"Bending the Rules"

[the deacon]

Are there any tournaments played 'out there' which are organized exactly to all the rules in ICF Canoe Polo Rule Book?
If not, in your opinion which of the following selection of rules are the ones most frequently "bent"?

[Robski Aitken]

Hi there,
I think that there are actually very few tournaments that are organised to exactly all ther ICF rules.

In my opinion this is because it is not possible to enforce all rules at all locatuions (swimming pools for eg. always smaller and restricted), or it would be too expensive for the organisers to make everything complying to the rules (goal lines that don't float behind the line of the face of the goal. goals that don't move etc).

Anyway, in general I think that people are happy that they can play during tournaments, so they are greatful to the organisers for giving them another opportunity to practice thier game.

da.:frosty:

Robski. :lepr:

[BigD]

It very much depends on the level of competition, starting up with polo, it is impressing to have boats, paddles, helmets protective gear, a ball and neoprene shirts for paddlers. To have it all in the same colour is making life unnecesarily difficult and expensive for the beginners (youth?) team involved. On a World championship you expect perfect gear and that's only logical.

There are some rules that should always be obliged to: sufficient padding on the front end of the kayak and NO sharp edges on paddles (or boats). That's just basic safety and common sense. A referee that takes a junior , say under 15 years old player off the water because of dangerous material may get a load of criticism, but he is simply right.

[michielv]

Although I expect not too much from beginners (who wil lhave a hard time getting the right equipment in the right colours etc.) but perhaps the people organizing tournaments/competitions for beginners should have at least a couple of sets of vests and helmets available in case a team has a very mixed set of gear? Even just having a team around that will lend them the gear will do.

To be honest, the mixed (male/female) nature of polo was always a good thing to me. I never knew it was not according to the ICF rules. AFAIK Sloterplas always allowed mixed teams?

[BigD]

We paddled with a mixed team in Charleroi, Veurne and Ieper last year and never experienced any problems. I understand it that men don't compete in ladies european or world championships. At club level, until there are enough ladies teams to allow all ladies to play we need to bend this rule like crazy, the sport simply isn't big enough to fuss about these small issues.

[the deacon]

Big D,
I think that we both know that one of the least "bent" rules in the game is the allowance of females into a mens game, compared with all the other issues.
This as you can see by the poll is one of the minor issues. If it was on the otherhand such a big problem it would have been one of the most voted.
But it was'nt.
:cheers:

[Robski Aitken]

In all fairness, If a lady plays on a "mens" team, I don't think that the opposition would have too many protests. Men are out of nature stronger :barbell: and at the top divisions it is anyway going to be likely that all of the players on the other team will be stronger than one lady on the first team.

Having said that, I do remember that GKV were playing against Agen (I think) in Dikkebus while they hade a female team mate. she fitted into their game very well!

no complaints about it. Anyway, it's the best way for the ladies to grow aswell!!

my 2cents.

Robski. :lepr:

[the deacon]

Just a thought, if BOY GEORGE were to play, would he be in the mens group or with the ladies?
I guess that even he would not be able to decide.
:drunk:

[Bee]

Easy,
Boy George (George O'Dowd) was born in Kent, England.
As an adult playing under the British Canoe Union version of the ICF rules for domestic play, he has only three options.
He can't play 'Women's League' (Not female, honest!)
He can't play 'Youth League' (In his mid 30's therefore over 18years old)
He can however, and will enjoy playing 'Open League'.
Open League in the UK allows both male and female players on the same team.
So there you have it, Boy George gets to play with both the men, and the ladies!
Just how he likes it? :)
Bee

[Bee]

Ahh,
I just realised that as George was born in 1961 that makes him mid 40's
Dooh!
Hey this is a sport-oriented forum, not a maths class!
:silly:

[Nidge]

....... On what league the team is playing in.

In the lower leagues there are generally more newcomer and less expert players so they haven't had chance (or don't see the need) to get all thier kit exactly right like matching helmets, boat colours, Lycra tops etc..

Those are common fault and should show as such in the survey.

But to extrapolate from that and to conclude 'therefore the points raised by Big D & Michielv about Womens' involvement can be 'written off' as relatively unimportant' is to get very confused about what the data is telling us and miss the real point.

By analogy:
Its not going to do much harm or be much of 'an issue' if every opponents you play has a different coloured Lycra top under their bouyancy aid.

But its sure as hell a big problem if just *one* of your opponents has a paddle with sharp edges or splinters sticking out of their boat.

In a roughly comparable way:
If a team has one woman and 5 mismatched helmets your counter ought to detect the helmet colour mismatch as the greatest deviation from ICF rules.
But that ain't so important as someone concluding from that "Well hey in that case we can exclude the women a bit more cos no one will notice or care". :(

Is it?

Nidge

[BigD]

... on how you read the information from this poll

Not having a designated scrutineer on staff may be the most frequently appearing deviance from ICF rules (according to this poll), it doesn't say anything wether the people on this forum actually think that is a big deal or not.

My guess (just a hunch and not statistically proven at all) is that most forum frequenters just want to play polo and not be bothered with too many rules.

[Nidge]

Yeah. I suspect you're right Big D

Isn't it a shame that sometimes the rules are stopping them from playing for no valid reason 'though?

Ah well, this has been done to death on the 15 % thread, so no need to go all the way over it again here.

Nidge[FONT=arial]