| Home-grown
polo players are being ridden out of town,
forcing one ex-captain of England to work as a labourer
By Nicholas Pyke (independant.co.uk)
|
| Henry
Brett (8) - Best English Polo Player |
Polo,
the world's most exclusive team game, is gripped by a row
that has more in common with the hotdog stands of the football
terraces than the picnic hampers of southern England.
With
the new season only weeks away, British players are complaining
that an influx of skilful Argentinians - many brandishing
EU passports - has squeezed them to the sidelines.
Like
Premiership football sides, top polo teams are increasingly
packed with foreigners, they say, leaving home-grown riders
with no chance to ply their trade - and no pay cheque.
The
shortage of work is so severe that one former captain of the
England side is working as a builder's labourer to pay his
bills.
Now
British players are calling for government intervention, warning
that the foreign invasion could cripple the development of
the game, despite a sharp rise in popularity in recent years.
Christopher
Le Hardy, chief executive of the British Professional Polo
Players Association blamed European labour rulings for the
predicament.
EU
citizens have the right to work and live in any of the member
states, wherever they were born, which effectively makes an
"English-only" quota illegal.
|
| Dubai
Polo Team: Winner of the Queen's Cup
Matt Loder (gb), Adolfo Cambiaso (arg), HRH Queen Elizabeth,
Christian Heppe, Ali Albwardi (ue) and Lolo Castagnola
(arg) |
"If
the law does not protect our sportsmen, they really are stuck,"
he said. "The purpose is to nurture your own home-grown
talent.
"We
want some top foreigners to play. We want to compete alongside
that quality. But overall our view is that there are too many
overseas players in Britain. They are welcome - but not too
many of them."
EU
enlargement in May could make the situation worse, he suggested,
particularly when so many foreign stars from South America,
Australia and New Zealand have been able to obtain EU passports.
The
Institute of Professional Sport, which is lobbying ministers
on behalf of polo, says the problem is shared by ice hockey,
rugby and football. Joanne Collins, the executive director
of the Ice Hockey Players' Association, says that the number
of British professionals has dropped to almost zero in just
three seasons.
Although
polo is still an exclusive and expensive sport, the involvement
of Prince Charles, his sons William and Harry, and celebrities
including model Jodie Kidd, has helped bring about a resurgence
in the game, now seen as more accessible than ever before.
Yet at top end, there is little chance for UK talent to develop.
"Loads
of good British players are falling by the wayside,"
said Margie Brett, the editor of the Polo Times magazine,
whose pages have been dominated by the issue.
Even
the former England captain Jason Dixon struggles to find work
in the "high goal" matches sponsored by wealthy
patrons. Jason, aged 34, and the chairman of the British Professional
Polo Players Association is a senior figure in the game. Yet
the shortage of match fees means he has to work as a part-time
building labourer in Cirencester, where he lives, to keep
his family afloat.
At
his level he needs a string of 12 to 15 ponies and two grooms.
He has to earn £50,000 just to cover the costs. "It's
my main job and my only stream of income," he says. "There
are a lot of foreigners playing over here, and not so many
jobs."
Last
year he was able to play a few lower level games and, with
a combination of teaching and the building work, he survived.
But it was bad for his career and his polo, he says. It is
not looking good for next season either. "It's looking
a little bit sticky. I need 70 to 100 matches, but I'm only
40 to 60 per cent booked."
Foreign
players are attracted by the rigorously organised British
polo season and the chance to earn good money - up to $500,000
(£275,000) a year for the very best.
Britain
also boasts a range of prestigious competitions, including
the Gold Cup. But of the 60 players who took part in last
summer's competition, only seven were British.
There
are now 28 players from outside the EU with European passports
- twice as many as there were a year ago. Most are Argentinians
who hold Italian citizenship. At the same time, non-EU applications
for work permits in the sport have risen by more than 60 per
cent in two years. Acknowledged as the world's greatest, players
from Argentina are sought after by the millionaire patrons
who back the game in Britain.
"People
feel it's unfair," said David Wood, the chief executive
of the Hurlingham Polo Association, which governs the game
in the UK and Ireland.
"I
don't think they would have any objection if it was genuine
Germans, French or Italians playing, or if they lived in Europe.
But they're not even living in Italy. Some of them have never
even been to Italy."
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