World of polo

Winston Churchill once remarked that a polo handicap is a passport to the world. His quote is more apt today than at any other time in the sport’s 2,000-year history. The sport is no longer confined to the sporting elite in Europe, the USA or South America, but is played in many more countries worldwide. Along with such expansion comes choice. Today’s players, be they professional or amateur, have the option of playing on sand, snow or grass in some of the world’s most exotic locations.

One of the most unusual places to play in 2013 is surely Iran. Although polo was banned in the country after the Iranian revolution of 1979, it was resurrected in the Nineties and has experienced a recent resurgence of popularity. Iran now boasts a national federation with links to the Federation of International Polo (FIP) and some five clubs. One such venue can be found south-east of Tehran. Qasr-e Firouze Chowgan Club hosts matches and tournaments every week and has around 150 members, both men and women, although the latter have to follow the strict Islamic dress code. Of course, a political message is never far away in this country and a large picture of its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei looms over the field, reminding all Iranians to engage in ‘sports that are home-grown, such as polo, which is Iranian’. Persia was indeed the birthplace of polo and this revival is simply the sport returning appositely to its roots. As one player explained in a recent interview: ‘The authorities encourage the game because it was born in Iran.’

However, third-generation player Amirali Zolfaghari admits that the game is not yet accessible to everyone. ‘You need money to buy and maintain a horse and to purchase the equipment. But our federation is doing everything it can to attract young people. It provides horses and equipment for beginners and we have set up four or five clubs in order to improve the standing of the national team.’

Just 800 miles south of Qasr-e Firouze Chowgan Club, polo is already thriving. This is in Dubai – one of the sport’s biggest success stories of recent years. Alongside the rapid expansion of this emirate, many enthusiastic patrons, including the Al Habtoor brothers, Ali Albwardy and Saeed Bin Drai, have developed the game so that there is now an excellent choice of venues and a bank of home-grown players. Testament to the success of the game is Mohammed Al Habtoor’s confirmation that the Habtoor Gold Cup will be played off 18 goals in 2015. Added to that, one Argentine professional compared Dubai to Palm Beach, saying: ‘When you take into account the fact that polo is growing here

Opposite Players on the snow fields of St Moritz, Switzerland. This page, from top The polo fields of Iran’s Qasr-e Firouze Chowgan Club, in the Alborz foothills south-east of Tehran; the Chowgan Club women’s team conform to Iran’s Islamic dress code

every year and that the game is attracting a high standard of player, it’s not far off Palm Beach.’ Tournament founder Al Habtoor is confident about the success of his event, saying: ‘My objective is to reach a maximum of 20 goals.’

Ali Albwardy and his high-goal polo team Dubai are already well known in the UK, thanks to their successes in the Queen’s and Gold Cups. However, as well as playing in prestigious, high-goal events in Europe, Albwardy has created first-class polo facilities in Dubai. His Desert Palm Resort and Polo Club offers excellent grounds and horses, as well as a luxury hotel, making it ideal for player R&R. It also plays host to several leading tournaments, including the Cartier International Dubai Polo Challenge. As Neil Hobday, CEO of Guards Polo Club in the UK and organiser of Cartier International events around the world, says: ‘Ali Albwardy’s passion for the game, combined with Cartier’s unerring eye for style and luxury, has created a wonderful

oasis of polo at Desert Palm. In fact, it’s the benchmark for all of Cartier’s international events around the globe.’

Included in Cartier’s ‘necklace of sporting events’ is China, more specifically Beijing. As in Iran, polo has been off the agenda here for years, but has experienced a resurgence. But the Chinese are reclaiming their equine heritage, no more so than on the polo field. Liu Shilai, the founder of Tang Polo Club on the outskirts of Beijing, has seen his club recognised by FIP, thanks to the quality of his grounds. With several Chinese members and an impressive fixtures list, including the China Open and the Cartier International China Polo Challenge, Tang Polo Club, one of three clubs in Beijing, is thriving. However, what sets Liu Shilai apart from his Chinese peers is that he has played the game around the world, from Argentina to the UK. As he told the China Daily: ‘It is the sport that fascinates me, not the social intercourse. I love polo because it is hard to play, it requires speed and it is full of passion.’ Head north from Beijing and you will come to another polo hot spot: Tianjin. This is home to the impressive Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club. Opened in 2010, this remarkable venue offers great facilities plus another impressive fixture list, with events on both grass and snow. With Australian Derek Reid – a former polo manager at Guards Polo Club, at the helm – the polo regularly attracts many big names from the sport, including NZ international JP Clarkin and England international James Beim. Last year, the HPA sent over two teams for the Club’s Fortune Heights Super Nations Cup, in which the England team lost out in the sub-final while their under-16 counterparts lost out in the final.

The standard of play and facilities at the Metropolitan would impress even polo-weary Argentines. Matías Zavaleta, an experienced 7-goaler who played in the recent Maserati Metropolitan Polo Classic enthuses: ‘We have been made so welcome here in Tianjin. Rarely have we seen a polo club with facilities like these; we have enjoyed both polo and luxurious living

Below, from left The Jnan Amar Polo Challenge, near Marrakech, Morocco; players at the Tseleevo Polo Club, north of Moscow, Russia

firmly established the FIP Snow Polo World Cup at Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club. Wherever the challenge, the sport is ready for this development, as some of the biggest names in polo, including Eduardo Novillo Astrada, Glen Gilmore, JP Clarkin and Chris Hyde are experienced competitors on the white stuff.

A snow venue becoming firmly fixed on every player’s radar is Russia. The Russian Open Snow Polo Championship is proving popular and there is never any shortage of the right kind of weather. Today’s players are following in the footsteps of AFB patron Clive Reid, who won the Imperia Snow Cup in Moscow in 2006 alongside Jack Kidd and Victor Huaco. These days, the Tseleevo Golf and Polo Club, 42km north of Moscow, is the venue for both the snow polo and the summer’s Russian Polo Open, now in its eighth year. With Ben Vestey umpiring and Sebastián Amaya on the field in 2013, it is clear that Russia is successfully re-establishing its polo roots. Another nation rediscovering its polo ancestry is Morocco, although polo was first played here only in the Twenties, after which it tailed off. Now interest has been renewed and, earlier this year, Oliver Ellis, former polo manager at Guards Polo Club, teamed up with Eve Branson (mother of Sir Richard) to create the Jnan Amar Polo Challenge, near Marrakech. Players such as Fred Mannix Jnr, Mariano Uranga and Santiago Novillo Astrada played alongside locals such as Lieutenant Sidi Mohamed El Mhamdi and Sergeant Ahmed Bentaib, offering the perfect platform to regenerate interest among both players and spectators.

It is a similar story in Malaysia, where HRH Prince Abdullah Sultan Ahmed Shah, Crown Prince of Pahang, is inspiring a new generation of players. The president of the Royal Malaysian Polo Association, he is also an avid player of the global game. With more than 200 players now registered with the association and a burgeoning fixtures list, Malaysia is once more very firmly on the polo map. Beach polo is taking off globally, too, attracting big sponsors and key players. Major British tournaments, including those at Sandbanks in Dorset, Watergate Bay in Cornwall and on Jersey are now regularly scheduled into players’ diaries. Once seen as a bit of light relief from the regular game, beach polo is becoming as big as its grass cousin. Global events such as the La Martina Miami Beach Polo on Florida’s famous South Beach, will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2014, and household names such as Nacho Figueras have put this version of polo on the world map. Mexico is hot on the heels of its neighbour, with the country’s white sands making the perfect polo backdrop.

One major result of this increased interest in the sport is that polo is now played around the world almost 365 days a year. With such diverse surfaces, players are spoilt for choice as to where and what they play on. However, one thing is clear – the standard is continually rising, so players will have to stay at the top of their game to ensure a chukka or two.