September 12, 2025 • 61 mins
Ever wondered what happens when cutting-edge technology meets the tradition-steeped world of polo? This episode delivers the answer through an exhilarating conversation with Alice Walsh and Rosanna Turk, the dynamic duo behind Line Up Polo.
These two childhood rivals-turned-business partners share their remarkable journey from competing against each other in pony club tournaments to collaborating on a digital platform that's revolutionizing how polo is organized, played, and experienced. What began as Alice's computer science project has evolved into a comprehensive solution addressing the sport's desperate need for modernization.
The brilliance of Line Up Polo lies in its dual-sided approach. For club managers drowning in administrative chaos (described hilariously as "herding cats"), their platform streamlines tournament organization, team management, and fixture scheduling. Meanwhile, players and fans gain unprecedented access to live scoring, statistics, and match details through an intuitive app that makes polo more accessible than ever.
Most fascinating is how their data collection is challenging polo's status quo. In a sport where professional opportunities have traditionally depended on who you know, Line Up's performance analytics provide patrons with objective criteria for team selection. As Rosanna puts it, "Data doesn't have bias," potentially democratizing access to playing opportunities based on demonstrable skill rather than connections.
The conversation dives deep into the adrenaline-fueled nature of polo, with both founders confessing their love for the sport's unique combination of speed, skill, and bravery. Alice's self-described "ADHD brain" found its perfect match in polo's all-consuming intensity – perhaps explaining why so many executives and entrepreneurs are drawn to the game as their ultimate stress release.
Ready to experience polo's digital revolution? Download the Line Up Polo app to follow tournaments worldwide, or contact them through their website to explore how their premium analytics could transform your team's performance. The future of polo is here – and it's brilliantly data-driven.
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Hive₂O Hard Honey is a pioneering beverage company that brings the rich, balanced taste of honey to the forefront of the industry. With a focus on innovation, quality, and community, Hive₂O offers a range of hard honey and alcohol-free beverages designed to surprise and delight with every sip.
As a thank you for tuning into this episode of Outside The Boards Podcast, Hive₂O is offering listeners an exclusive online discount and free shipping on all four packs. Use code OTBPOLO24 in all caps at checkout. Visit hardhoney.com to explore products.
About Lineup Polo
Lineup Polo was built to revolutionize how polo is managed and experienced. With a mission to support the polo community and expand the sport’s reach, the platform digitizes processes and centralizes communication. Lineup Polo is committed to the game's future.
Available as a free app and web portal, Lineup Polo allows clubs to manage tournaments, automate leagues, payments, and memberships, building a new digital ecosystem for polo.
About Outside The Boards™
Founded after witnessing their first polo match in 2012, Outside The Boards™ seeks to share the sport’s beauty, intensity, and lifestyle while addressing industry fragmentation. Through best practices, insights, trends, and consulting, OTB™ helps stakeholders and brands unlock polo’s marketing potential and navigate the sport with clarity...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Outside the Boards podcast.
I'm Daniel Leary.
For most of my professionalcareer, I have worked in
mainstream sports for some ofthe world's leading sports
organizations and properties andblue chip brands, helping to
create award-winningomni-channel marketing campaigns
, result-driven sales strategiesand impactful brand building
initiatives.
But all that work doesn'tcompare to the fun, excitement
(00:22):
and challenges I've beenfortunate to experience working
for the king of all sports, polo.
For nearly a decade, I've putmy heart and ambition into
helping advance the sport ofpolo.
I've made lifelong friendships,met some incredible people,
traveled to memorable polodestinations and heard the
craziest stories crazieststories.
(00:45):
My goal is to share thesepeople, places and stories with
you and provide a uniquebehind-the-scenes perspective of
the game that breaks all thecommon stereotypes, all while
discussing key issues affectingthe sport today and the
constructive sharing of ideas,insights, solutions and best
case studies for the purpose ofadvancing polo globally.
Every week, I will have honestconversations with POLO industry
leaders, enthusiasts andawe-inspiring people who make
(01:08):
this sport great and fun to bearound.
I hope, through their knowledgeand their unique perspectives,
they will motivate and inspireyou.
Together, we will explore waysyou can make small tweaks to
boost your POLO business,whether you are a club, event,
team or player.
That will amount to big changesin revenue, participation,
attendance and exposure.
(01:29):
Saddle up.
Welcome to Outside the Boardswith me, daniel Leary.
Hi everyone, daniel Leary here,welcome to Season 5 of the
Outside the Boards podcast.
On this episode of Outside theBoards, I'm excited to introduce
(01:50):
you to two creative andforward-thinking women who are
shaking up the polo scene in thebest way possible Alice Walsh
and Rosanna Turk, co-founders ofLine Up Polo.
With roots in the UK and ashared passion for the sport,
alice and Rosanna built apowerful app and a club platform
that's giving Polo a freshdigital voice.
(02:10):
With the sleek, intuitivedesign and the user-friendly
features, line Up Polo iscentralizing everything from
fixtures and teams to livescoring and player stats, making
the sport accessible, inclusiveand commercially viable.
It's already being used atevery level, from grassroots
games to international high-goldtournaments.
(02:30):
Alice and Rosanna both grew upimmersed in equestrian life and
found themselves drawn to thethrill of polo.
We'll trace the journey from anidea sparked by frustration
with outdated systems tobuilding a tech solution that's
now powering teams, tournamentsand associations.
You'll hear from how thefounders balanced respect for
Polo's tradition and what itreally took to go from concept
(02:54):
to product in a sport steeped intradition and in need of
modernization.
So, without further ado, let'swelcome Alice Walsh and Rosanna
Turk of Lineup Polo Enjoy.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Hey, we're Rosanna and Alice, the co-founders of
Lineup Polo.
Before this episode starts, wewanted to introduce you to the
platform we've built for thesport we love.
Lineup is where modern polocomes together.
For club managers, there's apowerful web platform where you
can create and publishtournaments, fixtures and teams,
and that info instantly appearsin the Lineup app, where
players, fans and organisers cansee everything in one place,
(03:32):
from live scoring and team entryto player stats and schedules.
We've made it easy to run andfollow Polo, whether you're
organising games or just turningup to watch.
Lineup makes Polo moreconnected, accessible and future
(03:56):
ready.
Search for Lineup Polo on theapp or play store to get started
.
Alice Walsh and Rosanna Torbhow are you guys?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
doing across the pond .
Speaker 2 (04:01):
We're great, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It's quite late in the evening, but the Friday
evening it's dinner time overthere.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It's 15 year, 7 15 year time.
We're early birds now.
No, we don't tend to stay uptoo late these days well, you
know the polo world.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
No, I mean if you're getting up and taking care of
your ponies.
It's 4 am, 5 am, wake up calls,that's for sure, exactly but,
no, I'm.
I'm thrilled to have you guysfor the audience.
Alice and Rosanna are thefounders of Line Up Polo.
I've been eager to guys haveyou on, or someone like yourself
on, because I'm a data nerd andI love the fact that someone is
(04:38):
taking the initiative and leadthe conversation when it comes
to applying data to the sport ofpolo.
We are a long way off frommaking that happen in our world,
as you guys probably know, orif you're probably like me at
one point a few years ago,frustrated at the fact that we
still do stuff with pen andpaper.
So, yeah, so, but you knowwe're going to get into Line Up
(04:59):
Polo, its founding, itsmotivation, what made you guys
start it?
But, first and foremost, what Ilove to do with all my guests
is really get to know Alice andRosanna, how did you get into
the game?
Were you part of anotherequestrian discipline?
It's always fascinating to learnhow people got into this game.
I didn't get into the gameuntil my 30s, as I think a lot
(05:23):
of people do, but at some pointPolo or Equestrian did make an
imprint at a younger time insomeone's life.
But, alice, I'll start with you.
Tell us about how you got intothis game.
Well, first off, where are youguys from?
So obviously you're 7 o'clockover there and it's 1 o'clock
here, so everyone knows nowyou're in Europe.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yes, we are.
I am originally from Kent,which is closest to Calgary,
that's my closest club.
We both began polo through thePony Club.
I was seven and Rosanna was 10.
And we were actually bitterrivals until well.
I think we first spoke when wewere 20, until well, I think we
(06:07):
first spoke when we were 20because we were always put onto
different teams, as you know,quite a competent girl, um.
So for young England andeverything else, we were just
always playing against eachother and then yeah, um, we both
had red helmets, so there was abit of rivalry there, but then
we actually recognised that wecould be good friends and then,
(06:34):
at the age of 20, we becamereally, really close.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
That's great Go ahead , rosanna.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So I started playing, I think when I was about eight.
I do not have any polo in myfamily whatsoever.
Alice is the same.
Neither of us have anyone elsein our family that plays and I
loved horses, but I reallycouldn't be bothered with kind
of finicky things that camealong with doing dressage and
(06:57):
inventing, and I just lovedplaying polo because it was so
quick and fast and exciting andit was literally what I looked
forward to all throughout theyear.
In the UK we have pony clubtournaments which run in the
school summer holidays and, uh,that was just my.
The thing I most look forwardto in the world was the summer
(07:17):
so I could play pony club polo.
And yeah, I think Alice and Iboth neither neither of us, as I
said have polo in our family sowe very much played pony club
on one pony for as long as wecould and eventually both
persuaded our parents to get apolo pony.
But yeah, we've come from asituation where there isn't much
(07:39):
polo at all around us.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Now did you get involved at seven as well, at a
young age yeah, I startedplaying when I was eight, um,
and literally have not stoppedever since when I was younger I
did also, uh, enjoy.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
I grew up doing showing and a little bit of
eventing, but I wasn't very goodwith all the eyes being on me
in the show ring.
I found it reallynerve-wracking.
My sister was much, much better, but I do love making horses
pretty and turn out and all therest of it, and my mom loves it
too.
But polo, yeah, she said when Ifirst tried it.
(08:20):
Apparently it was like love atfirst sight.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
She just couldn't couldn't get me off the polo
ponies now, you said you had asibling that also you rode with
as well.
Are they a polo player?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
no, she, she did eventing, but then after
university, when we sold the hergood eventer, she just didn't
want to be with horses at all.
So now, now she lives inVancouver as an architect.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Hey, all right.
Okay, how about you, rosanna?
Do you have any siblings aswell?
That ride.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I have two brothers, one older, one younger, and my
older brother is a doctor, buthe does still ride a little bit,
but not so much, and he didplay polo for a while, but, um,
eventually I think just othercommitments took over.
And then my younger brother didplay for a little bit, but I
think the mucking out just gottoo much for him, basically, um,
(09:14):
and he decided that he hepreferred other things, which
was so fantastic for me becauseI got their polo ponies.
So it worked out very well.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
But yeah, just me that plays now.
Good deal.
Now the Pony Club has come up Ithink a few times in some of my
episodes.
Can you tell us what is thePony Club?
It's not necessarily like aregular club that I think
everyone would attribute to no,it's the most amazing
institution institution, I think.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
In the uk.
There's lots of differentbranches all around the country
and you can join your localbranch and then try out all
sorts of equestrian disciplinesfor in a really affordable way.
So it's a fantasticintroduction to all of these
different disciplines, likemounted games.
Yeah show jumping eventing andit gives you also I think what's
(10:10):
most important is a reallyclose-knit group of local horsey
friends, and that's been likethe friends that I made in
Ponydaw Polo still are myfriends to this day and are a
big reason why I carried onplaying as well.
So so it's a really fantasticinstitution to make horses
relatively affordable for kids.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
That's great.
I think you got to put that ona t-shirt, by the way, horsey
friends.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
They're the best kind .
Speaker 1 (10:37):
They're the best kind .
Yes, yeah, that's a meme rightthere for you.
Wait till it happens.
No, that's great.
That's great.
I want to say there's thingslike that that are similar here
in the us, but no, that'sfantastic.
Around the pony club, it'ssomething that I know in my
history and working in the sportof polo when I was with the
uspa.
The pony club has come upmultiple times.
You know reflecting andbuilding something like that
(10:58):
here in the us, and you know soon and so forth.
But you, you mentionedsomething I don't know if it was
alice rosanna, persuading yourparents to buy a pony.
How did you manage to do that?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I have a nine-year-old that loves to ride
I think for me, and I don'tknow if it's the same for alice,
but I think my mom especiallywas quite ambitious for me and
she definitely was very willingto be encouraged by me in those
situations.
But I think that she could seehow much I love the sport and
(11:32):
that I wanted to continue itinto my adult life and so I said
to her, like if there'sanything that you do in my life
to support me, that you put somemoney towards, like please make
it be this, because I just loveit and I really think I want to
do it as I get older.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
I had to take a different approach because there
was this amazing little ponythat hunted but also played polo
and he was gorgeous, but he wasa bit big for me at the time
and too much of a horse, and Ihad to throw a tantrum for three
days and I ruined mom says oneof the best days of her life
(12:11):
when my sister won a massiveinternational show and I was
there crying because I wantedthis horse.
I wasn't a spoiled brat, butthat's, that's what I, what I
had to go to oh, no right whenwe're trying to break down the
stereotypes, we're a spoiledlittle girl begging for a pony
(12:34):
alice's solution to to tell herwas tantrums at the age of 18,
my uh, my parents both said thatthey won't spend any money on
polo just before I was going tooff to university.
So I had two little polo poniesthat were, you know, I was
double truckering every singleweekend and having great fun on
(12:55):
them, but um yeah.
So since then my parentshaven't funded anything with my
polo well, you got to pay forcollege.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Somehow, would you say, you two fit the
quintessential stereotype of alittle girl wanting a horse.
You know, when you guys wereseven and eight, did you have my
Little Pony.
Am I dating myself by sayingthat I don't know.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Oh yeah, my Little Pony.
Yeah, I used to love that.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
You had little horses with flowing hair that you used
to comb on I used to sing asong and then they'd turn into a
unicorn nice, um, for me I wasmore like tomboyish.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I would describe myself as so.
The those kinds of thingsdidn't particularly interest me,
but I definitely was like thehorsey girl at school.
I think I got a prize for thatonce, actually.
But, um, yeah, no, I definitelyfitted into some of those
stereotypes, that's for sure butyou started off in some other
equestrian discipline other thanpolo.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
First and foremost, like what drew you to that
specific discipline.
Can you pinpoint why polo wasmore exciting to you and
interesting than eventing,dressage, jumping or anything
like that?
It's a hard question, I knowit's.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
There are no other sports that are that fast and
that physical but yet require somuch skill, and it's in the
fine details of the riding theball skills you know,
positioning your teammates butthen also having to be quite
brave and going really fast andcrashing into people.
(14:38):
There's no other sport thatgets my adrenaline so high.
Like when I don't play much,which has been the past few
seasons I am literally shakingat the end of each chucker
because I, my body's just notused to this much adrenaline and
I play hockey throughout thewinter to try and keep just a
(14:59):
team sport going and it'snothing like polo, that's so
true?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
yeah, I think, for for me it's definitely the the
team element and also I was just.
I was really really rubbish atall of the other equestrian
sports, polo was the only onethat I was any good at.
I think you do what you like,you do what you're good at and I
think it's it's the same.
It's it's so totally differentbecause it's not about how you
(15:25):
look and how necessarily preciseor accurate you are in doing a
20 meter circle.
It's just about how gutsy andbrave you are and I I think I
loved as well that you couldtake on the guys and people
would underestimate you becauseyou were a girl when you went
onto the pitch and I found itreally fun to try and kind of
(15:47):
quash that stereotype.
Yeah, I think it's just theadrenaline at the end of the day
.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Now, alice, you mentioned that you also played
hockey, right?
Yeah, Rosanna, did you playanother sport too?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, I played pretty much everything at school.
I was known at school.
I always have some kind ofbroken bone, usually from
playing sports, so I spent a lotof time on crutches and with
various arms and plaster castsat school because I was playing
sports so much.
But, yeah, I think it's what Ireally really loved.
(16:20):
But also polo wasn't reallyknown about at school.
Really loved um, but also polowasn't really known about at
school and it was, yeah, quiteinteresting because people have
a perception of the sport.
Trying to balance thatsometimes I'd feel quite shy
about saying that I playedplayed the game because people
perceive it in a certain way.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
So yeah, but I played a lot of sports that's
interesting, and I always liketo bring that up, because most
of the time, someone usuallydoes play another sport.
In some cases it is stickingball, whether it be lacrosse,
hockey.
You know, there is an elementthat I feel like I'm beginning
to uncover in both of you isthat you're both kind of
adrenaline junkies in a way.
Would you say that?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
I think that's why we run a startup.
A hundred percent, yeah, yeah,skiing a startup a hundred
percent.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, yeah, skiing and mostly people do like I.
When I spoke with timmy jr andsenior of duda family, you know
we talked about like yeah, we'readrenaline, we have a bit of a
screw loose to do what we do,and it's just like, yeah, why
the heck do iron men people dowhat they do.
They swim two and a half miles,run a marathon and then a
hundred mile bike ride.
That's stupid, that's nuts.
So there's an element of crazy,I think, in all polo players,
(17:29):
because I remember when I firstgot on my horse and it just took
off straight to the ball, mygosh, that was an adrenaline
rush and I was hooked easilyLike this is way better than
what I was taught previously.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah, A hundred percent For me.
That adrenaline junkie side ofme turned out to be ADHD, and
the risk-taking and theadrenaline loving side of me is
medically diagnosed for me.
So yeah, I completely me and mypsychologist concur with you on
that one.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, Okay, but the ADHD thing is a good analogy.
I mean, polo requires so muchfocus, energy and commitment to
it.
If you don't have that sport orsomething like that that
requires all 100% of yourattention, body and mind, you
would be a space cadet.
If you are in eventing orjumping, you probably would
(18:21):
drift off, you know somewhere Ahundred percent.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah, polo was the only sport that really kept all
of my focus and that I couldconcentrate on and loved and is
exactly to say because it is themost fast paced and exciting
sport out of any of them.
I imagine, yeah, a lot of poloplayers are in the same boat as
me on that one.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Oh, yeah, yeah, a lot of polo players are in the same
boat as me on that one.
Oh yeah, well, sometimes peopleask why are so many
entrepreneurs, businessexecutives and things like that
involved in polo?
And I always tell people thisis my theory.
My theory is they're soembedded with their business and
what they're doing.
Polo requires so much in all ofyou that it's a brick from
(19:06):
thinking and the stress ofrunning a business.
It requires a hundred percentof you and to them that's their
therapy a hundred yeah, that's.
That's kind of the conclusionI've made, because I have my
hobbies too, like I'm a bigfoodie, okay, and when I'm
cooking for my family or whathave you, it takes all of me to
(19:26):
do it and I find that to be verytherapeutic at the end of the
day, even though sometimes itcan be stressful at times but I
no longer have to think aboutwork because that occupies my
time majority of the day and Ineed to get away from it and
think about something else.
So when I think of like guys,the US, mark Gansey, louis de
Valence, rob Gennarvis, curtisPilot, even Tim Gannon with
(19:52):
Outback these are all major CEOs, executives and owners I get it
now.
I get it, totally get it.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
You have to be comfortable with that high level
of stress and risk taking, andso your mind almost just adapts
to that level, and that's why myboyfriend and Rosanna we went
skiing and they said they hatedskiing with me, because I just
(20:20):
love being on the edge.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, you went down the Black Diamond when everyone
else is on green right.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
No, she skied off a cliff.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Okay, ooh, moguls, let's go down that.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
It was terrifying.
Even I was scared skiing withAlice on that one.
The point about the businessand polo going so well, I think
it's so true.
And also, we are so constantlyaccessible today with, like your
iphone, everyone can always gethold of you, but when you're
playing polo, they really can't,like you really cannot pick up
(20:57):
the phone, you can't answer atext and it's a proper, like you
say, it's a really very welldefined break and it's something
completely different for yourbrain to do so.
I totally, totally agree.
It is just a really expensiveform of therapy.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Yeah, no, and you raise a good point because the
polo fields that I know of herein Illinois.
You won't get that much cellreception at some of these
locations, that's for sure.
But going back to your polocareers now, are you guys still
affiliated with the Poli Club orare you guys now associated
with one club or another out inthe UK or no?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
No, so our platform.
It can be used anywhere in theworld.
We're not associated with thePony Club at all, although we
would love to be able to sponsorthem in the future, but we are
working with the governing body,the HPA, but we can't tell you
any of the details yet did youmean um playing wise?
Speaker 1 (21:54):
I meant playing wise, but I wanted to I was going to
the next thing is to dive intolineup, but yeah, playing wise,
you know, are you affiliatedwith any pacific club, or is it
still the pony club?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
rosanna is, but not me okay so, yeah, I've carried
on playing through uni.
So there was there's also inthe uk, I think it's the same in
the us.
There's really great universityclubs and then once I left, I
joined a couple of differentclubs, so science, esther and
both long doll.
I've been members of all ofthem, edgeworth all of the clubs
(22:26):
in Gloucestershire basicallyand yeah, just played a lot of
club polo as much as I can.
I think it's great as well.
In the UK there's a really goodladies circuit, so I've been
able to travel to a lot ofdifferent clubs and play on some
of the most amazing fields onthe ladies circuit, which I've
loved.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Now, what universities did you guys go to?
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I went to Warwick it's middle england, isn't it,
alice?
Yes, yeah.
And then I went to kingstonuniversity, which is in london,
where I studied design, which iswith a load of like, really
arty people, and I had reallyonly ever existed in the
countryside before, so it wasquite a culture shock for me,
(23:11):
but I went.
I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Alice, what did you study?
Speaker 3 (23:15):
So after school I didn't really know what I wanted
to do.
I just knew that I wanted toplay polo.
So I looked up the degree thatearned the most money and that
was computer science.
So I went and did that.
I did it with a bit of businesson the side as well that's a
fantastic strategy.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Yeah, I probably should have done that when I
went into school it was so smartyeah, well wait, who was alice
or rosanna, who said they hadthe architect in the family?
Me, yeah, my sister I went toschool for architecture,
beginning with and then changingto business.
My sophomore year yeah, that'sso cool I have a knack for it,
(23:55):
still love it.
I go on the chicagoarchitecture tour every single
year because it never gets old.
That is so cool.
So all right, now let's take aspin here and talk about lineup
poll, because I'm a big fan ofthis.
I know others have attempted it.
You have some competition outthere.
(24:15):
A little bit too.
I could be wrong, but thearticles that I've read about
you even how your logo came up,I thought was very inventive,
and I'm curious I want to reallypull back the curtain is how
did this all come about?
Were you at a coffee shop?
Were you at a pub?
Did the idea come up on acocktail napkin?
(24:37):
Frankly, I love business andstartups, so there's always a
light bulb that went offsomewhere, and I'm curious to
where yours went, because itsounds as though this idea
happened a number of years ago.
Am I right?
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Yeah.
So I actually first came upwith it when I was 16 as a
computer science project.
I then did it for my IBcomputer science project and
then as my dissertation atuniversity and I was like I
really really need to get thisgoing university.
(25:10):
And I was like I really reallyneed to get this going, um, but
I was just struggling by myself,um, and I needed someone else
to bounce ideas off and do allthe designs part.
And that was when Rosanna and Ibecame close friends.
So I asked her if she wanted tojoin me and I sent her my 96
page dissertation and sheprinted it out and was like yes,
hell yes.
And at the time it was calledMallet Manager with a terrible
(25:35):
logo.
So the name and the logo arecompletely down to Rosanna.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Mallet Manager, it's catchy.
I get where you're going withit.
I'd be interested to see whatthe logo is.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Envision like McDonald's, but with polo sticks
.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
The bamboo arches.
Is that what Exactly?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, catchy yeah.
And from my side I had beenplaying kind of
semi-professionally after I leftuniversity.
I was traveling a lot with itbut not making enough money for
it to be a career that I couldgo into.
And I began working for variouspolo filming companies, which I
(26:21):
really, really loved and got alot of experience in terms of
the commercialization and thatside of the sport, and I got to
travel a lot with it, which wasgreat.
But yeah, alice asked me and Iliterally had no idea what it
would entail, but I liked thesound of it and we were both 22
at the time, I think, andcompletely naive to what it
(26:43):
meant to set up a business orwhat we could be getting
ourselves into essentially.
But I think that actuallyreally worked in our favor.
I think we'd have been veryoverwhelmed if we knew, knew
what would actually happen.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
But yeah, I, we dived in together and haven't looked
back so when was the year thatyou kind of hit your stride with
kind of bringing this out, orhow long did it take to you guys
to kind of build a beta product?
Speaker 3 (27:10):
so we started uh, chatting the winter of 2020,
2021, um, and then we had theapp was live july in 2021, but
then it really only startedtaking off in 2023.
And last season was incrediblefor us we had 20 percent of the
(27:35):
high goal players in the queen'scup on the platform yeah,
there's so much in that timeprocess from 2021 to 2023,
because we we started withliterally nothing, neither alice
or I.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Alice is more technical, but it wasn't
suitable for her to do all ofthe coding, so we had to work
out how to get developers.
We had to raise money to buildthe platform, which costs a lot
to begin with.
Yeah, our brand and identityset up, and we had not done any
(28:14):
of this before.
We really did not have anyexperience, but, yeah, it was a
massive, massive learning curveconstantly and it's always
surprised me and amazed me howpeople are so willing to help.
I think people really enjoygetting involved in this kind of
thing, but so many people alongthe way have just given us
(28:35):
their free time, essentially,and helped us, and we would not
have got where we are withoutthem.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Is the main cornerstone of Line Up Polo a
means of scoring a game.
Up polo a means of scoring agame.
Was that kind of how it firststarted, or was it like
tournament?
Speaker 3 (28:54):
management kind of thing, yeah.
So when we were brainstormingwe realized that we wanted to
get polo out to a wider audienceand with the results and
players and everything.
But we recognized that the cruxof that was getting accurate
data and with clubs, lots ofclubs don't even have a website,
(29:15):
so there was no chance of justthem sending in the data and
then you know there's humanerror and all the rest of it and
so that's why we began with atool for the club managers
themselves, because also we knowso many club managers and it is
an absolute pain in the asssometimes to organize
tournaments.
(29:35):
So we just wanted to help themand also the players.
So that's where it sort ofstemmed from.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
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And now back to the interview.
Stay tuned, stay refreshed andstay curious.
What were those specific painpoints that the club managers
(31:34):
had to deal with when it came toorganizing a tournament?
Speaker 2 (31:39):
I think a lot of it is that they always say it's
like herding cats trying to getpolo players to tell them when
they can play.
I think that is a really bigthing is making sure that
tournaments are organisedcorrectly.
I think as well.
Lots of times polo clubs arethey struggle in terms of their
admin, that they need to do, andit means that they can't focus
(32:02):
on attracting new members ormaking sure current members have
a great time, and so we wantedto help that out.
There's things like takingpayments for entry fees,
actually scheduling thetournaments, publishing the
tournaments to their website oranywhere else.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
all those kinds of things they found quite tricky
in general yeah, because oftenthey're they're just ex-polo
players who love the sport somuch and they don't necessarily
have any training or experiencein running a business like a
polo club.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Yeah, no, I got the same thing as in the world of
marketing and corporatepartnerships.
It's like the people that I'mdealing with are not educated in
this particular area so theymight have a different view or
want to have a differentconversation about, let's say,
sponsorship and driving in thatextra revenue.
For the most part, not everyoneis like El Dorado or National
(32:56):
Polo Center that have skilledpeople doing it.
No, I 100% agree.
So this was really a tournamentmanagement or club management
tool.
Precisely management or clubmanagement tool.
Precisely at what point did itkind of roll out into being a
means to score and track theprogress of games?
Speaker 3 (33:17):
this was actually the brainchild of our software
developer from the start, and heone summer I think it was 2023,
he just really pushed for itand built this prototype so we
would take our laptops to thefield and live score.
And it just really took off andwe recognized that we were
getting a lot of traffic to theapp to view these timelines.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Yeah, shout out to Barnaby.
He's really created one of ourmost popular features, for sure.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Now, is it easy to do that, like if you're at a game
with your laptops and you'rescoring it?
Is it intuitive enough forsomeone like me to go out and do
it at my own club, or no?
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Completely.
Yeah, so we've now built out.
We obviously started with theprototype that we used
internally, but now this is afeature that clubs use.
So when clubs have signed upthemselves, they can access this
live scoring for their own cluband it's super easy.
It's just on their phone andyou can just get whoever usually
writes down your match sheet todo it instead of that.
(34:20):
So it's just a digital recordof the game.
But the benefit is that anyonewho's using the app can see in
real time what's happening inthe game publicly.
So it's super handy for helpingfans and any player with their
mum or dad.
They can keep up to date inreal time with what's happening
in the match.
But, yeah, for the club manageror scorer, it's super intuitive
(34:42):
for them to use.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
It's also led on to Line Up Premium, which is coming
out this season, because werecognize that we've collected
all of this data and it can bereally powerful so we can
produce statistics for players,teams, clubs, everyone, and it
can be really really interesting.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Now has this like in Europe?
Has it been adopted enoughwhere it can replace the typical
polo score sheet, or do you dosomeone who technically had to
still fill that out?
Speaker 3 (35:16):
after all this ease and intuitiveness, we produced
beautiful designs of how itcould be inputted via an ipad,
but the umpires over here havesaid that they have one split
second to write down a goal inthe correct box.
They are not going to have timeto click the right buttons and
(35:37):
all the rest of it, because it'soften just the third man that
inputs that data.
So it's still a way to go there.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
My head is in my hands right now, like just
shaking my head.
Are you serious For anyone who'slistening right now?
We've kind of touched on a bitof an embarrassing moment about
polo and that's the fact thateverything still is done by
pencil and paper, and it'salways frustrated with me just
(36:05):
looking at people's kitchenscratches and then having to
scan it and send it to the uspa,you know, as part of a
certified tournament.
You know no data can really beextracted by it or visualized in
real time when you look at itin comparison to other sports.
Data is king, content is kingthese days and yeah, so, yeah,
(36:26):
so it's.
It's frustrating to hear thatbecause it's like that's like my
gosh.
Can we move on?
Speaker 3 (36:30):
we're only 20 years behind football I feel like it's
probably longer yeah, yeah, itcould be.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
It's a really interesting point for me.
I see it as the third man andumpires.
They have to do such acomplicated, tricky job and take
in so much information, sothere is, of course, like an
element of getting people up tothe time and comfortable using
technology, but it does alsocome down to building them a
(37:00):
system that is intuitive enoughfor them to use and for them to
feel comfortable using.
We've had brilliantconversations with umpires and
they are up for getting thesport to be more modernized and
technical and they want to be apart of that, and I think we're
getting much closer to a pointwhere we can get that tech to
them and they they are receptive.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
It's different to other sports, because sports
like football or soccer you callit sorry they have massive data
companies whose specific job isjust to track the ball, track
each player, and they cancollect that sort of data,
(37:43):
Whereas if you're asking a thirdman, a referee or an umpire to
input, that, it's kind ofdetached from their job.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
if you see what I mean.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
So we need to generate enough interest for
other companies like ourselvesto come in and just focus on
that data collection side of ityeah, there's a behemoth that's
actually out in europe at sportuh, radar, I think, their
headquarter out there, which is,um, they are heavily involved
(38:13):
in, you know, the televisionaspect and collecting data and I
also know they're they're alsoinvolved in sports betting and
their that is used to determinethat those outcomes and what
have you.
But no, you raise a really goodpoint and I just I pray that we
kind of kind of push and turnover a leaf and get Polo into
the 21st century.
When it comes to this stuff,you know, and since you guys
(38:35):
have rolled this out, is yourbusiness primarily in the UK
right now or have you filteredover into other countries, in
Argentina and the US?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
This is a really interesting point.
So we're definitely primarilyin the uk and that's obviously
because all of our contacts andthe people we know are in the uk
.
When we really want to expandout, the first country we want
to go to is america, and we'vehad some great chats with clubs
actually in america, I think,because you guys are really
technically savvy as well, whichhelps, helps a lot.
(39:07):
But yeah, I think the end goalwould be obviously worldwide
domination.
Uh, all games, all polo, thatis all online.
That is the whole point.
Um, eventually we'll get there.
But yeah, it's definitelytrickier going to argentina, I
there's is this just a slightlydifferent culture?
(39:28):
And yeah, I think we, we will,we'll get there eventually yeah,
no, you're right.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Places like America, what have you are data savvy
people, use of technology,second screens and so on and so
forth.
A hundred percent.
And not to mention, it'shappened a while ago, even when
I was trying to push conceptslike this as well.
People in the polo world wouldtell me you know, hey, dan,
(39:55):
don't wait a while for anyoneelse, just don't.
Just do it.
You do it right and it becomessuccess.
Then people will be knocking atyour door.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
So, if I can provide words of wisdom, especially
getting into the US, just do it.
Don't wait on the USPA, don'twait on anyone else, just do it.
Ride that wave essentially and,like you said, focus on world
domination.
I'm wondering, like do the datathat you collect, especially
(40:30):
like game day data, what datacan you collect from a game in
real time that can be quantifiedand filtered and outspit
something pretty amazing otherthan the score?
Speaker 3 (40:43):
Yeah, yeah, we've got some pretty cool charts at the
moment.
This is my absolute love.
I love playing around with thecharts and everything.
When they're most likely tofoul, when they're most likely
to score or concede goals, andoften, with the successful high
(41:14):
goal teams in Argentina, theynever foul at the start of the
chocker and then they begin tofoul but then they score all the
goals towards the end of thechocker and end of the game and
when they just push right ahead.
But we can do it per team, perplayer.
So their win percentage, theirbest weeks throughout the
(41:39):
seasons, the favourite pitch allsorts.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
My favourite use of it is that in polo you obviously
have the patron andprofessional player dynamic.
That seems to be quite oftenbased on players relationships
or players ability to charm thepatron into playing with them in
a tournament and it's very mucha who you know basis for those
jobs.
But we can provide patrons withreally accurate data on their
(42:07):
professional players performancewhich can help them pick
professionals based on theirresults as opposed to who they
know.
So we've had, yeah, a lot ofsuccess with patrons really
being very interested in thatdata alongside team coaches, so
it helps a lot in making thosedecisions about team selection
(42:28):
and also we can dive into thepositions that the players are
are in, like how often theyscore with that team setup and
that sort of thing no, I mean,that's valuable data.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
I always wonder that would something like this
ultimately be valuable to a team, considering how people choose,
select players, find playersand so on and so forth, like the
ability to break it down nodifferent than what's his face?
I can't remember from moneyball, you know, in determining
how you're going to select yourplayers and you realize you know
(43:03):
, hey, so-and-so so good, he canhit the ball Fantastic, you
know he's the highest rank orwhat have you.
But Joe Schmo from this cornerof the world can do as good.
The whole idea of getting onbase sort of thing, I think is
great and I think that woulddisrupt the polo world in the
way that it subjectively does itnow.
And the data that you'vecollected has it been considered
(43:26):
at all in terms of justifyingsomeone's handicap?
Have you been able to find datathat would say, hey, this is
how a seven-goaler plays?
Those types of comparisons, isthat something?
Speaker 2 (43:44):
that you've collected enough or is something in the
future?
Such an interesting question.
I think last year was the firstyear we began to have enough
data to be confident in thatkind of thing.
Especially in the UK we havethe Victor Le Dorm series, which
is the HPA's main tournamentsthat they run through the season
, and all of those were on lineup.
I think we can start to look atthings like win rates and win
(44:05):
percentages with certain teamsand per club, like win rates and
win percentages with certainteams and per club, and I think
that data is really useful forhandicapping.
If you have a three-goaler andthey've won 95% of their matches
, it's really obvious that theyneed to go up and handicap.
But at the moment, as you say,it's still completely subjective
(44:25):
, so it hasn't been used so farfor the handicapping, but I
think it absolutely should beyeah, it's quite, it's quite a
sensitive subject so we haven'tjust gone in all guns blazing
like this is what the data canshow.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
But even just having a record of the matches that a
player's played and if they arelosing is it down to the teams
that they've been put in andtheir individual performance?
Have they been playing up totheir handicap?
So just having it on record isa step in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Has there been any data that you've collected that
has kind of gave you a bit of awow factor, like I don't know
where to start, let alone whichdata point to tie to
specifically.
But I would be curious as toknow, like wow, you know, that's
quite impressive for aparticular player or team or
tournament or what have you.
I would be curious if anythinghas surprised you on anything
(45:25):
that you collected.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
I think Alice will have more to say on this, but
for me there's obviously the topplayers and you perceive them
as being really great players,but then you look at the data
and they are just so far aheadof anyone else.
There's like the top maybe 10players and just such a huge
gulf to the rest of the polopopulation.
(45:46):
In almost every metric in termsof like their win rates, how
successful they are withpenalties, everything.
They are just so far ahead ofthe rest of the pack.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
It's fascinating to see quite how big a gulf there
is there yeah, I mean I wouldlove to share my screen right
now and show you these charts.
Not very good for a podcast,but there's been.
There's been some teams whichwe've got a lot of data from
from last year.
So R&R, based inGloucestershire by Rosanna, and
(46:19):
they've really performed wellthis season and it I've known
about them.
But to see their performance ona computer you can just relate
to them so much more and youjust feel like you're involved
in their success.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
I think we should probably get together and
probably put like a PDF documentultimately to share, to people
to better take a look at this,but that's pretty neat.
One thing I'm actually curiousat all do you actually actually,
let's say, track you knowwhether a player is age, are
they male or female, that sortof thing, and any sort of data
(46:58):
that could be attributed tothose types of demographics?
Have you not gotten that faryet?
Speaker 3 (47:03):
we don't at the moment because that is classed
as sensitive information.
We've just got first name, lastname, handicap, but when you
sign up to the app we do getgender, not age yet.
Speaker 1 (47:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
That would be so interesting to see people's
gradual decline, or maybe justincredibly depressed, I don't
know, not necessarily.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
Oh, you just pissed off a lot of people.
I think kona is one of the onlysports that you are better at
until you're yeah, but you hit40 years old and there's just a
slow decline and just theirprogress you know, I genuinely
peaked when I was maybe 19.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
My phone upgrade had never been as good as it was
when I was 19.
So, that rings true,unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
But that would be very interesting data overall, I
think For guys who grew upwatching Mythbusters and stuff
like that.
There is an audience for thisand to draw on this with other
sports, we bring up the genderand age thing.
My boss with Oak Brook Polo.
He played until he was 85 yearsold, or 80 years old, that's
(48:23):
incredible.
The gentleman that owned theMilwaukee Polo Club played until
he was 90.
Now, granted, yes, there was agradual decline or demise, no
matter how you described it.
There is, but it's still prettyimpressive Nonetheless.
Speaker 2 (48:40):
I mean the other.
Speaker 1 (48:41):
Thing and not to mention, like even you see a lot
of times, men playing withwomen and women playing with men
and can rise to the occasion,can ride as hard, play as
talented.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
Hope ariano is constantly talked about all the
time here in the us as someonecan easily be thrown on a men's
team and kick ass, you know yeahI think that's where data is
super interesting, because itdoesn't have bias, and that
means that you can truly put anybias that you have to the side
and actually pick the bestplayer.
(49:14):
I think that's what excitesalice and I.
Speaker 3 (49:16):
So much about it is that we really hope in the end
it helps to democratize placesin polo teams, because people
will be able to pick based onresults and there was a
beautiful demonstration withHazel, who was picked to play in
the Queen's Cup for Black Bears, and she did so so well and you
(49:38):
can actually see herperformance compared to other
two goalers who are men in thesame tournament.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (49:47):
Was she picked for the Gold Cup as well?
Where is that?
She might be both.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
Yeah, yeah for both of them would you guys ever get
into other scientific ways oftracking the game, not just from
like game scoring and thingslike that.
But let's say, would you beable to put sensors in the ball
on players on horses to trackwhat is the distance that an
(50:13):
average polo pony will run?
Speaker 3 (50:16):
we would absolutely love to, and it's one of the
things.
We've built this as sort of aplatform for these exciting
technologies.
They can't really be put inplace without the infrastructure
that we've got.
But one of our friends whoworks for PoloCam, who co-owns
(50:36):
it, he's tried to put thetracker in a polo ball and it is
extremely difficult, extremelydifficult.
But we would love to be able tohave trackers and heart rate
monitors on the players and alsoon the horses.
There's so much scope in thoseareas we would love to be able
to.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
We always bring up random data all the time.
Like the polo ball can be hitat 110 miles per hour, which is
so that any professionalbaseball player can throw.
Is that true?
Speaker 3 (51:06):
You know, let's do it Like someone actually go out
there and put a radar's, do itlike I don't know someone
actually go out there and put aradar gun on it?
Speaker 1 (51:11):
I don't know.
And on top of that, like you,when you see the the bamboo
mallet bend the way it does,like there is a the poster shot
from netflix with protocambiasso doing a backhand under
the neck swing and managed toget that thing to bend the way
he does how much torque does ittake to bend something like that
(51:34):
?
And the impact of a ball to behit at 300 yards.
I'm just bewildered by some ofthe facts and it's just like how
did someone uncover this datapoint?
I would love to know that,because it's like all all right,
this is how hard Barry Bondscould hit a baseball out of the
park.
This is how hard you can hit apolo mallet.
(51:56):
And they're they're equivalent.
Because I constantly, in mydialogue with the world of non
polo people in mainstream sports, I constantly say like I would
put guys like Adolfo his sonright next to professional
athletes in baseball or hockeyor whatever it might be in a day
.
What I've seen on the field andwhat can be done it is defies
(52:20):
physics sometimes and it's oneof those things where you watch
those guys.
They get the ball on theirmallet and they bounce it all
the way while running 30 milesper hour on a horse, and then
knock it in.
I always use that example and Ialways talk about that iconic
commercial that Nike did withTiger Woods, when all he's doing
is standing and and hitting thegolf ball on the edge of his
(52:43):
wedge.
All right, and I think tomyself what's these guys do?
What they do at the end oftheir mallet.
And there's no flat surface atthe end of a polo mallet.
That's all cylinder.
That right.
There is justification enough.
Just like these guys are sotalented, their hand-eye
coordination blows anyone out ofthe water.
(53:04):
I find tracking things likethat scientific data around
things would be incredible.
Heck, I would love to do anx-ray.
Are polo players?
Speaker 2 (53:16):
more made of rubber and cartilage or than bone.
Yeah, you're so right aboutthat.
I always remember my mom usedto be quite hard on me when I
was playing.
I must have been about 15.
And I said, ok, you go and try.
And she went and had a lessonand she came to me afterwards
and she said I'm so sorry, Iwill never shout at you again
for your poor performancebecause that sport is so hard.
(53:37):
But, yeah, you're, you'recompletely right.
It would be fascinating.
I can attest having been on theend of a few protocols hit
really hard.
They are hit very hard.
I can't say exactly how hard,but, um, yeah, it'd be really
interesting to know that.
Speaker 1 (53:53):
And I think those kinds of bits of data are really
good for engaging new fans aswell, because it's something
they can relate to yeah, I mean,look at the end of the day,
let's go out one day, let'sbring polo with us, let's bring
a camera that can do 30,000frames a second and just do a
(54:15):
Mythbusters version of Polo.
And, by the way, do you evenknow what I'm talking about when
I say Mythbusters, or is thatjust a US TV show?
No, no, yeah, we understand, butyou know what I'm talking about
the Science of sport.
I actually think that used tobe a show like on ESPN or
something.
I just think that would be soincredible to do.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
And.
Speaker 1 (54:36):
I think what you guys are doing you have the nuts and
bolts of starting somethingthat has so many legs to it that
just continue down that path,Because I think, at the end of
the day, data and drawing oncomparison with other sports
that people are used to tojustify why our game is not a
(54:56):
bunch of dudes on horsebackplaying croquet.
It's a real game, it's a realsport.
It's dangerous as all hell andyou know the whole notion of my
dad can be of your dad, sort ofthing.
I love and I apologize, I'mgetting excited about this just
because I love these aspects ofthe game.
I really do.
When I was 10 years old I usedto fill out scorecards at
(55:19):
baseball games, kind of thing.
So this is an exciting pathforward and I continue to
encourage what you're doing andwould love to help out in any
sort of way to get that messageacross and to uncover and find
data to make polo that much moreinteresting.
You know, I remember, even juston the championship side, I
(55:40):
remember I was able to uncoversomething strange about the
University of Kentucky orUConn's polo team.
You know, women's polo team wonas many or more national
championships than the women'sbasketball or men's basketball
team combined, or something likethat.
And it blew up Like what.
We had this thing in ourbackyard that we never knew
about.
(56:00):
But, those types of things Ithink are really, really cool to
do.
You know what's next steps forLine Up Polo From a data and
expanding the product?
What do you see as the futureof Lineup?
Speaker 2 (56:13):
I was going to say it's Tiger Woods on horseback.
Speaker 3 (56:17):
It is quite a hard balance for us because, as you
said, there is so much scope toour work and we're constantly
having to tell each other todrop that new shiny thing
because we've got the rest ofthe business to run.
I mean for us focusing on theUS and chucker generators and
(56:40):
our availability scheduler.
That's in the near term.
In the longer term, the dataside of it, 100%.
The limiting factor for Polo, Ithink, is the size of the pitch
, so we are going to have to tryand find ways around that.
But more live scoring, morein-depth statistics, player
(57:01):
profiles and then, like you said, supporting data for handicaps,
definitely.
Speaker 1 (57:08):
Yeah, most definitely .
Well, guys, I can't thank youenough for for taking the time
to talk about this.
We're really exciting and Ihope you know we can work
together at some point, becausethe data that you collect, I
would love to share that to theworld, especially when you can
draw it on comparison to othersports and things like that.
I just want to drop people'sjaw at the end of the day.
(57:30):
And this is the way to do it.
So I thank you very much fortaking the time to join me in
talking about lineup polo, whichis transforming the game and
bringing it to mainstream again,because we're so embarrassed by
the fact that we have tosharpen our pencils every single
time we need to score.
So I applaud you guys, anyparting words that you want to
(57:52):
share with your audience at all.
I mean, where can they get theproduct?
Can people Joe Small can accessit download it to watch and see
these games in real time?
Speaker 2 (58:01):
Yeah, of course.
Yeah, search, Line Up Polo inthe App Store and you'll be able
to download and sign up.
It's free for any user todownload and sign up and you'll
be able to download and sign up.
It's free for any user todownload and sign up and you'll
be able to see all of the poloall around the world live stream
links, pictures.
It just makes it super easy foryou to watch and enjoy the
sport.
And then our website,learnitpolocom you can get in
(58:25):
touch with us.
So if you're a team that isinterested in statistics, a
coach, a player who wants tofind out more about what we can
do for you, get in touch with us.
So if you're a team that isinterested in statistics, a
coach, a player who wants tofind out more about what we can
do for you, get in contact withus through our website and we'll
be more than happy to help now,what also is the difference
between this and lineup polo,vip or premium?
yeah, so we have the app, whichis free for anyone to use, and
(58:47):
that just is a way to find outall of the information about
games.
And then we will be launchingLine Up Premium, probably
towards the end of 2025.
And this allows for players,coaches and teams to get a lot
more statistics about theirperformance, so we can come and
live score at games, and thatenables us to get a whole host
(59:10):
more statistics about your teamor players specifically.
So, yeah, we we are starting towork with teams now on that
anyway, and so, if that issomething of interest, get in
touch with us and we can make ithappen is there any major
tournaments and things thateveryone should be knowledgeable
about that you guys arecovering in the near future?
(59:33):
the cv whitney.
Yes, that's very true.
Cv whitney will be doing a lot,a lot with that cv whitney yeah
, and then in the uk we've gotthe arena gold cup coming up um,
which is the highlight of thearena calendar in england, and
it's always both a greattournament and a great day out
(59:53):
at the barkshire polo club.
Speaker 3 (59:55):
So, yeah, we'll be definitely heading there we're
aiming to get on all polo 16goal and above.
We can't promise everything,but internationally that's what
we're trying.
So we will be live scoring alot of the us games and we've
recently covered the women'sopen out there as a resource to
(01:00:18):
coaches, patrons, clubs and soon and so forth.
Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
The the data that you yourself and your company alone
is incredibly valuable, so so Ipray that you use it for the
best.
Thank you, guys.
Again so much for taking thetime.
I really enjoyed ourconversation.
I'm sure we'll be talking againsoon as more stuff is uncovered
(01:00:44):
.
I know we could probably have aconversation alone about
handicaps and that whole debacle.
So again, thank you so much,guys.
I really appreciate you comingon.
Enjoy the rest of your evening.
It's Friday.
Hope you guys have greatevening plans, but thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:01:02):
And thank you for spreading the word of Polo.
Your podcast is doing a greatjob.
Speaker 1 (01:01:07):
Thank you very much, we really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
It's been such fun.
Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
Thank you in 2012, the founders of outside the
boards witnessed their firstpolo match and were stunned by
the sport's beauty and brutality.
Few sports, if any, have thesecombined qualities.
The sport's grace, intensityand warlike imagery create a
shock and awe viewing experiencelike none other.
Combine this with the sport'sparty-like atmosphere and
(01:01:34):
lifestyle and you have a recipefor success.
Today, the sport has yet towitness its full potential.
The industry is fragmented,riddled with politics and
inexperienced.
Outside the Board was purposelydesigned to change all that and
bring clarity to the sport byintroducing best practices,
insights, trends and consultingservices to industry
(01:01:55):
stakeholders and interestedbrands so that they can reach
their marketing potential andbetter navigate the sport.
Whether you're a club seekingcustom sponsorship and marketing
solutions or simply looking forstrategic advice, we encourage
you to contact us today orsubscribe to gain access to
industry insights.
Visit us at OutsideTheBoardscomor to learn more, or email us
(01:02:17):
at info at OutsideTheBoardscom.
Let's change the game, andthat's a wrap for today's
episode.
Our heartfelt thanks to ourseason sponsor, hive 2.0, for
(01:02:38):
helping bring outside the boardsto life.
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As a thank you for tuning in,hive 2.0 is offering
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Until next time, take care andwe'll see you on the polo field.
You are listening to the Outside the Boards podcast.
I'm Daniel Leary.
For most of my professionalcareer, I have worked in
mainstream sports for some ofthe world's leading sports
organizations and properties andblue chip brands, helping to
create award-winningomni-channel marketing campaigns
, result-driven sales strategiesand impactful brand building
initiatives.
But all that work doesn'tcompare to the fun, excitement
(00:22):
and challenges I've beenfortunate to experience working
for the king of all sports, polo.
For nearly a decade, I've putmy heart and ambition into
helping advance the sport ofpolo.
I've made lifelong friendships,met some incredible people,
traveled to memorable polodestinations and heard the
craziest stories crazieststories.
(00:45):
My goal is to share thesepeople, places and stories with
you and provide a uniquebehind-the-scenes perspective of
the game that breaks all thecommon stereotypes, all while
discussing key issues affectingthe sport today and the
constructive sharing of ideas,insights, solutions and best
case studies for the purpose ofadvancing polo globally.
Every week, I will have honestconversations with POLO industry
leaders, enthusiasts andawe-inspiring people who make
(01:08):
this sport great and fun to bearound.
I hope, through their knowledgeand their unique perspectives,
they will motivate and inspireyou.
Together, we will explore waysyou can make small tweaks to
boost your POLO business,whether you are a club, event,
team or player.
That will amount to big changesin revenue, participation,
attendance and exposure.
(01:29):
Saddle up.
Welcome to Outside the Boardswith me, daniel Leary.
Hi everyone, daniel Leary here,welcome to Season 5 of the
Outside the Boards podcast.
On this episode of Outside theBoards, I'm excited to introduce
(01:50):
you to two creative andforward-thinking women who are
shaking up the polo scene in thebest way possible Alice Walsh
and Rosanna Turk, co-founders ofLine Up Polo.
With roots in the UK and ashared passion for the sport,
alice and Rosanna built apowerful app and a club platform
that's giving Polo a freshdigital voice.
(02:10):
With the sleek, intuitivedesign and the user-friendly
features, line Up Polo iscentralizing everything from
fixtures and teams to livescoring and player stats, making
the sport accessible, inclusiveand commercially viable.
It's already being used atevery level, from grassroots
games to international high-goldtournaments.
(02:30):
Alice and Rosanna both grew upimmersed in equestrian life and
found themselves drawn to thethrill of polo.
We'll trace the journey from anidea sparked by frustration
with outdated systems tobuilding a tech solution that's
now powering teams, tournamentsand associations.
You'll hear from how thefounders balanced respect for
Polo's tradition and what itreally took to go from concept
(02:54):
to product in a sport steeped intradition and in need of
modernization.
So, without further ado, let'swelcome Alice Walsh and Rosanna
Turk of Lineup Polo Enjoy.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Hey, we're Rosanna and Alice, the co-founders of
Lineup Polo.
Before this episode starts, wewanted to introduce you to the
platform we've built for thesport we love.
Lineup is where modern polocomes together.
For club managers, there's apowerful web platform where you
can create and publishtournaments, fixtures and teams,
and that info instantly appearsin the Lineup app, where
players, fans and organisers cansee everything in one place,
(03:32):
from live scoring and team entryto player stats and schedules.
We've made it easy to run andfollow Polo, whether you're
organising games or just turningup to watch.
Lineup makes Polo moreconnected, accessible and future
(03:56):
ready.
Search for Lineup Polo on theapp or play store to get started
.
Alice Walsh and Rosanna Torbhow are you guys?
Speaker 3 (04:00):
doing across the pond .
Speaker 2 (04:01):
We're great, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It's quite late in the evening, but the Friday
evening it's dinner time overthere.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It's 15 year, 7 15 year time.
We're early birds now.
No, we don't tend to stay uptoo late these days well, you
know the polo world.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
No, I mean if you're getting up and taking care of
your ponies.
It's 4 am, 5 am, wake up calls,that's for sure, exactly but,
no, I'm.
I'm thrilled to have you guysfor the audience.
Alice and Rosanna are thefounders of Line Up Polo.
I've been eager to guys haveyou on, or someone like yourself
on, because I'm a data nerd andI love the fact that someone is
(04:38):
taking the initiative and leadthe conversation when it comes
to applying data to the sport ofpolo.
We are a long way off frommaking that happen in our world,
as you guys probably know, orif you're probably like me at
one point a few years ago,frustrated at the fact that we
still do stuff with pen andpaper.
So, yeah, so, but you knowwe're going to get into Line Up
(04:59):
Polo, its founding, itsmotivation, what made you guys
start it?
But, first and foremost, what Ilove to do with all my guests
is really get to know Alice andRosanna, how did you get into
the game?
Were you part of anotherequestrian discipline?
It's always fascinating to learnhow people got into this game.
I didn't get into the gameuntil my 30s, as I think a lot
(05:23):
of people do, but at some pointPolo or Equestrian did make an
imprint at a younger time insomeone's life.
But, alice, I'll start with you.
Tell us about how you got intothis game.
Well, first off, where are youguys from?
So obviously you're 7 o'clockover there and it's 1 o'clock
here, so everyone knows nowyou're in Europe.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yes, we are.
I am originally from Kent,which is closest to Calgary,
that's my closest club.
We both began polo through thePony Club.
I was seven and Rosanna was 10.
And we were actually bitterrivals until well.
I think we first spoke when wewere 20, until well, I think we
(06:07):
first spoke when we were 20because we were always put onto
different teams, as you know,quite a competent girl, um.
So for young England andeverything else, we were just
always playing against eachother and then yeah, um, we both
had red helmets, so there was abit of rivalry there, but then
we actually recognised that wecould be good friends and then,
(06:34):
at the age of 20, we becamereally, really close.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
That's great Go ahead , rosanna.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So I started playing, I think when I was about eight.
I do not have any polo in myfamily whatsoever.
Alice is the same.
Neither of us have anyone elsein our family that plays and I
loved horses, but I reallycouldn't be bothered with kind
of finicky things that camealong with doing dressage and
(06:57):
inventing, and I just lovedplaying polo because it was so
quick and fast and exciting andit was literally what I looked
forward to all throughout theyear.
In the UK we have pony clubtournaments which run in the
school summer holidays and, uh,that was just my.
The thing I most look forwardto in the world was the summer
(07:17):
so I could play pony club polo.
And yeah, I think Alice and Iboth neither neither of us, as I
said have polo in our family sowe very much played pony club
on one pony for as long as wecould and eventually both
persuaded our parents to get apolo pony.
But yeah, we've come from asituation where there isn't much
(07:39):
polo at all around us.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Now did you get involved at seven as well, at a
young age yeah, I startedplaying when I was eight, um,
and literally have not stoppedever since when I was younger I
did also, uh, enjoy.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
I grew up doing showing and a little bit of
eventing, but I wasn't very goodwith all the eyes being on me
in the show ring.
I found it reallynerve-wracking.
My sister was much, much better, but I do love making horses
pretty and turn out and all therest of it, and my mom loves it
too.
But polo, yeah, she said when Ifirst tried it.
(08:20):
Apparently it was like love atfirst sight.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
She just couldn't couldn't get me off the polo
ponies now, you said you had asibling that also you rode with
as well.
Are they a polo player?
Speaker 3 (08:33):
no, she, she did eventing, but then after
university, when we sold the hergood eventer, she just didn't
want to be with horses at all.
So now, now she lives inVancouver as an architect.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Hey, all right.
Okay, how about you, rosanna?
Do you have any siblings aswell?
That ride.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I have two brothers, one older, one younger, and my
older brother is a doctor, buthe does still ride a little bit,
but not so much, and he didplay polo for a while, but, um,
eventually I think just othercommitments took over.
And then my younger brother didplay for a little bit, but I
think the mucking out just gottoo much for him, basically, um,
(09:14):
and he decided that he hepreferred other things, which
was so fantastic for me becauseI got their polo ponies.
So it worked out very well.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
But yeah, just me that plays now.
Good deal.
Now the Pony Club has come up Ithink a few times in some of my
episodes.
Can you tell us what is thePony Club?
It's not necessarily like aregular club that I think
everyone would attribute to no,it's the most amazing
institution institution, I think.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
In the uk.
There's lots of differentbranches all around the country
and you can join your localbranch and then try out all
sorts of equestrian disciplinesfor in a really affordable way.
So it's a fantasticintroduction to all of these
different disciplines, likemounted games.
Yeah show jumping eventing andit gives you also I think what's
(10:10):
most important is a reallyclose-knit group of local horsey
friends, and that's been likethe friends that I made in
Ponydaw Polo still are myfriends to this day and are a
big reason why I carried onplaying as well.
So so it's a really fantasticinstitution to make horses
relatively affordable for kids.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
That's great.
I think you got to put that ona t-shirt, by the way, horsey
friends.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
They're the best kind .
Speaker 1 (10:37):
They're the best kind .
Yes, yeah, that's a meme rightthere for you.
Wait till it happens.
No, that's great.
That's great.
I want to say there's thingslike that that are similar here
in the us, but no, that'sfantastic.
Around the pony club, it'ssomething that I know in my
history and working in the sportof polo when I was with the
uspa.
The pony club has come upmultiple times.
You know reflecting andbuilding something like that
(10:58):
here in the us, and you know soon and so forth.
But you, you mentionedsomething I don't know if it was
alice rosanna, persuading yourparents to buy a pony.
How did you manage to do that?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I have a nine-year-old that loves to ride
I think for me, and I don'tknow if it's the same for alice,
but I think my mom especiallywas quite ambitious for me and
she definitely was very willingto be encouraged by me in those
situations.
But I think that she could seehow much I love the sport and
(11:32):
that I wanted to continue itinto my adult life and so I said
to her, like if there'sanything that you do in my life
to support me, that you put somemoney towards, like please make
it be this, because I just loveit and I really think I want to
do it as I get older.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
I had to take a different approach because there
was this amazing little ponythat hunted but also played polo
and he was gorgeous, but he wasa bit big for me at the time
and too much of a horse, and Ihad to throw a tantrum for three
days and I ruined mom says oneof the best days of her life
(12:11):
when my sister won a massiveinternational show and I was
there crying because I wantedthis horse.
I wasn't a spoiled brat, butthat's, that's what I, what I
had to go to oh, no right whenwe're trying to break down the
stereotypes, we're a spoiledlittle girl begging for a pony
(12:34):
alice's solution to to tell herwas tantrums at the age of 18,
my uh, my parents both said thatthey won't spend any money on
polo just before I was going tooff to university.
So I had two little polo poniesthat were, you know, I was
double truckering every singleweekend and having great fun on
(12:55):
them, but um yeah.
So since then my parentshaven't funded anything with my
polo well, you got to pay forcollege.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Somehow, would you say, you two fit the
quintessential stereotype of alittle girl wanting a horse.
You know, when you guys wereseven and eight, did you have my
Little Pony.
Am I dating myself by sayingthat I don't know.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Oh yeah, my Little Pony.
Yeah, I used to love that.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
You had little horses with flowing hair that you used
to comb on I used to sing asong and then they'd turn into a
unicorn nice, um, for me I wasmore like tomboyish.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I would describe myself as so.
The those kinds of thingsdidn't particularly interest me,
but I definitely was like thehorsey girl at school.
I think I got a prize for thatonce, actually.
But, um, yeah, no, I definitelyfitted into some of those
stereotypes, that's for sure butyou started off in some other
equestrian discipline other thanpolo.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
First and foremost, like what drew you to that
specific discipline.
Can you pinpoint why polo wasmore exciting to you and
interesting than eventing,dressage, jumping or anything
like that?
It's a hard question, I knowit's.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
There are no other sports that are that fast and
that physical but yet require somuch skill, and it's in the
fine details of the riding theball skills you know,
positioning your teammates butthen also having to be quite
brave and going really fast andcrashing into people.
(14:38):
There's no other sport thatgets my adrenaline so high.
Like when I don't play much,which has been the past few
seasons I am literally shakingat the end of each chucker
because I, my body's just notused to this much adrenaline and
I play hockey throughout thewinter to try and keep just a
(14:59):
team sport going and it'snothing like polo, that's so
true?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
yeah, I think, for for me it's definitely the the
team element and also I was just.
I was really really rubbish atall of the other equestrian
sports, polo was the only onethat I was any good at.
I think you do what you like,you do what you're good at and I
think it's it's the same.
It's it's so totally differentbecause it's not about how you
(15:25):
look and how necessarily preciseor accurate you are in doing a
20 meter circle.
It's just about how gutsy andbrave you are and I I think I
loved as well that you couldtake on the guys and people
would underestimate you becauseyou were a girl when you went
onto the pitch and I found itreally fun to try and kind of
(15:47):
quash that stereotype.
Yeah, I think it's just theadrenaline at the end of the day
.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Now, alice, you mentioned that you also played
hockey, right?
Yeah, Rosanna, did you playanother sport too?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, I played pretty much everything at school.
I was known at school.
I always have some kind ofbroken bone, usually from
playing sports, so I spent a lotof time on crutches and with
various arms and plaster castsat school because I was playing
sports so much.
But, yeah, I think it's what Ireally really loved.
(16:20):
But also polo wasn't reallyknown about at school.
Really loved um, but also polowasn't really known about at
school and it was, yeah, quiteinteresting because people have
a perception of the sport.
Trying to balance thatsometimes I'd feel quite shy
about saying that I playedplayed the game because people
perceive it in a certain way.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
So yeah, but I played a lot of sports that's
interesting, and I always liketo bring that up, because most
of the time, someone usuallydoes play another sport.
In some cases it is stickingball, whether it be lacrosse,
hockey.
You know, there is an elementthat I feel like I'm beginning
to uncover in both of you isthat you're both kind of
adrenaline junkies in a way.
Would you say that?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
I think that's why we run a startup.
A hundred percent, yeah, yeah,skiing a startup a hundred
percent.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, yeah, skiing and mostly people do like I.
When I spoke with timmy jr andsenior of duda family, you know
we talked about like yeah, we'readrenaline, we have a bit of a
screw loose to do what we do,and it's just like, yeah, why
the heck do iron men people dowhat they do.
They swim two and a half miles,run a marathon and then a
hundred mile bike ride.
That's stupid, that's nuts.
So there's an element of crazy,I think, in all polo players,
(17:29):
because I remember when I firstgot on my horse and it just took
off straight to the ball, mygosh, that was an adrenaline
rush and I was hooked easilyLike this is way better than
what I was taught previously.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah, A hundred percent For me.
That adrenaline junkie side ofme turned out to be ADHD, and
the risk-taking and theadrenaline loving side of me is
medically diagnosed for me.
So yeah, I completely me and mypsychologist concur with you on
that one.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, Okay, but the ADHD thing is a good analogy.
I mean, polo requires so muchfocus, energy and commitment to
it.
If you don't have that sport orsomething like that that
requires all 100% of yourattention, body and mind, you
would be a space cadet.
If you are in eventing orjumping, you probably would
(18:21):
drift off, you know somewhere Ahundred percent.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah, polo was the only sport that really kept all
of my focus and that I couldconcentrate on and loved and is
exactly to say because it is themost fast paced and exciting
sport out of any of them.
I imagine, yeah, a lot of poloplayers are in the same boat as
me on that one.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Oh, yeah, yeah, a lot of polo players are in the same
boat as me on that one.
Oh yeah, well, sometimes peopleask why are so many
entrepreneurs, businessexecutives and things like that
involved in polo?
And I always tell people thisis my theory.
My theory is they're soembedded with their business and
what they're doing.
Polo requires so much in all ofyou that it's a brick from
(19:06):
thinking and the stress ofrunning a business.
It requires a hundred percentof you and to them that's their
therapy a hundred yeah, that's.
That's kind of the conclusionI've made, because I have my
hobbies too, like I'm a bigfoodie, okay, and when I'm
cooking for my family or whathave you, it takes all of me to
(19:26):
do it and I find that to be verytherapeutic at the end of the
day, even though sometimes itcan be stressful at times but I
no longer have to think aboutwork because that occupies my
time majority of the day and Ineed to get away from it and
think about something else.
So when I think of like guys,the US, mark Gansey, louis de
Valence, rob Gennarvis, curtisPilot, even Tim Gannon with
(19:52):
Outback these are all major CEOs, executives and owners I get it
now.
I get it, totally get it.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
You have to be comfortable with that high level
of stress and risk taking, andso your mind almost just adapts
to that level, and that's why myboyfriend and Rosanna we went
skiing and they said they hatedskiing with me, because I just
(20:20):
love being on the edge.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, you went down the Black Diamond when everyone
else is on green right.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
No, she skied off a cliff.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Okay, ooh, moguls, let's go down that.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
It was terrifying.
Even I was scared skiing withAlice on that one.
The point about the businessand polo going so well, I think
it's so true.
And also, we are so constantlyaccessible today with, like your
iphone, everyone can always gethold of you, but when you're
playing polo, they really can't,like you really cannot pick up
(20:57):
the phone, you can't answer atext and it's a proper, like you
say, it's a really very welldefined break and it's something
completely different for yourbrain to do so.
I totally, totally agree.
It is just a really expensiveform of therapy.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Yeah, no, and you raise a good point because the
polo fields that I know of herein Illinois.
You won't get that much cellreception at some of these
locations, that's for sure.
But going back to your polocareers now, are you guys still
affiliated with the Poli Club orare you guys now associated
with one club or another out inthe UK or no?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
No, so our platform.
It can be used anywhere in theworld.
We're not associated with thePony Club at all, although we
would love to be able to sponsorthem in the future, but we are
working with the governing body,the HPA, but we can't tell you
any of the details yet did youmean um playing wise?
Speaker 1 (21:54):
I meant playing wise, but I wanted to I was going to
the next thing is to dive intolineup, but yeah, playing wise,
you know, are you affiliatedwith any pacific club, or is it
still the pony club?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
rosanna is, but not me okay so, yeah, I've carried
on playing through uni.
So there was there's also inthe uk, I think it's the same in
the us.
There's really great universityclubs and then once I left, I
joined a couple of differentclubs, so science, esther and
both long doll.
I've been members of all ofthem, edgeworth all of the clubs
(22:26):
in Gloucestershire basicallyand yeah, just played a lot of
club polo as much as I can.
I think it's great as well.
In the UK there's a really goodladies circuit, so I've been
able to travel to a lot ofdifferent clubs and play on some
of the most amazing fields onthe ladies circuit, which I've
loved.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Now, what universities did you guys go to?
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I went to Warwick it's middle england, isn't it,
alice?
Yes, yeah.
And then I went to kingstonuniversity, which is in london,
where I studied design, which iswith a load of like, really
arty people, and I had reallyonly ever existed in the
countryside before, so it wasquite a culture shock for me,
(23:11):
but I went.
I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Alice, what did you study?
Speaker 3 (23:15):
So after school I didn't really know what I wanted
to do.
I just knew that I wanted toplay polo.
So I looked up the degree thatearned the most money and that
was computer science.
So I went and did that.
I did it with a bit of businesson the side as well that's a
fantastic strategy.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Yeah, I probably should have done that when I
went into school it was so smartyeah, well wait, who was alice
or rosanna, who said they hadthe architect in the family?
Me, yeah, my sister I went toschool for architecture,
beginning with and then changingto business.
My sophomore year yeah, that'sso cool I have a knack for it,
(23:55):
still love it.
I go on the chicagoarchitecture tour every single
year because it never gets old.
That is so cool.
So all right, now let's take aspin here and talk about lineup
poll, because I'm a big fan ofthis.
I know others have attempted it.
You have some competition outthere.
(24:15):
A little bit too.
I could be wrong, but thearticles that I've read about
you even how your logo came up,I thought was very inventive,
and I'm curious I want to reallypull back the curtain is how
did this all come about?
Were you at a coffee shop?
Were you at a pub?
Did the idea come up on acocktail napkin?
(24:37):
Frankly, I love business andstartups, so there's always a
light bulb that went offsomewhere, and I'm curious to
where yours went, because itsounds as though this idea
happened a number of years ago.
Am I right?
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Yeah.
So I actually first came upwith it when I was 16 as a
computer science project.
I then did it for my IBcomputer science project and
then as my dissertation atuniversity and I was like I
really really need to get thisgoing university.
(25:10):
And I was like I really reallyneed to get this going, um, but
I was just struggling by myself,um, and I needed someone else
to bounce ideas off and do allthe designs part.
And that was when Rosanna and Ibecame close friends.
So I asked her if she wanted tojoin me and I sent her my 96
page dissertation and sheprinted it out and was like yes,
hell yes.
And at the time it was calledMallet Manager with a terrible
(25:35):
logo.
So the name and the logo arecompletely down to Rosanna.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Mallet Manager, it's catchy.
I get where you're going withit.
I'd be interested to see whatthe logo is.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Envision like McDonald's, but with polo sticks
.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
The bamboo arches.
Is that what Exactly?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, catchy yeah.
And from my side I had beenplaying kind of
semi-professionally after I leftuniversity.
I was traveling a lot with itbut not making enough money for
it to be a career that I couldgo into.
And I began working for variouspolo filming companies, which I
(26:21):
really, really loved and got alot of experience in terms of
the commercialization and thatside of the sport, and I got to
travel a lot with it, which wasgreat.
But yeah, alice asked me and Iliterally had no idea what it
would entail, but I liked thesound of it and we were both 22
at the time, I think, andcompletely naive to what it
(26:43):
meant to set up a business orwhat we could be getting
ourselves into essentially.
But I think that actuallyreally worked in our favor.
I think we'd have been veryoverwhelmed if we knew, knew
what would actually happen.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
But yeah, I, we dived in together and haven't looked
back so when was the year thatyou kind of hit your stride with
kind of bringing this out, orhow long did it take to you guys
to kind of build a beta product?
Speaker 3 (27:10):
so we started uh, chatting the winter of 2020,
2021, um, and then we had theapp was live july in 2021, but
then it really only startedtaking off in 2023.
And last season was incrediblefor us we had 20 percent of the
(27:35):
high goal players in the queen'scup on the platform yeah,
there's so much in that timeprocess from 2021 to 2023,
because we we started withliterally nothing, neither alice
or I.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Alice is more technical, but it wasn't
suitable for her to do all ofthe coding, so we had to work
out how to get developers.
We had to raise money to buildthe platform, which costs a lot
to begin with.
Yeah, our brand and identityset up, and we had not done any
(28:14):
of this before.
We really did not have anyexperience, but, yeah, it was a
massive, massive learning curveconstantly and it's always
surprised me and amazed me howpeople are so willing to help.
I think people really enjoygetting involved in this kind of
thing, but so many people alongthe way have just given us
(28:35):
their free time, essentially,and helped us, and we would not
have got where we are withoutthem.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Is the main cornerstone of Line Up Polo a
means of scoring a game.
Up polo a means of scoring agame.
Was that kind of how it firststarted, or was it like
tournament?
Speaker 3 (28:54):
management kind of thing, yeah.
So when we were brainstormingwe realized that we wanted to
get polo out to a wider audienceand with the results and
players and everything.
But we recognized that the cruxof that was getting accurate
data and with clubs, lots ofclubs don't even have a website,
(29:15):
so there was no chance of justthem sending in the data and
then you know there's humanerror and all the rest of it and
so that's why we began with atool for the club managers
themselves, because also we knowso many club managers and it is
an absolute pain in the asssometimes to organize
tournaments.
(29:35):
So we just wanted to help themand also the players.
So that's where it sort ofstemmed from.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
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Stay tuned, stay refreshed andstay curious.
What were those specific painpoints that the club managers
(31:34):
had to deal with when it came toorganizing a tournament?
Speaker 2 (31:39):
I think a lot of it is that they always say it's
like herding cats trying to getpolo players to tell them when
they can play.
I think that is a really bigthing is making sure that
tournaments are organisedcorrectly.
I think as well.
Lots of times polo clubs arethey struggle in terms of their
admin, that they need to do, andit means that they can't focus
(32:02):
on attracting new members ormaking sure current members have
a great time, and so we wantedto help that out.
There's things like takingpayments for entry fees,
actually scheduling thetournaments, publishing the
tournaments to their website oranywhere else.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
all those kinds of things they found quite tricky
in general yeah, because oftenthey're they're just ex-polo
players who love the sport somuch and they don't necessarily
have any training or experiencein running a business like a
polo club.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Yeah, no, I got the same thing as in the world of
marketing and corporatepartnerships.
It's like the people that I'mdealing with are not educated in
this particular area so theymight have a different view or
want to have a differentconversation about, let's say,
sponsorship and driving in thatextra revenue.
For the most part, not everyoneis like El Dorado or National
(32:56):
Polo Center that have skilledpeople doing it.
No, I 100% agree.
So this was really a tournamentmanagement or club management
tool.
Precisely management or clubmanagement tool.
Precisely at what point did itkind of roll out into being a
means to score and track theprogress of games?
Speaker 3 (33:17):
this was actually the brainchild of our software
developer from the start, and heone summer I think it was 2023,
he just really pushed for itand built this prototype so we
would take our laptops to thefield and live score.
And it just really took off andwe recognized that we were
getting a lot of traffic to theapp to view these timelines.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Yeah, shout out to Barnaby.
He's really created one of ourmost popular features, for sure.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Now, is it easy to do that, like if you're at a game
with your laptops and you'rescoring it?
Is it intuitive enough forsomeone like me to go out and do
it at my own club, or no?
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Completely.
Yeah, so we've now built out.
We obviously started with theprototype that we used
internally, but now this is afeature that clubs use.
So when clubs have signed upthemselves, they can access this
live scoring for their own cluband it's super easy.
It's just on their phone andyou can just get whoever usually
writes down your match sheet todo it instead of that.
(34:20):
So it's just a digital recordof the game.
But the benefit is that anyonewho's using the app can see in
real time what's happening inthe game publicly.
So it's super handy for helpingfans and any player with their
mum or dad.
They can keep up to date inreal time with what's happening
in the match.
But, yeah, for the club manageror scorer, it's super intuitive
(34:42):
for them to use.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
It's also led on to Line Up Premium, which is coming
out this season, because werecognize that we've collected
all of this data and it can bereally powerful so we can
produce statistics for players,teams, clubs, everyone, and it
can be really really interesting.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Now has this like in Europe?
Has it been adopted enoughwhere it can replace the typical
polo score sheet, or do you dosomeone who technically had to
still fill that out?
Speaker 3 (35:16):
after all this ease and intuitiveness, we produced
beautiful designs of how itcould be inputted via an ipad,
but the umpires over here havesaid that they have one split
second to write down a goal inthe correct box.
They are not going to have timeto click the right buttons and
(35:37):
all the rest of it, because it'soften just the third man that
inputs that data.
So it's still a way to go there.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
My head is in my hands right now, like just
shaking my head.
Are you serious For anyone who'slistening right now?
We've kind of touched on a bitof an embarrassing moment about
polo and that's the fact thateverything still is done by
pencil and paper, and it'salways frustrated with me just
(36:05):
looking at people's kitchenscratches and then having to
scan it and send it to the uspa,you know, as part of a
certified tournament.
You know no data can really beextracted by it or visualized in
real time when you look at itin comparison to other sports.
Data is king, content is kingthese days and yeah, so, yeah,
(36:26):
so it's.
It's frustrating to hear thatbecause it's like that's like my
gosh.
Can we move on?
Speaker 3 (36:30):
we're only 20 years behind football I feel like it's
probably longer yeah, yeah, itcould be.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
It's a really interesting point for me.
I see it as the third man andumpires.
They have to do such acomplicated, tricky job and take
in so much information, sothere is, of course, like an
element of getting people up tothe time and comfortable using
technology, but it does alsocome down to building them a
(37:00):
system that is intuitive enoughfor them to use and for them to
feel comfortable using.
We've had brilliantconversations with umpires and
they are up for getting thesport to be more modernized and
technical and they want to be apart of that, and I think we're
getting much closer to a pointwhere we can get that tech to
them and they they are receptive.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
It's different to other sports, because sports
like football or soccer you callit sorry they have massive data
companies whose specific job isjust to track the ball, track
each player, and they cancollect that sort of data,
(37:43):
Whereas if you're asking a thirdman, a referee or an umpire to
input, that, it's kind ofdetached from their job.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
if you see what I mean.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
So we need to generate enough interest for
other companies like ourselvesto come in and just focus on
that data collection side of ityeah, there's a behemoth that's
actually out in europe at sportuh, radar, I think, their
headquarter out there, which is,um, they are heavily involved
(38:13):
in, you know, the televisionaspect and collecting data and I
also know they're they're alsoinvolved in sports betting and
their that is used to determinethat those outcomes and what
have you.
But no, you raise a really goodpoint and I just I pray that we
kind of kind of push and turnover a leaf and get Polo into
the 21st century.
When it comes to this stuff,you know, and since you guys
(38:35):
have rolled this out, is yourbusiness primarily in the UK
right now or have you filteredover into other countries, in
Argentina and the US?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
This is a really interesting point.
So we're definitely primarilyin the uk and that's obviously
because all of our contacts andthe people we know are in the uk
.
When we really want to expandout, the first country we want
to go to is america, and we'vehad some great chats with clubs
actually in america, I think,because you guys are really
technically savvy as well, whichhelps, helps a lot.
(39:07):
But yeah, I think the end goalwould be obviously worldwide
domination.
Uh, all games, all polo, thatis all online.
That is the whole point.
Um, eventually we'll get there.
But yeah, it's definitelytrickier going to argentina, I
there's is this just a slightlydifferent culture?
(39:28):
And yeah, I think we, we will,we'll get there eventually yeah,
no, you're right.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Places like America, what have you are data savvy
people, use of technology,second screens and so on and so
forth.
A hundred percent.
And not to mention, it'shappened a while ago, even when
I was trying to push conceptslike this as well.
People in the polo world wouldtell me you know, hey, dan,
(39:55):
don't wait a while for anyoneelse, just don't.
Just do it.
You do it right and it becomessuccess.
Then people will be knocking atyour door.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
So, if I can provide words of wisdom, especially
getting into the US, just do it.
Don't wait on the USPA, don'twait on anyone else, just do it.
Ride that wave essentially and,like you said, focus on world
domination.
I'm wondering, like do the datathat you collect, especially
(40:30):
like game day data, what datacan you collect from a game in
real time that can be quantifiedand filtered and outspit
something pretty amazing otherthan the score?
Speaker 3 (40:43):
Yeah, yeah, we've got some pretty cool charts at the
moment.
This is my absolute love.
I love playing around with thecharts and everything.
When they're most likely tofoul, when they're most likely
to score or concede goals, andoften, with the successful high
(41:14):
goal teams in Argentina, theynever foul at the start of the
chocker and then they begin tofoul but then they score all the
goals towards the end of thechocker and end of the game and
when they just push right ahead.
But we can do it per team, perplayer.
So their win percentage, theirbest weeks throughout the
(41:39):
seasons, the favourite pitch allsorts.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
My favourite use of it is that in polo you obviously
have the patron andprofessional player dynamic.
That seems to be quite oftenbased on players relationships
or players ability to charm thepatron into playing with them in
a tournament and it's very mucha who you know basis for those
jobs.
But we can provide patrons withreally accurate data on their
(42:07):
professional players performancewhich can help them pick
professionals based on theirresults as opposed to who they
know.
So we've had, yeah, a lot ofsuccess with patrons really
being very interested in thatdata alongside team coaches, so
it helps a lot in making thosedecisions about team selection
(42:28):
and also we can dive into thepositions that the players are
are in, like how often theyscore with that team setup and
that sort of thing no, I mean,that's valuable data.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
I always wonder that would something like this
ultimately be valuable to a team, considering how people choose,
select players, find playersand so on and so forth, like the
ability to break it down nodifferent than what's his face?
I can't remember from moneyball, you know, in determining
how you're going to select yourplayers and you realize you know
(43:03):
, hey, so-and-so so good, he canhit the ball Fantastic, you
know he's the highest rank orwhat have you.
But Joe Schmo from this cornerof the world can do as good.
The whole idea of getting onbase sort of thing, I think is
great and I think that woulddisrupt the polo world in the
way that it subjectively does itnow.
And the data that you'vecollected has it been considered
(43:26):
at all in terms of justifyingsomeone's handicap?
Have you been able to find datathat would say, hey, this is
how a seven-goaler plays?
Those types of comparisons, isthat something?
Speaker 2 (43:44):
that you've collected enough or is something in the
future?
Such an interesting question.
I think last year was the firstyear we began to have enough
data to be confident in thatkind of thing.
Especially in the UK we havethe Victor Le Dorm series, which
is the HPA's main tournamentsthat they run through the season
, and all of those were on lineup.
I think we can start to look atthings like win rates and win
(44:05):
percentages with certain teamsand per club, like win rates and
win percentages with certainteams and per club, and I think
that data is really useful forhandicapping.
If you have a three-goaler andthey've won 95% of their matches
, it's really obvious that theyneed to go up and handicap.
But at the moment, as you say,it's still completely subjective
(44:25):
, so it hasn't been used so farfor the handicapping, but I
think it absolutely should beyeah, it's quite, it's quite a
sensitive subject so we haven'tjust gone in all guns blazing
like this is what the data canshow.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
But even just having a record of the matches that a
player's played and if they arelosing is it down to the teams
that they've been put in andtheir individual performance?
Have they been playing up totheir handicap?
So just having it on record isa step in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Has there been any data that you've collected that
has kind of gave you a bit of awow factor, like I don't know
where to start, let alone whichdata point to tie to
specifically.
But I would be curious as toknow, like wow, you know, that's
quite impressive for aparticular player or team or
tournament or what have you.
I would be curious if anythinghas surprised you on anything
(45:25):
that you collected.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
I think Alice will have more to say on this, but
for me there's obviously the topplayers and you perceive them
as being really great players,but then you look at the data
and they are just so far aheadof anyone else.
There's like the top maybe 10players and just such a huge
gulf to the rest of the polopopulation.
(45:46):
In almost every metric in termsof like their win rates, how
successful they are withpenalties, everything.
They are just so far ahead ofthe rest of the pack.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
It's fascinating to see quite how big a gulf there
is there yeah, I mean I wouldlove to share my screen right
now and show you these charts.
Not very good for a podcast,but there's been.
There's been some teams whichwe've got a lot of data from
from last year.
So R&R, based inGloucestershire by Rosanna, and
(46:19):
they've really performed wellthis season and it I've known
about them.
But to see their performance ona computer you can just relate
to them so much more and youjust feel like you're involved
in their success.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
I think we should probably get together and
probably put like a PDF documentultimately to share, to people
to better take a look at this,but that's pretty neat.
One thing I'm actually curiousat all do you actually actually,
let's say, track you knowwhether a player is age, are
they male or female, that sortof thing, and any sort of data
(46:58):
that could be attributed tothose types of demographics?
Have you not gotten that faryet?
Speaker 3 (47:03):
we don't at the moment because that is classed
as sensitive information.
We've just got first name, lastname, handicap, but when you
sign up to the app we do getgender, not age yet.
Speaker 1 (47:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
That would be so interesting to see people's
gradual decline, or maybe justincredibly depressed, I don't
know, not necessarily.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
Oh, you just pissed off a lot of people.
I think kona is one of the onlysports that you are better at
until you're yeah, but you hit40 years old and there's just a
slow decline and just theirprogress you know, I genuinely
peaked when I was maybe 19.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
My phone upgrade had never been as good as it was
when I was 19.
So, that rings true,unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
But that would be very interesting data overall, I
think For guys who grew upwatching Mythbusters and stuff
like that.
There is an audience for thisand to draw on this with other
sports, we bring up the genderand age thing.
My boss with Oak Brook Polo.
He played until he was 85 yearsold, or 80 years old, that's
(48:23):
incredible.
The gentleman that owned theMilwaukee Polo Club played until
he was 90.
Now, granted, yes, there was agradual decline or demise, no
matter how you described it.
There is, but it's still prettyimpressive Nonetheless.
Speaker 2 (48:40):
I mean the other.
Speaker 1 (48:41):
Thing and not to mention, like even you see a lot
of times, men playing withwomen and women playing with men
and can rise to the occasion,can ride as hard, play as
talented.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
Hope ariano is constantly talked about all the
time here in the us as someonecan easily be thrown on a men's
team and kick ass, you know yeahI think that's where data is
super interesting, because itdoesn't have bias, and that
means that you can truly put anybias that you have to the side
and actually pick the bestplayer.
(49:14):
I think that's what excitesalice and I.
Speaker 3 (49:16):
So much about it is that we really hope in the end
it helps to democratize placesin polo teams, because people
will be able to pick based onresults and there was a
beautiful demonstration withHazel, who was picked to play in
the Queen's Cup for Black Bears, and she did so so well and you
(49:38):
can actually see herperformance compared to other
two goalers who are men in thesame tournament.
Speaker 1 (49:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (49:47):
Was she picked for the Gold Cup as well?
Where is that?
She might be both.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
Yeah, yeah for both of them would you guys ever get
into other scientific ways oftracking the game, not just from
like game scoring and thingslike that.
But let's say, would you beable to put sensors in the ball
on players on horses to trackwhat is the distance that an
(50:13):
average polo pony will run?
Speaker 3 (50:16):
we would absolutely love to, and it's one of the
things.
We've built this as sort of aplatform for these exciting
technologies.
They can't really be put inplace without the infrastructure
that we've got.
But one of our friends whoworks for PoloCam, who co-owns
(50:36):
it, he's tried to put thetracker in a polo ball and it is
extremely difficult, extremelydifficult.
But we would love to be able tohave trackers and heart rate
monitors on the players and alsoon the horses.
There's so much scope in thoseareas we would love to be able
to.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
We always bring up random data all the time.
Like the polo ball can be hitat 110 miles per hour, which is
so that any professionalbaseball player can throw.
Is that true?
Speaker 3 (51:06):
You know, let's do it Like someone actually go out
there and put a radar's, do itlike I don't know someone
actually go out there and put aradar gun on it?
Speaker 1 (51:11):
I don't know.
And on top of that, like you,when you see the the bamboo
mallet bend the way it does,like there is a the poster shot
from netflix with protocambiasso doing a backhand under
the neck swing and managed toget that thing to bend the way
he does how much torque does ittake to bend something like that
(51:34):
?
And the impact of a ball to behit at 300 yards.
I'm just bewildered by some ofthe facts and it's just like how
did someone uncover this datapoint?
I would love to know that,because it's like all all right,
this is how hard Barry Bondscould hit a baseball out of the
park.
This is how hard you can hit apolo mallet.
(51:56):
And they're they're equivalent.
Because I constantly, in mydialogue with the world of non
polo people in mainstream sports, I constantly say like I would
put guys like Adolfo his sonright next to professional
athletes in baseball or hockeyor whatever it might be in a day
.
What I've seen on the field andwhat can be done it is defies
(52:20):
physics sometimes and it's oneof those things where you watch
those guys.
They get the ball on theirmallet and they bounce it all
the way while running 30 milesper hour on a horse, and then
knock it in.
I always use that example and Ialways talk about that iconic
commercial that Nike did withTiger Woods, when all he's doing
is standing and and hitting thegolf ball on the edge of his
(52:43):
wedge.
All right, and I think tomyself what's these guys do?
What they do at the end oftheir mallet.
And there's no flat surface atthe end of a polo mallet.
That's all cylinder.
That right.
There is justification enough.
Just like these guys are sotalented, their hand-eye
coordination blows anyone out ofthe water.
(53:04):
I find tracking things likethat scientific data around
things would be incredible.
Heck, I would love to do anx-ray.
Are polo players?
Speaker 2 (53:16):
more made of rubber and cartilage or than bone.
Yeah, you're so right aboutthat.
I always remember my mom usedto be quite hard on me when I
was playing.
I must have been about 15.
And I said, ok, you go and try.
And she went and had a lessonand she came to me afterwards
and she said I'm so sorry, Iwill never shout at you again
for your poor performancebecause that sport is so hard.
(53:37):
But, yeah, you're, you'recompletely right.
It would be fascinating.
I can attest having been on theend of a few protocols hit
really hard.
They are hit very hard.
I can't say exactly how hard,but, um, yeah, it'd be really
interesting to know that.
Speaker 1 (53:53):
And I think those kinds of bits of data are really
good for engaging new fans aswell, because it's something
they can relate to yeah, I mean,look at the end of the day,
let's go out one day, let'sbring polo with us, let's bring
a camera that can do 30,000frames a second and just do a
(54:15):
Mythbusters version of Polo.
And, by the way, do you evenknow what I'm talking about when
I say Mythbusters, or is thatjust a US TV show?
No, no, yeah, we understand, butyou know what I'm talking about
the Science of sport.
I actually think that used tobe a show like on ESPN or
something.
I just think that would be soincredible to do.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
And.
Speaker 1 (54:36):
I think what you guys are doing you have the nuts and
bolts of starting somethingthat has so many legs to it that
just continue down that path,Because I think, at the end of
the day, data and drawing oncomparison with other sports
that people are used to tojustify why our game is not a
(54:56):
bunch of dudes on horsebackplaying croquet.
It's a real game, it's a realsport.
It's dangerous as all hell andyou know the whole notion of my
dad can be of your dad, sort ofthing.
I love and I apologize, I'mgetting excited about this just
because I love these aspects ofthe game.
I really do.
When I was 10 years old I usedto fill out scorecards at
(55:19):
baseball games, kind of thing.
So this is an exciting pathforward and I continue to
encourage what you're doing andwould love to help out in any
sort of way to get that messageacross and to uncover and find
data to make polo that much moreinteresting.
You know, I remember, even juston the championship side, I
(55:40):
remember I was able to uncoversomething strange about the
University of Kentucky orUConn's polo team.
You know, women's polo team wonas many or more national
championships than the women'sbasketball or men's basketball
team combined, or something likethat.
And it blew up Like what.
We had this thing in ourbackyard that we never knew
about.
(56:00):
But, those types of things Ithink are really, really cool to
do.
You know what's next steps forLine Up Polo From a data and
expanding the product?
What do you see as the futureof Lineup?
Speaker 2 (56:13):
I was going to say it's Tiger Woods on horseback.
Speaker 3 (56:17):
It is quite a hard balance for us because, as you
said, there is so much scope toour work and we're constantly
having to tell each other todrop that new shiny thing
because we've got the rest ofthe business to run.
I mean for us focusing on theUS and chucker generators and
(56:40):
our availability scheduler.
That's in the near term.
In the longer term, the dataside of it, 100%.
The limiting factor for Polo, Ithink, is the size of the pitch
, so we are going to have to tryand find ways around that.
But more live scoring, morein-depth statistics, player
(57:01):
profiles and then, like you said, supporting data for handicaps,
definitely.
Speaker 1 (57:08):
Yeah, most definitely .
Well, guys, I can't thank youenough for for taking the time
to talk about this.
We're really exciting and Ihope you know we can work
together at some point, becausethe data that you collect, I
would love to share that to theworld, especially when you can
draw it on comparison to othersports and things like that.
I just want to drop people'sjaw at the end of the day.
(57:30):
And this is the way to do it.
So I thank you very much fortaking the time to join me in
talking about lineup polo, whichis transforming the game and
bringing it to mainstream again,because we're so embarrassed by
the fact that we have tosharpen our pencils every single
time we need to score.
So I applaud you guys, anyparting words that you want to
(57:52):
share with your audience at all.
I mean, where can they get theproduct?
Can people Joe Small can accessit download it to watch and see
these games in real time?
Speaker 2 (58:01):
Yeah, of course.
Yeah, search, Line Up Polo inthe App Store and you'll be able
to download and sign up.
It's free for any user todownload and sign up and you'll
be able to download and sign up.
It's free for any user todownload and sign up and you'll
be able to see all of the poloall around the world live stream
links, pictures.
It just makes it super easy foryou to watch and enjoy the
sport.
And then our website,learnitpolocom you can get in
(58:25):
touch with us.
So if you're a team that isinterested in statistics, a
coach, a player who wants tofind out more about what we can
do for you, get in touch with us.
So if you're a team that isinterested in statistics, a
coach, a player who wants tofind out more about what we can
do for you, get in contact withus through our website and we'll
be more than happy to help now,what also is the difference
between this and lineup polo,vip or premium?
yeah, so we have the app, whichis free for anyone to use, and
(58:47):
that just is a way to find outall of the information about
games.
And then we will be launchingLine Up Premium, probably
towards the end of 2025.
And this allows for players,coaches and teams to get a lot
more statistics about theirperformance, so we can come and
live score at games, and thatenables us to get a whole host
(59:10):
more statistics about your teamor players specifically.
So, yeah, we we are starting towork with teams now on that
anyway, and so, if that issomething of interest, get in
touch with us and we can make ithappen is there any major
tournaments and things thateveryone should be knowledgeable
about that you guys arecovering in the near future?
(59:33):
the cv whitney.
Yes, that's very true.
Cv whitney will be doing a lot,a lot with that cv whitney yeah
, and then in the uk we've gotthe arena gold cup coming up um,
which is the highlight of thearena calendar in england, and
it's always both a greattournament and a great day out
(59:53):
at the barkshire polo club.
Speaker 3 (59:55):
So, yeah, we'll be definitely heading there we're
aiming to get on all polo 16goal and above.
We can't promise everything,but internationally that's what
we're trying.
So we will be live scoring alot of the us games and we've
recently covered the women'sopen out there as a resource to
(01:00:18):
coaches, patrons, clubs and soon and so forth.
Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
The the data that you yourself and your company alone
is incredibly valuable, so so Ipray that you use it for the
best.
Thank you, guys.
Again so much for taking thetime.
I really enjoyed ourconversation.
I'm sure we'll be talking againsoon as more stuff is uncovered
(01:00:44):
.
I know we could probably have aconversation alone about
handicaps and that whole debacle.
So again, thank you so much,guys.
I really appreciate you comingon.
Enjoy the rest of your evening.
It's Friday.
Hope you guys have greatevening plans, but thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:01:02):
And thank you for spreading the word of Polo.
Your podcast is doing a greatjob.
Speaker 1 (01:01:07):
Thank you very much, we really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
It's been such fun.
Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
Thank you in 2012, the founders of outside the
boards witnessed their firstpolo match and were stunned by
the sport's beauty and brutality.
Few sports, if any, have thesecombined qualities.
The sport's grace, intensityand warlike imagery create a
shock and awe viewing experiencelike none other.
Combine this with the sport'sparty-like atmosphere and
(01:01:34):
lifestyle and you have a recipefor success.
Today, the sport has yet towitness its full potential.
The industry is fragmented,riddled with politics and
inexperienced.
Outside the Board was purposelydesigned to change all that and
bring clarity to the sport byintroducing best practices,
insights, trends and consultingservices to industry
(01:01:55):
stakeholders and interestedbrands so that they can reach
their marketing potential andbetter navigate the sport.
Whether you're a club seekingcustom sponsorship and marketing
solutions or simply looking forstrategic advice, we encourage
you to contact us today orsubscribe to gain access to
industry insights.
Visit us at OutsideTheBoardscomor to learn more, or email us
(01:02:17):
at info at OutsideTheBoardscom.
Let's change the game, andthat's a wrap for today's
episode.
Our heartfelt thanks to ourseason sponsor, hive 2.0, for
(01:02:38):
helping bring outside the boardsto life.
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Until next time, take care andwe'll see you on the polo field.
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