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Rule 24

Right of Way is called differently in high- and low-goal polo

For Peter Alworth, far right, the best part of polo is playing with his three children, shown here.

This month Peter Alworth has a question. Peter grew up playing polo in Duluth, Minnesota, with his father and two brothers. He is currently rated 1 goal but back in day he was a 3-goal player. Peter most certainly uses his experience and mature-player trickery to advance his team during the summer season at the Twin City Polo Club. Of course, Peter loves the game of polo but what he enjoys most is playing with his three children, all of whom are well accomplished polo players in their own right. Fielding a full family team is an accomplishment close to his heart and a unique ability in today’s world. When Peter and the kids are not playing polo, they stay active during the winter months playing ice hockey. Peter is definitely a modern-day entrepreneur with old-school values, having started his own software company and running it successfully for over 10 years; starting and managing a bank for over 15 years; and now serving as the CFO of a manufacturing company—somebody has to pay for the polo in this family !

The Twin City Polo Club is located in Maple Plain, Minnesota. The season starts the first of May and the first tournament is Memorial Day weekend. The club plays without pause through September. When possible, 0-goal tournaments are run simultaneously to 4- or 6-goal tournaments. The club strives to include all club members in competition. Practices are a mix of skill levels. It is common to have a nine-chukker practice with three slower chukkers at the beginning. Sometimes the club will have two practice games going on at the same time.

The club has an excellent polo school where many young kids have learned to play. It has held a NYTS tournament for the past seven years, since the beginning of the series. For the past two years, the club has hosted the Central Circuit Woman’s Tournament. Peter and Bob Bradley purchased the club 20 years ago from James Binger, who originally started polo there in the 1960s. The club now has three regulation polo fields and a stick-and-ball area. The club usually hosts six to eight teams for its tournaments and can accommodate all the visiting teams at the grounds. It also has arguably the best after-polo barbeques in the country!

Peter’s question: When I watch high goal polo on livestream, it looks like there are many fouls that are not called. Is high-goal polo called differently than lower-goal polo, and if so, why?

Rule 24—Right of Way

a. At each moment of the game there shall exist as between any two or more players in the proximity of the ball a Right of Way, which shall be considered to extend ahead of the player(s) entitled to it, and in the direction in which that player or those players is or are riding. c. No player shall enter or cross the Right of Way except at such speed and distance that creates not the slightest risk of a collision or danger to any player.

*Only a portion of Rule 24 is listed. To read the entire rule, go to uspolo.org*

Umpire Darrell Schwetz is going to answer Peter’s question. Schwetz is a USPA umpire who has been umpiring professionally for over 16 years. He umpires all levels of polo across the country. Darrell has also umpired internationally in Argentina and Pakistan. In fact, he was the first umpire to go to Argentina in the umpire exchange program. Darrell started his polo career at the young age of 7 in Boca Raton, Florida, at the Royal Palm Polo Club. Darrell was a member of the “Rough Riders” at Culver Military Academy, a stunt-riding group. He played all over the world and reached a handicap of 5 goals. He won many prestigious high-goal tournaments, including the USPA Gold Cup, the U.S. Open and Butler Handicap. He is also a level-three certified horseman in both english and western with the Certified Horsemanship Association. When he is not working, Darrell enjoys spending time with his two sons, Jordon (23) and Dawson (21). A fun fact about Darrell is the he is an avid paddleboarder and fisherman, catching many of his own meals.

Darrell’s answer: Peter, that’s a really good question. I happen to umpire both high-goal and low-goal polo so I should be able help. Yes, we umpire high-goal polo differently than we do lowgoal polo. When I say high-goal polo, I mean 20-goal polo and above. The rules are the same, for the most part. There are some host tournament committee elections available to high-goal polo that are not available, to say, 6-goal polo, but that aside, it’s the interpretations of the rules that are different. To be more specific, it’s the interpretation of the right-of-way rule (Rule 24) that we interpret uniquely for high-goal polo.

We do three things in high-goal polo differently than low-goal polo. First, we shorten the gap—the distance between opposing players—that is needed to enter the right of way of another player from the opposing team, and by doing so, we allow more plays to be legal that would otherwise be a foul. For example, if we allow a player to enter the right of way of an opposing player as long as he or she has a three-horse-length’s gap in 6-goal polo (all other conditions being the same), we may allow the same play at two horse lengths in 22- goal polo. Second, we use actual risk of collision as our benchmark in high-goal polo instead of potential risk of collision in low-goal polo. Third, we play the advantage a lot more. In other words, if a player gets fouled but he or she retains possession of the ball, we may elect to not call the foul. In low-goal polo, we still play the advantage but not nearly as much.

There are other conditions we consider as well, like relative speeds and angle of entry into the right of way. When you take all three of these interpretation differences together, you will get a vastly different calling of the game. Why do we do this? The short answer is because we can and still keep the game safe. At the high-goal level we have the luxury of very experienced players on the field at all times and it allows for fewer whistles and a more fluid game. It also allows the better players and better horses to stand out and be rewarded for being better instead of being so limited by the rules. At the lower levels, with less experienced players on the field, we cannot keep the game safe if we call it this way. I hope that helps ! •

Darrell Schwetz