Polo Rules

Paging Louis.

Ha!

Having on court ref's does add to the entertainment value for spectators! :)

I didn't notice them when playing, the only bit I didn't like about on court refs was being one.

I've always liked on court refs, I prefer to do it, where possible.

I lolled the first time you did this. Stepping maybe three or four steps either way every so often.

It's fine, as long as it makes sense. In my opinion it's like leaning forward in the car, when you're trying to see the road sign. No fucking different, unless you slow everything down and get really close.

Yeah, it's being able to run up and down the court, to get a better view of play. If you read the play you can generally stay out of the way.

Hah I remember that... what a numpty Finn... Rollerblading refs FTW!

So, after the fiasco of the first ruleset the NAH brought out, Nick Kruse has been working on them, and now here are the official NAH rules, as to be used at the Euros/Worlds, Euro Bench, and various other tournaments.

http://www.nahardcourt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/nah_ruleset_v3_3.pdf

Some points to be aware of:

3.1.7 – Jousting players hold their mallet on the side of their bike that a majority of players in the game consider
their “mallet side”. I.E., if 4 of 6 players on the court hold their mallet in their right hand, the joust will
be a right-handed joust.
§3.1.7.1 – If there are an equal number of left and right-handed players, the joust will be determined by
a coin flip, in which each side of the coin correlates to a left-handed or right-handed joust.

Finally, equal treatment for lefties at the joust.

§3.1.8 – Jousting players maintain a straight line until a player makes contact with the ball.
§3.1.9 – On a right-handed joust, players will joust to the left of the opponent. On a left-handed joust, players
will joust to the right of the opponent.

So you can't cut the line until the ball has been touched. I don't think that's ever really been ruled on before. Makes sense though.

§3.7 – The goal judge may be called upon by the court referee to provide perspective regarding a play
near the goal. The court referee makes the final call.

This makes a lot of sense to me.

§3.2.5.1 – A goal is awarded when the entire ball crosses the entire goal line after originating from a
‘shot’. A shot is defined in §4.1. A shot may deflect off of any surface except the broad side of an offensive player’s mallet head before crossing the goal line and be deemed a valid goal.
§3.2.5.2 – A goal will be awarded when the entire ball crosses the entire goal line resulting from momentum added to the ball by a defending player. These are known as own-goals. §3.2.5.2.1 – Deflections originating from ‘shuffles’ that bounce off of the stationary
equipment of a defender do not count as own-goals.

So if you shuffle it at a goalies rear wheel, and it goes in, it's no goal. If you shuffle it across goal, and the goalie tries to play it, and fucks up, it's a goal.

§4.5.1 – Carrying is defined as picking up the ball and carrying it in the air, in any hole in the mallet head, with gravity providing the force which binds the ball to the mallet head.

No snow coning

§5.4.2 – A delay of game penalty will be assessed when a player pins the ball with his or her bicycle while leaning
against the boards preventing other players from playing the ball.

No lame bullshit (yes, I've done this before).

§5.4.4 – A delay of game penalty is assessed in other situations at the referee’s discretion
§5.4.4.1 – Examples include showing up late for the start of a match, rendering the court or a player’s equipment unplayable, taking too long to restart play after a stoppage.

Don't be late.

§5.5.1.1 – Verbal abuse of a referee, goal judge, timekeeper, scorekeeper, or any other event
organizer or official.

Ha!

§5.6.2 – If the team not in possession of the ball commits an infraction of the rules, the referee delays signaling the stoppage of play to issue a penalty until the team to be penalized gains possession of the ball.
§5.6.3 – The referee will signal a delayed penalty by raising his or her arm into the air until the stoppage of play.

So if you are reffing, look at the play, before you blow the whistle. And if you are a player, and foul, or are fouled, play on until told otherwise.

§6.1.3.1 – If a dabbed player blocks a shot on their own goal that would have otherwise crossed the goal
line, the referee may award a goal to the shooter’s team. This is emphasized in regards to §6.1.4.
§6.1.4 – A player that leans against or grabs the goal with their hand for stabilization is considered a
dabbed player.

§3.1.1.1 – Examples of penalized bike contact can include:
§3.1.1.1.1 – A player riding his or her bicycle in such a way that wheel-to-wheel or wheel-to-frame contact is initiated on an opponent. This includes collision with an opponent while riding forwards OR backwards.
§3.1.1.1.2 – Skidding to a stop while changing directions which results in wheel-to-wheel or wheel-to- bike contact on an opponent. This is commonly referred to as
the “whale tail” or “dolphin slap”.
§3.1.1.1.3 – Causing contact to an opponent’s bike with your chainstay, pedals, or any other part of your bike.
§3.1.1.2 – Incidental bike-on-bike contact is contact that doesn’t affect play and is not dangerous. No penalty will be assessed for bike contact deemed incidental.

So basically bike to bike (unless incidental) is illegal.

§7.2.1 – A high sticking penalty will be assessed in the following situations:
§7.2.1.1 – A player attempts to contact an airborne ball with their mallet at a height above the shoulder.
§7.2.1.2 – The mallet is brought into contact with an opposing player’s body above the level of the shoulders.

So no contact with the ball, or other players, above shoulder height.

§8.1.1 – A pushing penalty will be assessed when a player uses his arm, extended more than 90 degree at the elbow, to make contact and push a competitor.

So you can use your forearm as a shield, but not push.

And finally, something that is a new rule for this year (rather than unwritten)

§8.7.1 – A trapping penalty will be assessed when a player holds an opponent against the boards for an extended period of time, not near the location of the ball, by leaning on them or otherwise impeding
their movement.

When the rules say "a penalty will be assessed", does this mean it's at the ref's discretion?

E.g. the high-sticking rule - playing a high ball with no-one around you might be judged OK, but if there are other players nearby it becomes dangerous and a penalty will be called?

3.1.1.1.2 is too specific, a dolphin slap is more commonly an endo/stoppie nowadays.

FBO 4 LYF etc.

Finally, equal treatment for lefties at the joust.

If you noticed lefty Joe did all of clobbers jousts at the worlds....never got called up!

When the rules say "a penalty will be assessed", does this mean it's at the ref's discretion?

E.g. the high-sticking rule - playing a high ball with no-one around you might be judged OK, but if there are other players nearby it becomes dangerous and a penalty will be called?

Yes, a ref should decide the severity of a penalty, based on how the game was affected, safety, etc...

Personally I'd turn a blind eye to a high stick that was far away from any other player, but yes, if it was a dangerous situation, then I would.

Cue wild swinging at anything in the air. and shouts of 'count it!'

Shooting
§4.1.1 – A shot occurs when a player strikes the ball with the round end of the mallet head or shaft of the mallet.

This was a silly addition as a myriad of helmets are now 'not allowed':

§2.5.1 – While on the court, all playerswear a helmet that meets safety standards for cycling.

No limit to the number of time-outs was also a mistake in my opinion:

§3.2.9 – MechanicalTimeout
** §3.2.9.1 – Atimeout can be called by a playerfor mechanical issues by yelling “Time Out” to the referee.
** §3.2.9.2 – Any player having the mechanical problem has the option to call a timeout or “mechanical”
only aftertheirteam takes possession of the ball.After fixing the mechanical problem, the ball
is turned overto the otherteam and playwillrestart according to §3.3.

We should have moved to ref-controlled restarts and not player-controlled in my opinion, the verbal acknowledgement is silly/lame:

§3.3 – Resuming play
§3.3.1 – Each team returns to their half of the court.
§3.3.2 – The appropriate team receives possession of the ball.
** §3.3.3 – The referee establishes both teams are ready by receiving a verbal acknowledgment.
** §3.3.4 – The play restartswhen eitherthe ball or a playerfrom the team in possession of the ball
crosses half-court.

We should have added a maximum handlebar width too now that the handlebar infraction has been properly adopted:

§8.5 – Handlebar Infraction
**§8.5.1 – Ahandlebarinfraction penaltywill be assessedwhen a player, using his or her body or equipment,
initiates contactwith an opposing player’s handlebar
**

Overall though this is ace, so glad v3.2 bit the dust... Kruze has done a great job of polishing the v2 draft (and taking on board feedback from the Worlds/LO experiments), neat.

The helmet thing is being fixed, that was an oversight, Kruse is aware of it.

So which draft are we using tomorrow?

No idea, hopefully something local with distinct hoppy flavours.

Moar hops!

lolz

Looks like a nice ruleset... but still don't get it for shaft shot. Find that really stupid.

only cause you cant do it ; )

Encourages mad air-swingz, it's a risky trend.

people do it anyway.

It's down to the ref to call it then. I didn't realise about the rule at first but called it in several games I reffed later... it didn't really change advantage though because hitting the ball in the air is rarely accurate anyway, it just stops mallets flying up quickly.

Not so much as a rule, but a suggestion. I was looking at the goals in cambs and thought it would be a good idea to paint goals two colours. One colour say white for the front three struts and another colour (red) the back three struts, so that it is easier to see if it is a post or inside the goal and rebound, because the posts are different colours. I thought I might try this when I give the lhbpa goals at herne hill a lick of paint. Also dt mentioned the skipole method to bounce the ball up, this could easily be continued on the two other inside struts.

Stick shots aren't so hard to make and happens often. I would simply have say that in case of doubt, the ref have to call it a goal, but i wouldn't have change the definition of how a goal should be scored. We get rid of "wheel shoot" i can't see why we should add another way to score. Air shot should be all about finesse, not baseball swinging.

Not to keen on the stick shots as well.

Anyways, are there any other major changes? Thinking of using them for Vienna RADhaus Masters.