The final language of the action proposed to seat an American player on every 22-goal team in USPA competition hasn’t even been decided, but it appears that the discussion over the definition of an “American” polo player is going to cause quite a flap before anything is settled.
The polo blogs and Message Boards are abuzz with opinions on what constitutes an “American” player. One position requires that an “American” player be born in the United States (among the higher-goal ranks that would eliminate Nick Roldan, Julio Arellano, Luis Escobar, the Gracida brothers, Hector Galindo, etc.).
Now I understand that you can’t be elected President of the United States if you were born in a foreign country, but just about anything else goes. Why the hard-line stance, I don’t know.
When we speak of players like Arellano, Escobar and Roldan we must remember that they learned to play the game in America. Nicolas Roldan was born in Argentine a week before arriving in the United States, Julio and Luis grew up as children playing their first polo at Palm Beach Polo and Country Club. So we are telling them that even though they can move to this country and become citizens (which all are), even though they could hold public office, serve in the U. S. Congress and represent our country in Washington D. C., they aren’t regarded as “Americans” when it comes to deciding who can play and who can’t.
A second position involves the attitude that in USPA parlayance Canadians should be considered “Americans”. Certainly not in the sense that they are could or could not be classified as anything else, in general terms since Canada is on the North American continent, but in the sense of their eligibility under the classification of that term regarding their qualification for participating in sub 23-goal polo.
That would encompass a number of players familiar to the polo community that would include Brandon Phillips, Todd Offen, Daniel Roenisch, Steve Dalton and Freddie Mannix. Now it may be argued that Canada has its own association, and in fact, for purposes of participation in the FIP World Cup qualifications, they must. But it must also be understood that the association of Canadian clubs defers to the USPA for handicaps, rules, arena and field rules, etc.
The third category involves “resident aliens”, a group of foreign players who have been an active part of the US polo community for years. Green card carrying members of the USPA, it appears, will not qualify no matter how many years they have been here.
And the fourth classification might be the one that involves Memo Gracida. He’s classified as an American for competition against Argentina in the Cup of the Americas and the Westchester Cup, captains the team from Mexico in Camacho Cup play but apparently won’t measure up for the new strategy.
I think there a will be a number of factors to be considered before any action is taken, but it does make it interesting. How do you feel about it?
th000000919am08, 52008vUTC09bUTCFri, 19 Sep 2008 00:08:57 +0000 11, 2007...08:46p09
Proud to Be an American, if you Qualify
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th000000919am08, 52008vUTC09bUTCFri, 19 Sep 2008 03:31:08 +0000 11, 2007 at 08:46p09
Once someone becomes a naturalized US citizen, he or she is entitled to all the rights and benefits of any US citizen except for the right to run for president. I would think it ridiculous if the USPA were to enact a rule that discriminates against naturalized US citizens. For one thing: how would such a rule be enforced? Would each club demand a birth certificate from each pro with a foreign sounding name? From every pro with an accent? From every pro? What of those born of US parents who happened to have been on travel at their child’s birth? Such a US citizen is not considered naturalized because of the US citizenship of his or her parents, and yet is “foreign born”. (Wasn’t John McCain born in a military zone in the Panama canal? It appears he is eligible to run for the country’s presidency.) Would a pro born of US parents but in a foreign country not be eligible? Certainly he or she could not produce a birth certificate that would satisfy the “US born” requirement if there were one.
Realistically, I think once a player acquires US citizenship, he or she will satisfy the USPA proposed requirement that one player other than the team sponsor be a US citizen. And so, we are going to have a large number of citizenship applications from polo pros… Certainly, I would think that all of those who are currently US residents (green-card holders) will want to file for citizenship as soon as possible. The others might want to find a US spouse.
Personally, I don’t think that the proposed rule will help US pros on a long term basis. In 2010, maybe, but a few years later, not so much. To help develop young US players, polo has to be made more affordable and more available to the masses — but that’s a different topic.