RULE CHANGES

There are a couple of important Rule changes this year.  The easy one first:
 
No contact rule

No Contact.  The no contact rule that was in place for the throw in has now been extended to the penalty and hit in. This should reduce the amount of riding off and blocking that sometimes takes place before the ball is in play.

That seems pretty straightforward.The next is a little more complicated.
 
No turning

The HPA had amended the wording of the crossing rule (33a) which now reads as follows:
 
Crossing.  No player may cross or turn across an opposing player who follows the LOB or has the ROW except at such a distance that no risk of a collision or danger to either player is involved.  A player crossing behind a player on the ROW will foul if he crosses another player following on the ROW.
 
This rule supported the interpretation of no turning across players following down the line as had been used very successfully in Argentina during the winter.  Provided that the player following was committed and did not hook up in anticipation of the backhand a player turning across him should be blown.  

What does this mean?
 
If you are a flash 2 goal player with the ball and on the ROW and you can hear/see/sense another player or players thundering up behind you and you want to reverse the direction of play:  YOU MUST PLAY A BACKHAND STROKE. YOU MAY NOT TRY THAT CLEVER TURNING TECHNIQUE. IF YOU DO AND YOU CAUSE THE SLIGHTEST HINT OF DANGER TO FOLLOWING PLAYERS WHO ARE ALSO ON THE ORIGINIAL ROW: YOU WILL BE BLOWN. IN ALL CASES THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT MUST BE GIVEN TO THE FOLLOWING PLAYER EVEN IF YOU ARE 2 GOALS AND HE IS A NOVICE –2!
 
What is the purpose of this rule?
 
It is to open up and speed up the game by discouraging players from trying to turn the ball by tapping the ball round – an exercise which nearly always ends in failure and an unseemly mêlée .
 
Tidworth Polo Club has a DVD that demonstrates the new rules which can be viewed on the Pavilion DVD recorder.