Polo Rules

I actually really like the forearms rule, now that I understand how they meant it.

As you say I was the only person I saw that was called for "making space", but I think if reffed well, it's a good rule, I think from a safety point of view using a forearm as a buffer is better than waiting for your shoulder to make contact.

I actually really like the forearms rule, now that I understand how they meant it.

As you say I was the only person I saw that was called for "making space", but I think if reffed well, it's a good rule, I think from a safety point of view using a forearm as a buffer is better than waiting for your shoulder to make contact.

In my experience, using or having your steering elbow used as an initial contact point inevitable ends in a loss of control/avoidable crash - therefore not 'safe'.

Better than a shoulder to the stearing arm?

We've been discussing this up here a bit recently too, the way I see it a shoulder is a much more solid place to make contact regardless of which side its on. Unless you expect it and lock up in time, forearm contact is more likely to end in a crash IMO.

I get where they're coming from with the protect your space thing but not everyone is gonna play like a gentleman and not bend the rules to suit themselves. It'll be interesting to see some video from the weekend to see how it was taken up.

Better than a shoulder to the stearing arm?

I'd always prefer a shoulder to my steering arm than any contact to my elbow, even from a beefcake like yourself! ;-)

But a shoulder can be used to "make space", with the forearm rule, at least how it seems to be meant to be called, it shouldn't be.

So if you are on the ball, and someone is on your steering side, they can't really hit you hard with it.

If you are the defender, and the player on the ball is next to your stearing arm, it's really up to you how hard you go in against their forearm.

So to me it would seem safer (if infractions are called).

Shoulder-to-shoulder contact and steering arm infractions would have resulted in better polo in my opinion.

SOOO many players use the forearms thing to justify downing people ("creating space") in the hope that the ref won't catch it (they didn't).

Adopting forearms was pretty lame in my opinion, it's never been legitimate in NA (as far as I know), although I realise many NA players now see it as part of the game.

It's obvious many players are very skillful at the physical side to this game which can be exciting to watch. On the other hand it can sometimes result in a pass-less game with all the goals being scored on foot downs, lame.

Manu said we need a way to "manage the dicks" which made me laugh. Currently the most successful tactic often seems to be to try and down everyone and then score a goal (which I think is a shame).

I'm considering bringing in a "one in the goal area" rule for the LO in an effort to remove overly defensive (risk aversion) tactics, which in turn should mean teams feel less of a need to block/down each other.

Thoughts?

Yes Jono, I really want to see "only one defensive player in the D".

I think you'll need to word it really careful though, so we don't see any "miss a tap-in, it's only a warning" situations, or at the other hand overzealous reffing.

I'd suggest something like:

If incidental (doesn't affect play, ball is in the other half, or something), then it's fine.
If done off the ball, but while the opposition are attacking, then advantage/turnover.
If done on the ball, 30 second penalty.
If it stops a goal, 2 minute penalty.

But a shoulder can be used to "make space", with the forearm rule, at least how it seems to be meant to be called, it shouldn't be.

So if you are on the ball, and someone is on your steering side, they can't really hit you hard with it.

If you are the defender, and the player on the ball is next to your stearing arm, it's really up to you how hard you go in against their forearm.

So to me it would seem safer (if infractions are called).

Disagree. I can do a lot more damage to someone with a forearm than I can with a shoulder.

If you like, I can show you how.

but can you do it without "making space"?

I agree, the way it was played at the weekend was dangerous.

"Creating space" is flawed in my opinion. In bike polo the wording should be about meeting people at speed and allowing you to fight for the same space, imagine the scenario of two players charging for the same ball, etc: Which one is holding space and which one is creating space? Is it simply about who gets their forearm in position first? Or do you expect ref's to judge how far out a player's forearm was at any given point in time?

My problem with forearms is that it gives you many different ways of initiating contact with someone, your forearm is able to target any part of another player (I even saw some forearm to head contact which was crazy), so essentially you go in at speed and now you can turn your predictable shoulder check into a much more targeted/unpredictable maneuver.

It's also blatantly apparent that forearms enable you to add power (push) in any given scenario whereas shoulders are (for the most part) much more static/predictable.

I tried to do the forearm thing and successfully pushed a few people off their bikes, it felt lame/wrong.

Hmm, I agree, reffing it would be very tricky.

The scenario that I really like it in though, is when I've got the ball, and someone leans in on my with their shoulder.

At that point, I want to just get on with playing the ball, but I have to lean back towards then, potentially making myself less stable.

For me, in that situation, using a forearm, purely as a defensive measure, gives me far more stability.

I realise that it would be impossible to write a rule which effectively covers that.

Imagine that instead of leaning on you with their shoulder they are pushing (in varying amounts/places) with their forearm.

Squeezing someone out is pretty safe in my opinion, if you have the front wheel advantage you can usually power down and get across them.

I think the scenario you've described (defensive forearms) is pretty legit, but I don't think it's worth having if you have to take all the offensive forearm pushes (and difficult referee calls) too?

Agreed, it's not worth it.

And to be honest I've been using it for that (only) for ages, and never been called on it.

but can you do it without "making space"?

Don't worry, I could seriously hurt you, and not 'make space'.

Regarding the "defensive players in the D" rule.

I was thinking about this over the weekend, and one big problem in my opinion is if you have a defensive player coming back trying to get front wheel on the inside of the attacker.

At some point, if you have a strict "only 1 player in the D" rule, they are going to have to stop, and let the attacker through.

Is that what you want to achieve? You could of course argue that's their fault, they could have blocked the player earlier.

So maybe consider only one stationary player in the D. Though stationary might be hard to define.

I never get to much into rules and regulations, I just follow them as each tournament dictates, SO my question is why has there never been a European or world decision on court size? Like this weekend, why were court A and B the bigger courts and then Court C so much smaller, to me it is hard to move from 1 court that is big and has a different style of play to another that is much smaller and involves closer more controlled play? I personally think that a standard court size, with a few Feet tolerance should be put in place.
Not saying that the court were bad this weekend, they were some of the nicest courts i have ever played on with the best boards ever.

i like the 1 player in the 'D' but how would you police it. a quick getting back to cover leads to 2 players covering their goal sometimes.

I don't like the encroaching hockeyisation of polo, and think the forearm thing encourages that. Sure, big boy North Americans may like it, and Europeans want to beat them at their own game, but that macho bullshit is going to prevent uptake of our sport right when we need it.

Watching some American games (Mr Do etc) makes polo look ridiculously dangerous and testosterone fuelled. I would not even consider taking up a sport like 'that', even though I'm fairly large, and should be able to manage contact...

"One in the D": my opinions are pretty well known ('check the blog'/fuck the goalies etc) but maybe it's worth trying, if it's the goal-ref's responsibility. Is the LO the best place to try it? Lots of people means lots of feedback, but also lots of potential lividity.

In my head it'd be pretty easy to achieve:

If you have two stationary players within the masked area then the ref would warn the players "one of you needs to leave the D", if they failed to do that then you'd stop the game and ask the player to leave the D and that if they did it again they'd be ejected for 30 seconds (obviously you could play advantage and issue a ball turnover and warning once the play had ended instead).

The main thing for me is encouraging players not to defend so much (meaning less of a knife fight in front of each team's goal all the time), it'd be a penalty and would need a neat name: Turtling? Shielding? Double-Goalieing?

In practice there would probably be few calls, but lots of warnings/encouragement to run a more active defence? The area in question would be pretty small (two goals wide by one meter deep)?

If it'd make people really unhappy then we'd abandon it I imagine? No-one wants to travel to a tournament to have some strange rules imposed on them last minute.

It could work like BJs, where as soon as someone does it, everyone starts shouting about it and/or reminding the player in question that he/she has to pass.

It could work like ECM's, where as soon as someone has one, everyone starts shouting about it and/or reminding the player in question that he/she is a cheater.

ftfy

How about simply the only stationary player must be keeping the goal or intending to and have a time allowance for anyone entering and leaving the D otherwise?

The forearms thing is much worse for smaller players, I weigh about 55kg, ie half of any normal player. Unless I see it coming a mile away, I'm down straightaway with one push. Even throw-ins got a bit het up! I also felt like when I was shoulder to shoulder with Elena, she had a distinct advantage because being dressed like robocop meant she couldn't feel much...

In my head it'd be pretty easy to achieve:

If you have two stationary players within the masked area then the ref would warn the players "one of you needs to leave the D", if they failed to do that then you'd stop the game and ask the player to leave the D and that if they did it again they'd be ejected for 30 seconds

Ok, stationary, good, that makes it much better.

You'll still need to word it carefully to avoid ways around the spirit of the rule.

Is hopping on the spot stationary?
Is track standing (with a bit of back and forward) stationary?
Is rolling back and forward around a tripod stationary?