Polo: RULE FOCUS Awwwwww
Yes you have all heard me scream when your paddle comes close to my precious hands. But what is a paddle foul?
Well, if a referee spots a paddle foul the whistle will be blown to stop play, and they will indicate the type of foul as shown in the diagram below. The bonus from your sore hand is that your team gets a free “Direct at Goal” shot.
However, the causes of hand fouls are pretty basic, and whilst we all should be able to read the rules, I thought a few reminders for “old hands”, and “finger- pointers” for new players might be useful, so we don’t have acquire a new Club trophy like the one on the left!!
The key for all polo playing is safety, as even the best and newest polo paddles can harm a player. Firstly, a Polo paddle must have a minimum thickness of 5mm – i.e. no sharpening of the blades. They should also have no metal tips, and sharp projections from that paddle crushing trip down the Dart last weekend.
The key causes of paddle fouls from a safety aspect are:
1. Touching an opponent’s body with your paddle, or using a paddle to endanger another player – which includes throwing a paddle!
2. Hacking: Where a defender goes for the ball with their paddle, and the ball is within arms reach of an opponent. Roughly a metre anywhere around a paddlers body – on the water and up in the air. However, if both players are going in with there paddles its OK.
3. Classic: Putting your paddle within arms reach of an opponent who has the ball in their hand. This excludes the goalkeeper, but just think about situations on Wednesday nights, when several paddlers are tackling one player in possession – especially in our small pool.
4. Free Throws: From a free shot or sideline throw, a player must be allowed to throw the ball at least 1 metre, before an opponent’s paddle can block it.
The one that seems to confuse everyone is the clever trick of trying to get the ball across the bows or stern of an opponents boat. It looks really slick when done properly, but if it is arms reach of your opponent – the whistle should go.
Other illegal forms of the paddle are trying to prevent an opposing player move their boat with your paddle, or getting that extra bit of propulsion off the front of an opponents boat. Its sneaky and we all have done it, but its illegal.
Finally, the referee may not blow the whistle even though you hand maybe bleeding in the water. That may be because of incompetent refereeing, but if your team has he advantage and a goal scoring opportunity, the referee can play on and keep the game going. Following such a situation, I would still call the fouling player over for at least a chat and probably a yellow card, during the next break in play.
So now you know.
Mark Gillett