Polo needs more media coverage
By Alex Webbe
The stage is set for the final of the 2015 Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup for the British Open at the Cowdray Park Polo Club and a huge crowd will be anticipated.
Millions of dollars have been spent by sponsors and team patrons yet Cowdray Park Polo Club, like a number of other world class polo facilities don’t feel the need to distribute copies of the official scoresheets to the media following the games.
I’ve been covering polo matches for newspapers since the early 1970s and have found, for the most part, that polo clubs and associations are more than happy to accommodate the press, and commercial sponsors are hoping that the clubs and associations will get the word out to the press in a timely fashion, but not all have the same attitude.
I have found myself trying to gather information from livestreaming of matches I am unable to attend, and politely informed at one club that it was not their practice to send score sheets to the media.
I am trying to stay on top of the scoring leaders for the British Open (which I was able to do with the Guards Polo Club), but without scoresheets am unable to offer solid statistics or informed team comparisons.
Many of the larger clubs actually hire public relations personnel who refuse to release any information on the games, save the final scores, until they have crafted their own game coverage. Most of the time the people writing the reports get them out a day or two late and don’t have the polo knowledge to properly craft a report that offers all of the information needed to be of use to the general public much less the more informed polo community.
The practice isn’t limited to Cowdray Park or the Santa Maria Polo Club in Spain, but is practiced by a number of clubs and associations around the world, from the Argentine Polo Association to the revered FIP.
I really can’t imagine what is being accomplished by keeping score sheets and statistics private unless it is the belief of these individuals that the sport itself should be kept private. If that is the case then I am certain that a number of the game’s top sponsors would rethink their financial support of the sport.
There are only a handful of polo writers who make an effort to cover the top competition, and a limited number of sponsors who make significant investments in matches, teams and tournaments. You would think that these clubs and associations would see the benefit in assisting those writers whose coverage not only promotes the clubs and the matches but gives precious media coverage to the sponsors.
The job of education and informing the greater public as well as promoting the game of polo is the duty of every member of the polo community. If we are going to do our part we are all going to have to work together.