Why I love the Polo season
- Julia Stevens
- May 11, 2017
- 4 min read
'From the outside, the world of Polo seems almost impossibly glamorous: a private elite club of millionaires and royals, of champagne parties and horses. It is all these things, but look closer and there is so much more - it is a guts and glory high adrenalin sport, a world where a talented kid from the ghetto can rise to become a sought after sporting sensation, a lab for refinement of animal husbandry and the latest cloning techniques, a place where women battle men for a level playing field, where Adonis-like Argentinean gauchos rub shoulders with Irish horse traders and the future King of England shares jokes with grooms on work experience.'
Quote from the Sport of Kings film website.
Playing Polo may be associated with money but to watch a game of Polo is free (unless it is the final of a big tournament and then tickets cost £20.) Fortunately I live relatively close to the home of British Polo at Cowdray Park so I can spend many happy lazy summer days having a picnic with a game going on in the background.
For me with my love of the countryside and picnics watching a game of Polo at Cowdray in the rolling South Downs is the perfect setting for a leisurely afternoon. Not only do I get to enjoy the ambience of such a bucolic setting, I also get to people watch at the big tournaments.
The British Polo season runs from May until the end of August. For me there are 2 events I try to attend, the St Regis Cup International Polo match in May and the British Gold cup in July. The International match usually happens the same weekend as my local village fete so I have to try and squeeze in both on the same day. This year however I will trying something new and going to the Peper Harow point to point instead.
In May it is always a big gamble whether the weather will be sunny or raining and cold, you never know. In July we are more likely to be warm but again this is England! Hence the array of outfits from raincoats and wellies to summer dresses and high heels.
In my people watching (and eavesdropping ) capabilities, I overheard a conversation between 2 Russians at one of the games last year. My ears perked up because one of the two said...
" Today I am feeling kind. "
I wondered what he usually felt like! He went on ...
" Yesterday I received my British citizenship."
This made me happy. To think that he would feel kind because he associates being British with being kind. It reminded me of a comment I had from an Iraqi student I was working with a few years ago.
" You British treat your animals better than we treat our people at home. For us life is cheap."
So it is with curiosity that I people watch and listen in on conversations !
With time to fill before matches there are activities to be enjoyed such as learning to ride a penny farthing or listening to the trad jazz band that makes its way around the field playing for the spectators.
Half way through the match the spectators get to stretch their legs and walk their dogs on the polo field to help level the ground by treading in the divets that the flying hooves have dug up.
This dog obviously had a difference of opinion with its owner!
Lots of lovely Argentinians exercising ponies and playing the game. (With strange names such as Nacho!)
The St Regis International Polo game in May used to be a good one to watch because the teams were actually made up of their own countries players. Generally the Argentinians beat everyone else. But the British team are very strong and the North Americans and Middle East teams are getting stronger. Some good British players to watch last year were the El Romanso team, four English boys "with hearts like lions!"
(This International game held in May at Cowdray has not been played for the last couple of years. I guess the sponsors took their money elsewhere.)
Polo teams are very much like football teams with players made up of many nationalities, the best players going to the teams with the most money.
The Argentinian Heguy brothers used to be the ones to watch. Now it is the Pieres brothers, Facundo and Gonzalito.
For the past few years a Thai billionaire business man, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha has sponsored a team named King Power Foxes who won the Gold Cup. The owner of King Power Foxes is also the owner of Leicester city football club, hence last year, 2016, was a great one for him.
Major tournaments to watch out for this year are -
The Cartier Queens Cup at Windsor Gaurds club (Final Sunday 18th June)
Argentinian Ambassadors Cup 9th July
The JaegarLeCoultre Gold Cup at Cowdray Park in July (Final Sunday 23rd July)
I recommend going to quarter final matches if you want to watch for free. Or semi final match days because you get two games for the price of one!
Take some binoculars because the game is played at speed and is often at the other end of the field. It can be too fast to follow unless you watch it on the big screen.
There are those magic moments when the ball comes your way and hundreds of pounds of horse muscle come charging towards you. Or the thrill of watching a pony let loose to run as fast as it can, galloping at full speed down the field with the ground shaking as it flies past.
Here are 2 shots of my favourite pony. She's such a beauty.
When she comes thundering across the field I imagine what it will be like when Jesus returns. I know it sounds silly but I do, I think about a huge white horse, glorious and muscular. The book of Revelation describes it like this ..
... heaven opened and behold, a white horse appeared! The One who is riding it is called, Faithful, Trustworthy, Loyal, Incorruptible, Steady and True ... His eyes blaze like a flame of fire. ( Revelation Chapter 19)
The sport of Kings and the King of Kings. With that unusual thought, happy polo season everyone.
Comments