at 1 tournament is too small a window for qualification. I would like to see at least a couple of opportunities to qualify e.g. UK Champs + Qualifier. [not negging on the current setup just highlighting a limitation]

For the record, the origin of the 'wildcard tournament' was to accommodated every team that turned up at an event, the format was to be varied depending on the number of additional teams that showed up.

There was no 'first come first served'... instead they simply said that there was no guarantee of playing (and that the format might be whack) but they'd try to give everyone that showed up a small chance at playing in the main tournament (the risk of not playing turned some people away and kept the process manageable).

Turning the wildcard into a secondary qualification tournament was (and is) lame. Stefan's original idea was to ensure loads of people would travel to Berlin even if they hadn't qualified (good for sponsors, good for event vibe, good for spectators, good for shared knowledge, good on camera, etc).

I'm aware of what the original purpose was, but I don't think that's realistic now. Do you think people would be happy if 100 teams turned up for the wildcard, and teams got 2 games each? Would that be good for polo in Europe? Would that be constructive towards helping the level of competition increase in countries throughout Europe?

Why do you consider a qualifying tournament lame?

The problem you're imagining is imagined! (In my opinion many people would be stoked to get a shot at a main tournament even if it meant they only played two games, those who don't like the idea of it don't go.)

The Berlin-style wildcard was awesome/epic/loved by all. The Paris pre-qualifier wildcard was none of those things (in my opinion).

I'd say hypothethical rather than imagined.

But I've no doubt there are a lot more teams willing to travel these days, then there were 3 years ago. Look at how oversubscribed tournaments in Europe are these days. Most have a waiting list longer than the number of teams allowed.

By limiting it to 36 teams, you guarantee that the 2nd team from Ukraine, the 5th team from Belgium etc, get a good number of games, against a good variety of teams, and a much better chance of taking better skills home with them, raising the skill levels of other players, etc...

Also you give a much better guarantee that the best teams attending will actually qualify, raising the level of competition.

Regarding Berlin, I don't doubt that. That doesn't mean that another format can't be as well. I imagine those 36 teams will have an awesome time.

The Paris wildcard was shit, no doubt about that. But I think the one thing you can't blame that on is the qualifying format. The main reason it was shit was because the court was awful. If they had done it on the main courts they could have had a lot more teams, and the polo would have been better.

You may be right about having more teams nowadays, but it's not certain.

The best team, or three, will qualify for the main event regardless of format, I agree it gets a little murky after the top three (doesn't it always).

None of the wildcard teams will do well in the main event unless they have super-human fitness, but – as with many things – it's the taking part that counts.

I was originally posting to primarily point out that the origins of the wildcard event were not first come first served, as you were.

Image how good the main event would be if there were three hundred polo players that came down for the wild card?

Imagine the sponsorship you could get?

Hire every usable location in town on Friday night, split them into groups have one group at each location. then have the biggest party polo has ever seen.

(I'd also make it that the qualified teams have to come to the wildcard and get them to ref and help organise)

I just booked tickets. I decided last night to go all in and make a holiday of it. Going from Weds 26th - 3rd. Anyone else going for a decent amount of time? Thinking of looking at apartments. GiW?
Lady at easyjet was a doofuss. "Is it a bicycle or a bike?"

Bitch should know it's a velocipede.