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down to governing – having people that
run the thing right, and run it with a strong
hand. The problem is management.
Unfortunately, the USPA is in terrible
shape trying to do everything for everybody,
so the current leadership is trying to shore up
the association and put some teeth in it. Chip
Campbell, the USPA’s chairman, is a smart
guy. He will try to sort it out, but with so
many pieces that need to be straightened out,
I don’t know if anybody can save it.
The only thing the USPA has going for
it is that it has money coming in through
selling merchandise. But it is used foolishly.
It’s spent in many directions rather than being
funnelled into something that makes sense. I
think the association should use that money
to promote the sport and help it grow and
prosper. It is not going to bring enough
money into the sport to make it profitable to
run a polo team, but it could, at least, bring in
enough money to make a profit and cover
some of the expenses. The problem is that the
USPA is not willing to put up prize money for
its tournaments* and we can’t get money from
television. It has to be governed better.
These are my thoughts, gathered from my
experience. These problems in polo are
Y O U C A N S T I L L H AV E P R O - A M AT E U R S ,
B U T Y O U ’ V E G O T T O H AV E T H E
G L I T T E R AT T H E T O P F O R T H E
L I G H T T O S H I N E O N T H E B O T T OM
unique; they have been allowed to grow and
fester for a long time, and we’ve got in the
habit of doing things a certain way. It’s very
difficult to change people, but somebody
needs to solve the problems in an easy
manner. The sport needs cleaning up.
Sam Morton is the author of Where the Rivers
Run North, Land of the Horse and, more recently,
The Winged Spur about the fighting horsemen on
the Scottish-English border. He has been writing
about polo for 35 years. *Since this article was
written, the USPA has announced $1m in prize
money for the 2019 Triple Crown
