Issue 194

Hundred + 94th Edition

CLASHING OF MALLETS, AT THE FINALS

The finals of the Rajputana and Central Indian Cup, a10-goal tournament, featured a dramatic match between the champion players of Rajnigandha Achievers and Vimal Arion, with both teams vying for victory.

Image: RK Singh/ @rkpolophoto

Brunei Royals in Polo

LA POLO traces the legacy of Polo in the Brunei Royal family, with a special section on the talented sibling duo Prince Abdul Mateen and Princess Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah.

Fair Plays and Umpires

Many sporting activities need a sort of trustworthy, reliable shepherd to guide the proceedings of the game. The umpire bears responsibility for enforcing the rules of the sport. In this piece, we trace the legacy of some of the most prominent umpires in Polo.

Claude Monet

Considered a doyen of the French art world, Monet heralded the Impressionist movement. Monet’s work completely revolutionised art history. France recently marked the 96th death anniversary of Claude Monet, LaPolo celebrates his artistic legacy.

The HH Maharaja of Jodhpur Cup featured a series of glorious matches, with the Vimal Arion Team taking home, the championship trophy, displaying magnetism on the Polo fields.

BRUNEI ROYALS IN POLO

LA POLO traces the legacy of Polo in the Brunei Royal family, with a special section on the talented sibling duo Prince Abdul Mateen and Princess Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah.

Since antiquity, Polo has been known to be the game of Kings and so it has always had a quaint royal touch to it. For centuries it has enjoyed continued patronage among the ruling class. In pre-modern times it was thought of as a simulating past-time, that challenged players to rapidly adapt to the everchanging conditions on the field. The prime reason for the sport’s popularity with royals has been linked to the mental, and to a certain extent, the physical demands of the game, skills that are

also required to be exhibited on a battlefield. It was therefore considered a fitting pastime for the warrior class.

While a number of royal families across the world still patronize the sport, very few have members of their families participating and excelling in it. Of those, the Brunei royal family has long considered itself a staple in the polo world. A tour d’horizon of the royal

family’s legacy in the sport, with a special section on the talented sibling duo Prince Abdul Mateen and Princess Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah.

HISTORY OF BRUNEI’S ROYAL FAMILY

The royal family of Brunei can trace its roots back to the late fourteenth century. While very little is known of the family’s early history due to the unavailability of official

records, it is known that the kingdom was ruled by a succession of powerful emperors. At its height, the family had controlled a thriving empire in southeast Asia. While it was centred in Brunei, the territories it controlled covered vast swathes of coastal land in the northern Borneo region and the Philippines. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the empire witnessed a steady decline after much of its territories fell to European colonial powers. In the 19th century, after centuries of decline, the empire finally ceased to exist as it ceded to British colonial power.

In 1984, nearly a century later, Brunei became an independent nation governed by the national tradition of Islamic Monarchy and with the strong involvement of the royal family. Its current ruler, Prime Minister Hassanal Bolkiah, a member of the House of

Bolkiah that descends from the first sultan of the dynasty, holds various portfolios in the government like finance and defence. While the sultan has been known for his revolutionary vision on the public policy side, little has been said for his love of sports, especially polo. In his younger

years, the sultan was an active member of the polo circuit, and at one point even played on the side of the 61st Cavalry Indian Army team. In recent years, he has been known to regularly attend polo events, especially after two of his children took up competitive polo. Additionally, a few years back,

on the occasion of the sultan’s 70th birthday celebrations, a friendly polo match had been organised between the Brunei team and the 61st Cavalry Indian Army team, as an ode to his long association with the latter. The sultan had specially taken time out for this particular match, despite his tight schedule. A testimony to his passion for polo.

BRUNEI’S VERSION OF THE BRITISH ROYALS: PRINCE MATEEN AND PRINCESS AZEMAH BOLKIAH

While a lot of members from Brunei’s royal family have competed on the national polo team, only the brother-sister duo of Prince Abdul Mateen and Princess Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah has been able to leave a lasting legacy on the sport.

Prince Abdul Mateen, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah’s fourth son, has been known to excel in a plethora of sporting activities. His social media accounts are a testament to a wide array of interests like golf, football, and martial arts among others. But Polo is his mainstay. As a

member of Brunei’s national polo team has competed in a number of international polo events including the prestigious Southeast Asian Games (SEA). While he is sixth in line to the oil-rich nation’s throne, his royal links make no difference to his participation on the field. Despite the encompassing regal aura, the Prince often emphasises that his royal heritage has little influence on the pitch. When talking about competing with family members on the field, especially his sister Princess Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah, he mentions that they have been very old teammates, and that family considerations hardly ever come up. The trick, he emphasises, is to treat your sibling as a teammate. The young royal is fiercely devoted to polo and says he hopes to drive his team’s quest for a gold medal at top polo championships across the globe. A few years back, he had also been part of the team that had a fantastic run at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA) in Malaysia and ended up with a bronze medal at the tournament. ‘A stepping stone

to achieving that dream’ he asserts.

Brunei has had a long passion for excellence in polo, but that was only to the extent that it concerned men. Breaking the mold is another young royal, Princess Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah. The daughter of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei and his second wife, Mariam Aziz, Azemah has followed in the footsteps of her father. Of the changing environment that beckons more women into the sport, she regularly touches upon the idea that Brunei is moving in a positive direction in terms of gender equality, but that more would need to be done. ‘ We need more women playing.’, she quips. Despite her lack of experience during her initial few outings, Azemah quickly adapted and has since been representing the Brunei team at high-profile international tournaments. Along with her brother, she too had been part of the national team that competed at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA) in Malaysia and had played a pivotal role in the team’s winning of the bronze medal.

TURF GAMES CHRISTMAS CUP, 2022

The city of Mumbai, will witness the Turf Games Christmas,2022 from 20th December to 24th December. With the support of Maharashtra Tourism, the turf games events and entertainment aim to change the paradigm of how sports are perceived in India. The day’s spectacular events will take place at the Mahalaxmi race track. “Our mission is to introduce the youth of this nation to this heritage sport and revive this forgotten game, as well as place this sport of Polo back as India’s rich cultural sport and ensure India is placed on the global platform of Polo, and a country with a Polo team to recon with,” says the promoter, Ms. Sonam Gupta.

POLO

https://www.snowpolo-stmoritz.com/previous-events/tournament-2022/photos/

The new series of the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz, will take place from 27 to 29 January 2023, The Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz is the world’s only high-goal tournament on snow. The 37th edition of the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz, 2022 featured an intriguing match between the titans of Polo, clashing at great heights, giving the illusion that the angels are in a battle. The Azerbaijan Land Of Fire, won the title and were crowned as the winners of the Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz, 2022.

https://www.alhabtoorpoloresortandclub.com/album/10217/sir-winston-churchill-cup-2022

SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL CUP AT

The Sir Winston Churchill Cup will be held at the Al Habtoor Polo Resort and Club from December 10th to December 18th, 2022. The four-day tournaments saw some of the best polo teams compete for the trophy and prize money, with Habtoor Polo eventually taking the victory and the trophy home, defeating the team of Bin Arai with an 8-to-4 score.

https://www.alhabtoorpoloresortandclub.com/album/10217/sir-winston-churchill-cup-2022#lg=1&slide=1

Team Ghantoot carries the crown yet again

The Emirates Polo Championship International was held from December 10 to December 17, 2022, under the patronage of the great HH Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who also serves as the club’s chairman. The match, which was won by team Ghantoot for the second time in a row, with an score of 7 goals

POLO SEASON BEGINS AT THE BLUE CITY

The 23rd edition of the Jodhpur Polo Season will be hosted this year from December 6 to December 31. The championship will be held at the Maharaja Haj Singh Sports Foundation Polo Ground. The season will begin with the Umaid Bhavan Palace Cup PoLo, a four-goal match, from Dec 6 to 8, followed by the HH Maharaja of Jodhpur cup, an eight-goal tournament from December 14 to 18, the Maharaja of Jodhpur Golden Jubilee Cup from December 19 to 24, a ten goal tournament, backed by The Rajputana and Central Indian Cup from

FairandPlays UMPIRES

Many sporting activities need a sort of trustworthy, reliable shepherd to guide the proceedings of the game. In this piece, we trace the legacy of some of the most prominent umpires in Polo.

Anative of Argentina, Dorignac’s father is the legendary Gaston Dorignac (Sr.), an Argentine Open winner. Before devoting himself to umpiring, Dorignac had a 20-year-long association with polo as a professional player. A resident of Madrid, Spain, he has for long officiated as the president of the Spanish Polo Referees Association. Apart from that Dorignac holds a category A designation from the

Asociación Argentina de Polo and is qualified to officiate at a maximum handicap level of 40 goals. Dorignac’s time on an umpire’s horseback began in 1996, and by 1999 he was already umpiring in Argentina’s Triple Crown of Polo at Tortugas, Hurlingham and Palermo. By the close of 1999, he had the honour of officiating at seven of the eight games played in the Argentine Open in Palermo, including the much-anticipated final. As of late 2020, he has umpired more than 20 finals in the

Triple Crown, including six in Palermo, as well as eight King’s Cup finals in Madrid, eight finals in the Puerta de Hierro, five Sotogrande Gold Cups and numerous international tournaments.

ALEJANDRO GARCIA DEL RIO

Garcia Del Rio has been involved with polo for a long time. An Argentinian, like many of his countrymen, he grew up on a bucolic countryside farm, playing polo

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with his father and two elder brothers. He had a six-goal handicap as a professional player.

In his early 20s, Garcia Del Rio moved to Chile with his father to work in the advertising sector. But his calling for polo soon resulted in him having to travel constantly to participate in tournaments across different countries. In the mid-1980s, he was invited to play in an eight-goal tournament in Newport, Rhode Island. It was

the youngster’s very first tournament in the US, and he won. During his polo career, Alejandro competed in most of the prestigious tournaments the USPA has to offer. After years spent travelling back and forth between Argentina, Chile and the United States, he decided to call the latter home. During his time in the US, Garcia Del Rio has been involved in building polo clubs from scratch and single-handedly growing skilled teams. After gaining years of experience in both playing and umpiring polo, he joined the USPA Umpires in 2019, to guide a new generation of players to glory in the sport.

FERGUS GOULD

A third-generation Australian player, Gould has always wanted to explore the magic of polo beyond the bounds of his countryside hometown of Goondiwindi in Australia. His first breakthrough came when he travelled to Britain right after finishing school, which eventually paved his path to a successful career in umpiring. Gould took a year off before

starting university, to play at Cowdray Park Polo Club in England, but it turned into nearly five years. He did thereafter head to the Massey University of New Zealand for one year to study veterinary science but gave up on academics considering that by

then he had long realised his passion for polo. During his professional playing career that lasted for about 15 years, he went on to lift several prestigious titles including the Australian Open, the Queensland Gold Cup and the Canadian Open. He stopped

competing professionally in 2015. Before plunging himself completely into the area of umpiring, he had undertaken rookie umpiring around the world, particularly in France and Malaysia. He also umpired many of the FIP World Polo Championship qualifiers in the Dominican Republic and most recently the finals in Chile and Australia. Apart from that he also umpired the Snow Polo World Cup in Tianjin, China. Gould turned to full-time umpiring with USPA. He has been the US Western Regional Umpire Director since 2019.

STEVE EVANS

Steve Evans is a native of Johannesburg, South Africa. As a young boy, he grew up playing polo with his father and two younger brothers, Steve eventually reached a 4-goal handicap as a player. Despite finding recognition as a player, Evans found his calling in umpiring. Steve was introduced to umpiring by the late, great Tim Keyte, who inspired him to pursue a

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career in umpiring. Throughout his career, he has umpired in numerous countries, including England, New Zealand, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Zambia and Zimbabwe among others. He is currently the head of umpiring for the South African Polo Association. Outside of his life as an umpire, Evans jointly owns a polo mallet manufacturing enterprise with his wife, called

the Proline Polo.

ROBIN SANCHEZ

While polo umpiring has always been considered a bastion of male dominance, Sanchez might beg to differ here. She’s part of a new wave of women umpires ushering in an era of greater gender equality in Polo. Robin Sanchez grew up receiving training under some of the most renowned coaches of all

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time – including Corky Linfootg, Graham Thomas and Rege Ludwig among others. Even as a young player, Sanchez had always dreamt of having the ability to pass on the magic of the sport to the younger generation. She achieved that by coaching the Florida Junior Polo program from 2000-2007 to success.

Apart from that, she has also been credited with efficiently running several polo clubs across the U.S. Interestingly, she spent many years as a Field Director for the Polo Training Foundation.

She is a Certified Horsemanship Association Master Instructor and ACI certifier, an AQHA Professional Horseman, and a Hurlingham Polo Association certified overseas polo instructor. She is a CPR/First Aid/AED Instructor and an ASEP certified sports coach. Sanchez has also been trained as an EMT and an ImPACT test proctor. Presently, she is a professional umpire with the USPA, having played an instrumental role in the growth of the Texas Arena League.

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Equines Around The World

The Polo, if not the oldest, is one of the oldest sports to be played today. What initially began as a combination of war training and light competition, is now one of the most respected sports to be played. First being played in Persia, the sport was then introduced to India via Muslim rulers. India, then being a colony of Britishers, introduced the game to its colonizers, who, being well trained equestrians, were enthralled by the sport and took it as another opportunity to flex their skills. The game soon spread to all of Europe and the United States. The popularity of Polo has now grown to unprecedented heights with the participation of about 50 nations. Since the game, which is already dynamic in every way, also has intimate ties to the equestrian community, it is reasonable to assume that both have a ripple effect on one another. So that you can benefit from spillover effects, we at La Polo take it upon ourselves to keep you informed of every little thing that happens in the equestrian world.

equines around the world - Bing images

DECEMBER 16, LAST DATE FOR EQUINE CENSUS

About 29,000 Irish farmers who are registered with the Department of Agriculture have been given until December 16 to submit their horse census. As of or on November 30, 2022, anyone owning any kind of equine, including horses, zebras, or mules, must submit a complete census record.

HHRF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DR PEBBLES TURBEVILLE RECEIVES JAMES BRADY AWARD

The attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan’s press secretary, James Brady, left him crippled after being shot. Therapeutic riding was then used as a part of his physical treatment. To honor his valor, the James Brady Award is given to people who have made significant contributions to ethical leadership, service, and promotion in the field of equine assisted services (EAS), as well as to EAS opportunities through their innovative ideas and activities. Through teaching in higher education, leading seminars, and attending conferences, the recipient’s greatest contribution has been to ignite passion and create brilliant professionals for the sector.

Prestigious award for leading equine assisted therapy advocateHorsetalk.co.nz

SENATE BILL BRINGS RELIEF FOR EQUINE WORKERS

With the recent revisions to the Affordable and Secure Food Act, equine workers now have a path to citizenship, they are now qualified for H-2A visas rather than H-2B visas, and a wage structure has been established to assist farm owners in preventing their operating costs from spiraling out of control. Equine workers, who are currently exclusively eligible for H-2B visas, would be included in a measure incorporating H-2A visas for the first time.

‘THE STABLE LIFE’ TO HELP EQUINE PRACTICES TO THRIVE

Boehringer Ingelheim has introduced “The Stable Life,” an initiative that offers tools and resources that practitioners can use to make their practises flourish and reduce the exit rate of the veterans, in an effort to address the twin issues of a lack of new equine veterans and the current veterans leaving. According to the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), just a small percentage of school graduates choose to specialize in equine medicine, and of those who do, 50% quit the field for small animal practice and some leave the field entirely only after 5 years

Dublin Horse Show on Instagram: “On this freezing Friday, why not think to the warmer days of next summer, August 9-13, 2023 when the 148th #dublin horse show will take place…”

Claude Monet

Considered a doyen of the French art world, Monet heralded the Impressionist movement. Monet’s work completely revolutionised art history. France recently marked the 96th death anniversary of Claude Monet, LaPolo celebrates his artistic legacy.

If you happened to live in the quaint little town of Giverny sometime in the later half-nineteenth century, you might have come across an old man, with a characteristically flowy saltpepper beard, swiftly strolling down one of the many cobblestones lanes crisscrossing the town. Accompanying him on his outings were his prized easel and white canvas board,

plucked out of a drab studio setting and pitched into a vividly hued natural setting, that became the inspiration for his epoch-defining paintings. Each of his many wondrous paintings was the result of his ability to paint nature which reflected the delicate balance of time and light. Considered a doyen of the French art world, Claude Monet was the demiurge of the Impressionist movement. Monet’s work completely revolutionised art

history.

EARLY YEARS OF HIS LIFE

Oscar Claude Monet, popularly known as Claude Monet, was born on 14 November 1840 in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. He was the second son of Claude Adolphe Monet and Louise Justine Aubrée Monet, both second-generation Parisians. Five years after his birth, the family moved to Le Havre in Normandy, and it was here that Monet spent a substantial part of his childhood and early adulthood. From a very young age, Monet showed a

Endo, A Blind Horse, Creates Three World Records (ndtv.com)

natural skill for art, that become known through his deftly sketched caricatures of his family and acquaintances. Although his mother encouraged her son’s blooming passion for art, his father was opposed to it and instead wanted Monet to follow him into the family trade of ship-chandling.

Even as a young child, Monet held the liveliness of the natural outdoors close to his heart. He would often venture out and spend hours taking in the idyllic radiance of the countryside, which would later be reflected in his paintings. Despite his father’s resistance, he plunged

himself into the world of painting. He took his first art lessons from JacquesFrançois Ochard, a one-time student of Jacques-Louis David. During his artistically nascent years, he came across fellow artist Eugène Boudin, who took Monet under his wings. Boudin regularly took Monet out on outdoor painting excursions and encouraged him to refine his outdoor painting techniques.

Monet continued his art studies at the Académie Suisse, which had been disrupted when he was called to serve in the military wing, Chasseurs d’Afrique in Algeria. His time in the

country had a powerful effect on the artist. Monet would later be quoted as saying, “the light and vivid colours of North Africa contained the gem of my future research.” Once again, his time in Algeria was marred by illness forcing him to finish the remainder of his service in France. After his release from the military, Monet returned to Paris and began his apprenticeship in the Swiss artist Charles Gleyre’s studio, where he

eventually met fellow Impressionists Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Frédéric Bazille. It was during this period, he painted one of his most popular works, Le déjeuner sur l’herbe, considered to be the most important painting of Monet’s early period. Despite his astounding talent, he constantly relied on the financial support of his wellwishers to run his affairs.

LATER YEARS OF HIS LIFE

To avoid being conscripted into the army during the onset of the Franco-Prussian War, Monet moved to England. While living in London, he met his potential art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, an encounter that heralded more visibility for his work. His time there also brought him in contact with British artist J.M.W Turner’s works. Monet admired Turner’s brilliant ability to delicately capture

light. Most notably, he was in awe of Turner’s work depicting the morning mist gently floating over the Thames. This fuelled his passion for producing work that captured different points of view in a natural outdoor setting. His favourites were working with shimmering reflections in the water, and rays of sunshine piercing through tree canopies. Upon his return to Paris, after the self-imposed exile, he even acquired a sailboat to set up a floating studio on the river Sienne to replicate Turner’s style.

Over time, Durand-Ruel’s support of Monet and his peers began to wane. As a result, these artists grouped themselves to showcase their art independently, earning a reputation for deploying artistic techniques that didn’t align with the mainstream art world. At one of the earliest exhibitions of the group’s works, Monet displayed, among others, Impression, Sunrise, The Luncheon and Boulevard des Capucines. It opened the hostile public reviews, with art critic Louis

Leroy taking particular notice of Impression, Sunrise (1872), a hazy depiction of Le Havre port and stylistic detour, condescendingly terming it “Impressionism”. Though he regretted it later, Leroy had inadvertently given name to an incipient art movement that dramatically transformed the nineteenth-century art world. Despite continued public disapproval, Monet and his fellow impressionist artists continued to produce evocative artworks, that dazzle to this day.

As he approached old age, Monet began living in Giverny,

where he purchased a dainty cottage nestled in the bucolic country landscape. Here, he cultivated his garden supplemented with a water-lily pond, that inspired several of his last known works. His paintings of the water lilies in his garden itself occupied him continuously for the last thirty years of his life.

Monet died of lung cancer on 5 December 1926 at the ripe old age of 86, leaving a rich artistic legacy that will forever remain unmatched.

MONET’S MOST CONSEQUENTIAL WORK: WATER LILLIES

Water Lilies is one of Claude Monet’s best paintings, so enamoured was he with them that by the time of his death, Monet had a gigantic collection of water lilies paintings, constituting around 250 paintings in all. Many of the works were painted while Monet suffered from severe cataracts. In 1893, after settling down in Giverny, Monet bought a piece of land in front of his cottage. Here, he decided to

create a Japanese-style minimalist flower garden featuring a pond brimming with water lilies. Secluded from the outside world, he conjured up the most exquisitely crafted pieces of art. His works have sold for jaw dropping prices, with Meules (Haystacks), becoming the first painting from the Impressionist movement to surpass $100 million. Today, the paintings are displayed at museums all over the world, with a sizable chunk of them available for viewing at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris.