VIEWPOINTS
Feeding the Butt Rules intended to provide safety for horses and players By Rege Ludwig
There is much talk today about speeding the game up and making it safer. Fifty years ago, those same topics were talked about, and with the same degree of fervor, as they are today. In fact, one of the greatest polo players of all time, Memo Gracida, was moved to the point of writing an article for Polo magazine on that very subject many years ago. If my memory serves me correctly, in that article Memo refers to a defending player entering the ROW in front of another player to slow them down as feeding the butt, which is not so different then the modern term of blocking. Both are used to upset the flow of the offensive team to slow it down in hopes of it losing possession of the ball and give defensive teammates more time to mark their offensive opponents. Memo’s contention was because feeding the butt is so potentially dangerous, it should not be condoned. Imagine in a soccer game an offensive player makes a quick maneuver to run down field to receive a pass, and just in time, a defensive player grabs the offensive player by the arm and holds him back. Foul? For sure. Well, feeding the butt, or blocking, creates the exact same effect of slowing the offensive player down. However, feeding the butt, or blocking in polo is so much more potentially dangerous to both the human and the equine players. Again, if my memory serves me correctly, Memo effectively stated that the player with the right, or precedence, to hit the ball should know that when they look down field to the ball, and [make a move] to get there, they can close their eyes and not have to worry about a defending player entering their ROW (i.e., feeding the butt, or blocking, in front of them to slow them down). Because speeding the game up and making it safer are still fervently talked about issues, one can only assume neither issue has been resolved. That has me wondering, why, after 50 years or more, the same problem still exists and to an even greater degree. Could it be the rules are not written to where they are sufficiently clear and concise so as to be enforceable? Another possibility is that the authorities who have had the responsibility of enforcing the rules over the last 50 years, have not been sufficiently forceful in their efforts of enforcing the rules to create the effect for which they were written (i.e., create safety, 18 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N
speed and fairness of play for all players involved in the game, both human and equine). The problem of a lack of resolve probably falls somewhere between the two scenarios. If we are truly a concerned community of polo players, let’s stop talking about the problem, determine where the problem lies, address it and resolve the issue so a resolution is not forced upon us from outside our community of polo players, which is not outside the realm of possibility. The problem of blocking, or feeding the butt, is not disappearing. As a matter of fact, I feel quite comfortable in saying most polo players who have been playing polo for 20, 30, or even 40 years will tell you the problem is greater today than it has ever been. According to Memo, who is still an active player, that is just the way polo is played today. I truly understand 40 years ago is not today, and things and times change. However, when that statement is put into perspective, it truly is a sad commentary for the state of the modern-day game and sport of polo. I seriously doubt the intention of the rules is to protect the highest-rated player and better horse in a game more than the lowest-rated player and the lesser horse. If common sense were to prevail, the opposite is true. However, the rules of the game are intended to be applied equally to all players in a game, and the over riding prerequisite should be the safety and fairness of play as applied from the lowest to the highest level of playing ability in a game. When there is a 0-, a 1-, or even a 2-goal player in a game with high- or medium-goal players, a play that would have not been a foul in a 35-goal game could easily be considered a foul at the 10-, 15- or 20-goal levels of play. Not allowing feeding of the butt does not suggest the defensive player is being denied a play on the offensive player. What it is suggesting is the defensive player must make the play earlier, and do it back alongside of the offensive player rather than in front of them to slow them down. A truly unfortunate aspect of this whole ‘make the game faster and safer’ scenario is the rules that govern those situations have been in the rulebook for 50 years (or more), using basically the same words, every year. From the way I understand Rules 24 & 25, once the
