The polo regulations were written more than 100 years ago. In those days the polo was remarked that it was a gentleman's sport, it was played without slowing down the horse and the fields did not help to hit the ball.
The regulation when it speaks of the line of the ball emphasizes that if there is distance there is no foul.
For many years the game was badly damaged by applying fouls, almost always, although there was a lot of distance. It became a property registry, where you had to get the right to the line, in order to participate.
In 2017, importance began to be given, finally, to distance.
The natural foul is that which the player finds when he is making a positive, fair play and where he unexpectedly encounters a foul. This foul, he could not avoid (there is little distance), is dangerous and hurt him in his game. This foul is not a resource of a bad play, or that lost the ball, this foul is a consequence of the game.
Searched foul is when the player does not want to fight for the ball, prefers the foul before playing, the player is aware that he loses the play and looks for the foul as a game resource.
When applying with greater emphasis that if there is distance, there is no foul, we can see the players that knowing that they have lost the ball, they accelerate to look for foul. These players are making a negative play and you should not give them a foul.
How to watch the foul? If two players dispute the ball, where it is not clear that one player arrives before another, it is necessary to see who has priority, and the referee before it happens will blow the whistle.
If a player already has the ball, there is no dispute. There can only be one infraction in the face of a natural foul, where the player generates danger, but this really almost never happens, they are all due to foul.
Currently many referees and players do not want to change the mentality, they still believe in the right to accelerate through the line unlimitedly. They continue to measure the distance when the player approaches the other, regardless of who came first, regardless of the intention of the players. If the player accelerates arriving late to look for the foul, and obtains it, conclusion to play the foul gives good results.
When the player grabbed the ball with distance, the player who accelerates looking for the foul, generates danger, he has to get used to fighting the ball.
They also appear those who hate the "redondillas" (turn it), saying that you have to punish her, according to whether it is a natural foul, but if you accelerate to look for the foul this generates the danger, you do not intend to play, mallet up, hitting some screams. It is totally absurd to give him a foul. Do not punish, because the right to the line, the one with the ball.
We have been arguing nonsense for years without achieving anything, without taking into account the intention, is it natural or searched, want to play and do not let it, prefer not to play, just aspire to the foul, is making a positive or negative play?
At the polo it is striking that all the time he is claiming foul, it seems that no one is interested in the ball, or playing, he is interested in the foul, the right to the line.
Each person has his vision of the foul, and does not want to change it. Discussing faults no longer makes sense, you have to give importance to the game, to the intention to play, is the only way.
If we can understand that once there is distance, we must forget the foul, and that there is only natural foul we have the opportunity to change the game.
When the player thinks about how to play the ball, and not how to look for the foul, we will improve this sport.
It's in our hands!