• Last months 2^nd class win at the 14^th Dikkebus International (results) called for extended talks amongst the Dragon team as to what level we should be playing in. One of the problems Team Leader Howie has, is never really being sure about who will actually play at a given event for us since we don’t have a club base to draw the team from. All the members live quite far apart and rely on training (if they do any) in their local clubs, but given the squad member’s other commitment elsewhere, and the various injuries, planning can be quite a problem, and like every other team people do change their minds near the time of an event to say they wont go.

  Personally, despite not being fighting fit right my own injuries, I would prefer to play at the highest level, but that’s not the case for all the members of the squad. Everyone has their own thoughts on that and there’s no problem with that.

  The other problem, is that even if we know who we will have, the quality of 2^nd class in one event is not the same as another. And from year to year this can also change at the same event.

  My personal philosophy is that a team should always play to win, and if there is an obvious difference between one team and another, then the stronger team should show this and just play the game without laughing in the face of their opposition at their inability. It that means winning 10-0 then that shows the difference between the teams. Anything else is just a sham and I think disrespectful.

  This is where I have to make an apology. In the Div 2 final against Rothe Muylle, I made a very loud ‘fake’ laugh at one of our opponents shot which I somehow I managed to save. Of course the same player  then went and scored about 10 seconds later.

  In this game we were playing a team who had many young players who quite possibly will be the talent of Germany’s future. There were also two older more experienced players who clearly had a ‘do whatever it takes’ attitude to win the ball and seemed to have no problem making very serious and dangerous fouls based on the fact that the referees did nothing to protect the players.

  The fact that goalkeeping has always been and remains my weakest skill – this has never been a secret, and my frustration at the levels these two players were willing to cheat, for me to have probably more by luck than judgement allowed me to have stopped one of these guys scoring was a personal achievement which I celebrated perhaps in a less than appropriate way. The fact that he scored right afterwards was not really of any consequence to me, since I am really rubbish in goal. Anyway, not that I am at all bothered about the reaction of the crowd, my teammates were not happy about it, so I am apologising. As I mentioned to a couple of the younger players of this team at the end of the game, I think they would have had a better result if they just concentrated on playing to the rules, and didn’t rely on the obstructions and dangerous/deliberate paddle fouls. I think these younger players had a lot of fair and ability and wish them well in their polo futures, particularly if they don’t adopt the techniques of their older teammates.

   

• This whole issue of what level to enter the team into is further highlighted with Dragon’s performance at the 23^rd Ieper International (results). Two weeks ahead of the comp, we had two teams and were having great discussions on who would play in what team (two equal teams or one regular line-up, with the rest of the players in the other). In the end, for this event, we lost several players, including Howie due to illness, resulting in only 10 players for two team and one of them was expected late on Saturday. Chris Arrowsmith Dragon Black team finished 11^th while, my team finished 13^th. Chris is obviously very happy about that and didn’t want to risk a head to head with the two teams which might have otherwise risked diluting his glory !

• Anyway, about Howie.

He has managed to contract some kind of viral infection which seems to have attached itself to his stomach wall. He’s been feeling pretty rough for two weeks, but now his on antibiotics, we’re all hoping he’ll be back on form soon. Mind you, me and Chris think it’s all pretty over dramatic just to avoid going to the Referee training weekend!

 

• Next month, I am going to try my hand again at the world of competitive Kayak Surfing. I am hoping, despite not having any official ranking, that my entry will be accepted for the British Open in October. One of the downsides of this is that if I happen to do well (highly unlikely) I will be late for a South West league comp 2½ hours away - so my apologies in advance !!!

• Back in July while on a bit of a family trip to the south of France, my 4 year old boy had a go at surfing for the first time. You can see his efforts here on Youtube.

I am having a little challenge with my brother that I can put a video on youtube which will appeal to more people from a sporting community than he can with his political/religious rants for the Christian People’s Alliance party. If I wanted to be at all fair about this, then I would also include a link for his video here, but you’ll have to take my word for it that it’s amusing for all the wrong reasons, and I don’t want to bump up his ego or hit rate, so you’ll have to trust me that I am just protecting you from your own curiosity.

Feel free to pass on the link of Flynn surfing though !

• There has been a lot of talk around about Integrated Bumpers. This is a really heavy subject and I thought I would add my thoughts to the dialogue on the forum, but then I realised just how meaty the whole things is. I am personally in favour of the whole idea, but do we have enough in our rules to legislate how to implement it ?

I decided rather than make a long thread much longer, I would instead just write my thoughts in a document and it can be downloaded here. The embedded picture is just for illustration purposes to give a view of a minimum profile aspect of a bumper in the two suggested styles, rather than seeking to show what existing bumpers actually look like. By all means continue the discussion.

See you around.

Clyde

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