FIP - A failure or success?

“Almost exclusively, across almost all sports, international competition is the pinnacle”

Think the world cup, the olympics or the world championships. Elite sports people delight in representing their home nation, in competing against all of the other countries in the world. All this, for the chance to become, definitely, the best at that particular sport, in the entire world. The stakes are higher than any other competition, the attraction greater, the spectators more numerous, the financial benefit larger…

But not in polo. In polo, we have sporadic, and apparently random international fixtures, at a range of handicap levels, pretty much depending on what the weakest side is able to muster together. And the FIP World Championships? Thats a 14 goal. Medium goal.

Now, before I get into bashing the FIPs approach, I do sympathise with them, and I can see the direction they are trying to approach, their aim of ‘strengthening polo’s global appeal’ from. But personally I think its wrong.

The FIP has set the handicap limit at 14 goals as they feel this is a limit which is achievable for some of the smaller countries, allowing more teams to compete, while still maintaining a good level of polo, higher than most people would find at their clubs. With more countries involved, and with

a realistic shot at taking home a decent position or perhaps even the win, there is the potential for an even bigger audience, from all over the globe. People are meant to be invested in there own country, and if they are part of the ‘World Championships’, they will watch the live broadcasts and become more interested with the championships and polo as a whole.

However I see it somewhat differently. In no other kind of international competition are the top teams or players handicapped to neutralise their advantages? People tune in to watch the Olympics or world championships to see the best of the best do what they do. Personally, when the Olympics are on, I enjoy watching a vast array of sports, which realistically I have little or no interest in, but I become unexplainably interested and excited by the competition, and the stories of some of the best competitors in history. I am not interested in an average taekwondo player, or a middling canoeist. No, but I would be interested in the best of each of these disciplines, even though I know little or nothing about them.

Surely this is exactly what other people viewing polo are going to feel. I propose that the World championships is run as an entirely open tournament, no handicaps, no regulations. Argentina can turn up with Cambiaso, Facundo Pieres, Sapo Caset and Hillario Ulloa for all I care. And yes, everyone else is going to get thrashed, but thats how it should be. If somebody is better than someone else, they deserve to win, simple as that.

Perhaps fewer teams will enter, but there would be nothing stopping any country, even if they only had a 0 goal team between them, from sending a team. Maybe they would finish last, or maybe they could spring a surprise, but surely the prestige and the experience would be enough to attract teams, no matter of their chances of winning. We don’t play the football world cup at high school level to allow every country in existence to enter and be within a shout of

winning, so why should we do a similar thing for polo? As far as I can see it is just hurting the games reputation, as people will not take it seriously when they know the standard is not nearly as good as it could be. Admittedly this kind of international model would have its drawbacks. For instance people may argue that the sheer inequality between the better teams like the USA and Argentina and the smaller ones like Germany and Switzerland would make the games predictable and therefore discourage spectators. This is a fair assumption, as the balance between unpredictability and fair sport is a hard one to find for many different games (take formula e and Formula 1 for example). However I feel with the correct marketing this can be overcome. Every football world cup, literally millions of fans support the English side, yet deep down we all know we don’t have a chance in hell off lifting the trophy. Why should

polo be any different? And when finally someone breaks the stranglehold that lets face it, Argentina would have, thats going to be all the more special. We all love an underdog, and no matter how good the Argentines are, they cannot win forever. Furthermore the kind of exposure polo may create for itself by showcasing the best polo on offer, may lead to more and more people taking up the game, by default raising the maximum levels in those other countries as time goes on. The dominance of top teams like Argentina would only push others to topple them, growing the sport in the process.

Maybe it would be less exciting. Maybe the games would be less unpredictable. Maybe fewer teams would enter, but at least the games would be pure, proper polo. That’s what fans need to see, and thats what we need to show them if we want to be taken seriously.

OR…

The Flip Side

Polo’s current aim is to introduce itself to more and more people, especially those who would usually not come into contact with polo traditionally. These people will likely have very little experience of the game, and many will not even be able to tell different handicapped tournaments apart. They do not know or care about the handicaps of the players or their roles within the team, only wether the game is close, exciting and fun to watch. They wouldn’t know Facundo Pieres if he was stood in front of them, and therefore have no desire to see the likes of him and other 10 goalers play over anybody else, especially if it is the the detriment of the game. Sure if you set Jorrocks children off in front of them they may begin to catch on, but for the most part, medium goal is more than suffice to attract many of these potential fans of the game. Perhaps as they become more aquainted with the game they will discover the high goal and lose interest with the lower

handicapped international games, but by this point the FIP has already succeeded in introducing these people to the sport. For the devout players and fans, yes you could view these games as artificial and disinteresting as it is not the ‘top' level, but we have to remember that if the game is to continue to strive it needs to have a solid grounding of beginners and supporters, and these are exactly the people who will be drawn to tight, unpredictable international games, especially when a 'world championship’ is on the line. Polo needs to be exciting and engaging at all costs, only then will fans come to watch. Fans bring opportunities to the sport, as they provide income, the potential for new players, helping clubs and coaches, and new sponsors which only go further to promote the game and invest in the clubs and teams. Polo needs fans. And fans want close polo.