hurlinghampolo.com
30
O P I N I O N
Open, our top level is filled with amateurs
that should not be playing at that level.
Nothing against amateurs – there used to be
a lot of them at the top level, but the top
ones all get paid now.
This does not bode well for people
starting teams, and bringing in good players
to play in the high-goal tournaments. In the
2002 US Open, there were 15 teams in total
and 13 of the American players were 6-goals
and above, and we had to win seven games to
win the tournament. That would break you
in horses today. Back then you could hire the
best pro for half a million; now it’s three
million. Today we are having a tough time
getting two teams into it because the
expenses are astronomical. Under the tax
rules, none of the teams can charge any of
that off, so those of us who want to be
legitimate and are paying the taxes are being
punished, and are therefore not competing
on a level playing field.
We are trying to get endorsements – we
want to be known, we want to be seen on
television so we can get big companies to
come and endorse our teams and the USPA
could get sponsors to come in. Then we’d
have a chance to break even, or make a little
money. We have no shot whatsoever with
the way things are today, and nobody is
doing anything about it.
So we need to make polo legitimate and
then sell it to the media?
You’ve got to have a real sport – the rest
will fall into place below that. You can still
have pro-amateurs and less expensive
tournaments that will work, but you’ve got
to have the glitter at the top for the light to
shine on the bottom. Kids want to become
soccer players, not just because they like the
sport – they want to be like the top players.
They are drawn to it by watching the
professionals. If you do not have the quality
at the centre of the sport, you’re not going to
attract the grass roots.
We have to look after the top, and that
will bring the bottom along. If the top is
getting skewed and the top is doing a lot of
things wrong then the bottom is never going
to develop anybody. The only thing that
makes people want to play polo is watching
good players, so we need to create a scene
out there that gives young players a hunger
to get involved.
Look at all the horse sports you have
now – show jumping, racing, rodeo, team
penning. The horse-show people have done
a much better job than the polo people; they
have money coming in. IPC isn’t building
a fan base for players; it’s a social scene now.
With horse racing the owners and breeders
of race horses went to congress and got a
special bill passed –they said ‘this is a
legitimate sport, we should be able to write
it off’, and they passed a law. It all comes
This page
: Sugar Erskine
in action.
Opposite:
Julio
Arellano taps the ball
DAVID LOMINSKA
