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TA L K
With his commentating days behind him,
Terry now concerns himself with the safety
aspect of the game, which often seems to be
sidelined. ‘Polo is not rugby on horseback,’ he
says. ‘Today, the game proceeds at far too
great a speed, which is not as it was, or
should be played. I believe firmly that all
beginners should ride in cross-running reins.
These, in effect, provide the horse with a fifth
leg and would reduce the number of
accidents that are all too frequent today.’
A lot has changed in the four decades
Hanlon has been involved with polo. In
addition to the increasing speed and
a desire to win at all costs, one of the
most obvious changes is the obsession of
overseas patrons with 10-goal players, and
with the ‘patron’s handicap’ of zero or, at the
very most, 1-goal. Of course, patrons hold
the purse strings and without them there
would be no high-goal polo, but now that
a brace of 10-goalers per team is allowed,
younger homegrown players have little
chance of playing at top level for more than
a season. As Hanlon points out, ‘They are
picked because of their low rating to make
up a team aggregate. This results in their
handicap going up, and their hopes of being
picked again the following year going down.’
His remedy is simple: get rid of the
10-goal handicap limit. ‘Whoever thought of
the 10-goal ceiling was wrong. Twenty years
ago you came to play starting at a -2 rating,
and played for one season. The following
season you became -1 and, after another,
went automatically to zero. You had to be
rated at 1-goal before you could play
medium-goal polo; and, for high-goal,
have a 2-goal handicap. Now it is reduced
to zero, and this cannot be correct. Patrons
of 2-goals in high-goal made it impossible
for two 10-goalers to play in teams at that
level. Let’s make the high-goal fair so when
entering you have a chance to win. There
must be no high-goal ceiling. If a player is
playing above his handicap, he must go up
automatically; and unless we correct the
situation now, we stand to lose high-goal
polo here altogether.’
Hanlon’s voice of polo is also that
of experience, and should be heeded.
Opposite
: Terry
Hanlon announcing
at Ambersham.
This page:
Hanlon
receiving a trophy
from Caroline
Nelson (wife of then local
MP, Anthony Nelson),
and Lord Cowdray
L E T ’ S M A K E H I G H - G O A L F A I R , S O WH E N
E N T E R I N G , Y O U H AV E A C H A N C E T O W I N .
T H E R E MU S T B E N O H I G H - G O A L C E I L I N G
