For the record...

Is there any competitive team sport in the world where people don't quickly invent ways of fouling as soon as it progresses beyond a group of mates?

Mind you, sometimes there a few fouls may occur even in a group of mates ...

There's some bad dodging going on in that print of the horse.

The reffing at Oxford was terrible or, perhaps more accurate, non-existent.

that's a fair point to be honest I just jumped in at the deep end there and had no idea what I was doing or what to call or if I can call because a lot of the rulings that your being a dick can be biased personal polotics and opinions.

Sorry to anyone who found this frustrating if I ever ref again I need to be clear on what I am actually doing and calling and yeah just be prepared to piss people off all day

Yep. Good point Zoe. We need to agree what powers the ref has.

Also, the people who ref goals need to make a decisive call whether its a goal or not.

We also desperately need to make sure that the players listen to the ref.
We all agree that it's frustrating playing tournament games with no ref presence when people are being dickish. But, it's equally bad when the refs are making calls and the players just ignore them or argue back.

yeah, i wasn't dissing you zoe. i think we all understood that this was somewhat of a last minute event -- a bit more low-key than some tournies. overall it was a great day.

yeah I did not think you were and if you had been it would not of mattered
I would seriously appreciate some proper feedback from people on what could have been done diferent this is an informal pub shat or something so we dont bore the thread to tears
and so that I can learn more from the experience

it would have been really good if it had been a week earlier on the bank holiday weekend (I'm just gutted I couldn't make it, on all accounts it was awesome)

I thought there were a few missed ref calls but the overall organisation was great. Everything ran on time and smoothly (from what I could tell). It was the first polo tournament of any kind I'd been to and I think we (from up this way) learned a lot and so are now planning a Cambridge tournament for later in the summer.

Thanks again, it was awesome.

I thought there were a few missed ref calls but the overall organisation was great. Everything ran on time and smoothly (from what I could tell). It was the first polo tournament of any kind I'd been to and I think we (from up this way) learned a lot and so are now planning a Cambridge tournament for later in the summer.

Thanks again, it was awesome.

Hurry up with this Cambridge tourney, its been almost a week since the last one! isit gonna be Pre-EHCP?

to pre-empt matthew, yes we are thinking about a tourney pre-ehbpc, on either a saturday or sunday in june, not sure which weekend yet. we will probably have made a decision by sunday evening this weekend so keep your eyes peeled.

have in mind Berlin and Munich tourneys, some people will be out

first weekend of june would be awesome! please then, busy all the rest in june. please?

first weekend in june is potential weekend for london euro-qualifiers tourney, i think.

So, 28th May is Berlin, 27th June is Munich and 6th June is (potentially) London Euro Qualifiers? We'll see what the plan is and update everyone. I'm totally down for this.

Also, sorry to derail a quite important/volatile/interesting thread.

first weekend in june is potential weekend for london euro-qualifiers tourney, i think.
Is it. Shit. I may need to bail on SSUK then.

Is it. Shit. I may need to bail on SSUK then.
Scratch that. I've just checked my diary and I've crossed it out anyway.

When the hell did I make that decision?

I'm not sure which of these rules people thought were being violated at the Oxford tourney, exactly. A couple of people complained about (my) reaching over an opposing player's bike to check them, but it's a move that isn't excluded by any of the fouls below, or by the 'like on like' rule - and it's just part of the game in Oxford. The shit thing about the behaviour in the video at the beginning of this thread in my view is that they're nowhere near the ball when it happens.
Finally, peoples' perception of the applications of DBAD tends to become considerably more sensitive when they're losing, in my experience (on the giving and receiving ends). I think Zoe did a fine job.

Fouls:

• Players must not touch the floor with their feet. Touching the wall or barrier with your feet is allowed; feet must not touch the floor. Each time a player does foot-down, that player is out of play and may not play the ball until they touch either sideline at center court. The player must immediately tap-out and not purposefully obstruct play. Intentionally obstructing play after foot-down will be considered a strong penalty. A possible goal that is blocked by a player out of play due to foot-down is not a goal.
  
• Throwing your mallet is not allowed at any time and will be considered a strong penalty.
  
• T-bone’ or charging. Intentional, forward moving bike contact that is perpendicular or near perpendicular (resulting in a maneuver similar in shape to a letter ‘T’) will be considered a strong penalty.
  
• Overly aggressive behavior *such as grabbing, pushing, punching with hands*, pushing or kicking with feet, and headbutting will be considered a strong penalty.
  

one of those rules was broken.

i broke the rules cos: