Why Was It OK When Polo Did It?
Why Was It OK When Polo Did It?
It’s a question we often heard from people when the idea and research for this website came about. The reality is it was ok when Polo did it for the same reason it’s ok when Surf does it. The many uses of this facility have historical precedence on their side and they’re very consistent in context with what has occurred at the facility since its inception.
Simply put, Polo ran events of all kinds, Surf runs events of all kinds. Polo had a membership, Surf has a membership. Polo parked cars onsite, Surf parks cars onsite. Polo sold merchandise in support of their events, Surf sells merchandise in support of their events. Polo had sponsors, Surf has sponsors. Polo used temporary event signage, Surf uses temporary event signage. Polo used lighting for their members, Surf uses lighting for their members. Polo sub-leased the facility to other event runners, Surf sub-leases the facility to other event runners. These uses have been happening with remarkable consistency since 1985 and Surf has been onsite since 1992. We have been an integral part of it’s history. Our goal of showing some of these photos is to establish how consistent the use of this property has been since the very beginning. Todays uses are every bit the same as yesterdays, and the intensity has ebbed and flowed over the years.
Current Photos
Courtesy of Preserve The Polo Fields Website
These photos and comments are courtesy of the preserve the polo fields website and are supposed to highlight some of the atrocities committed by Surf Cup Sports. Instead, they highlight many of the daily, weekly, and monthly usages that have occurred at Surf Sports Park since 2016. (Our comments are in parentheses.)
Past Photos
Courtesy of Google & Friends Of Surf Sports Park
These photos are courtesy of google, and our own database, and are highlighting just some of the many uses that occurred at the former San Diego Polo Club over the 30+ years of their control of the facility. (1983 - 2016)
Merchandise (and food) sales at Polo, 2015. Polo regularly sold all types of merchandise and food during their polo matches for over 30 years, and daily at their onsite tack supply.
Merchandise sales on field at Surf. (Same footprint since 1992. Surf has food too, some of the same vendors for over 20 years.)
These light towers, installed in 1989, and used for arena polo, were a normal part of the polo experience and were regularly used until 10pm.
View of lights from Rancho Del Mar at Surf. (This is a low-res, distorted photo, taken from a mansion on the hill, that has been distributed as “proof” that the lights are blinding, For actual, unaltered photos of Surf night training, click here. )
Nighttime lights and events under floodlights at Polo. Polo allowed many events at night, including charitable fundraisers, arena polo, and corporate parties going back to the mid 80’s.
Nighttime soccer under floodlights at Surf. (Another distorted photo showing the allowed use of lights at the facility. Just so happens these lights are “state of the art” for this type of use and Surf self-limits the usage to 8:30pm. By the way, the light provided is practice quality only and barely lights up one field at a complex that has 20+. Click here for actual photos of training. )
This is a prime example of actual illegal grading that occurred at the polo fields and went unchecked for many years. In fact, Polo ignored their court order for 11 years and never repaired the damage they had done. When Surf took the lease in 2016, they agreed to restore the trail.
Tractor Grading (This photo is a good shot of one of the maintenance workers scraping and re-compacting the class-2 base. Why do we do this? It’s occasionally necessary to reduce dust, smooth and maintain the roadway.)
Soccer tournament during Polo lease hold. Events like this have been a part of this facility since its inception in the mid-80’s. We have photos of similar events going back for decades.
Soccer tournament. (Surf’s busiest event, Surf Cup. Does anyone see the constant snarled traffic we hear so much about in the background? Like we mentioned before, traffic happens for a lot of reasons; warm day at the beach, fair, freeway accident, rush hour, you name it. What we see here is organization and parking commensurate with the size of the facility and the people using it.)
Soccer tournament during Polo lease hold.
Soccer Tournament (Once again, organization.)
Concrete slab added to horse stalls. Dozens of these and many more thousands of sq. feet of concrete were removed from the site from 2016 to 2019.
Concrete slab added (FYI - Surf is building this area for the entire community to use. They’re planning on shade trees, a BBQ and permanent tables & seating for anyone to use. Birthdays, family gatherings, team parties, parent hospitality, and a safe place for kids to wait for their parents to come pick them up after practice.)
Adrenaline Lacrosse January 2013. Once again, consistency is important. Adrenaline Lacrosse has been holding their events at the facility for over 12 years. Similar events like Jam by the Sea Lacrosse, 7’s Rugby, Australian Rules Football, Flag Football and Ultimate Frisbee also ran events consistently over the years, to name just a few.
Legends Lacrosse December 2019 (Consistent events are great when you have consistent partners like Legends Lacrosse. By the way, the group behind Legends has been running events at the facility for over 10 years.)
Adrenaline Lacrosse December 2011. The interesting thing about this event is it is the first non-Surf event to be supervised by Surf after the City of SD took away SD Polo’s ability to supervise their own events.
Legends Lacrosse December 2019
Polo Opening Day, June 12, 2012. Once again, consistency is important. Crowds have been a part of this facility for over 35 years and we’re fairly certain these people drove. In fact, we know they did because Surf staff members ran all of the parking for polo events.
Parking lot.
One of dozens of trailers for equipment storage on Polo facility. Just take a look at any satellite photo going back 20 years and you’ll see dozens of similar trailers and equipment left behind and stored onsite.
Large amount of equipment stored. (We’re not sure what this is supposed to reflect, but it seems normal for a soccer organization to have a large quantity of goals and similar equipment onsite.)
Large banners at Polo (2015) These banners and other similar banners were onsite at the facility for over 30 years. This picture once again demonstrates consistency.
Surf Banner (Surf and every other event runner has used temporary banners onsite since the facility opened.)
“Cause every event should have a giant pink flamingo.“ Polo, and every other event runner, regularly used portables and restroom trailers for their events for over 30 years. (October 9, 2015)
Porta-potties and popups. (Surf would love to build permanent bathrooms onsite for all to use. Until that day comes, portables are the only way to go.)
$10 Paid parking for Polo Events (2016) Polo and many events onsite charged for parking and attendance at their events for over 30 years. Once again, very consistent.
Paid parking (One of Surf’s only ways of earning revenue to support the facility is by charging usage and parking fees. The parking fees alone are barely enough to offset the facility utility bills.)