High Octane Horse Power in Fulham
The sun shone on this year’s Polo in the Park as South America edged an enthralling International Match
Article by Rupert Watkins. Photos by Deniz Karagulle
Hurlingham Park basked in the sun for the first day of this year’s Chestertons Polo in the Park. An overflowing corporate tent and a crowd that swelled appreciably later in the day were treated to a feast of polo, including the first International Match to be held at the Hurlingham since the Second World War.
Played to a hybrid version of both full pitch and arena rules, Polo in the Park has grown hugely as more professional medium and high goal players are lured to take part in this fun and entertaining event. This was proven by a quick check round the pony lines; the game has got faster and with more of the players bringing their full first string ponies, over 300 horses will be used by the players over the entire weekend.
The early matches, Dublin vs Hong Kong and Davos vs Lagos saw some strong play, Max Charlton (7) for Hong Kong and Australian Ruki Bailleu (7) for Davos standing out on some very fast ponies. Unfortunately for the home crowd, the MINT London team was overwhelmed 4 -7 by Abu Dhabi, the London team including George Meyrick (6) and Malcom Borwick (6) not quite gelling their passes together in the early chukkas. The problems of playing outdoors with an arena ball were also clear as the ball bounced over mallet heads and players sometimes struggled to control their longer shots.
The International Match, with both teams rated 18, was the final match of the day. The England team was led by Test Match captain James Beim (7) also included Matt Perry (6) and Tom Morley (5). Chatting before the match, James – in his first Polo in the Park – described it, “as a great advertisement for the game”, though commented on the issues he’d spotted teams having controlling that pesky arena ball.
The match started very fast, and there was an appreciable and palpable rise in the quality of the play with Matt Perry starting brightly and continuing his form into the second chukka with some lovely shots. However, some stunning defending and excellent near side clearing shots allowed the South American team to absorb England’s attacks with half time seeing the teams evening matched, South America leading 3 – 2.
The second half saw some excellent long attacking shots by all the South American players taking them up to 4 – 3 in the third chukka. With the breeze picking up as the shadows lengthened across the pitch, captain James showed his composure with some excellent play and equalised 4 – 4 for England with some excellent close near side control to guide the ball through the South American goal. James had some cracking runs in the final chukka as England sought to again catch up with a South America long range 2 pointer, a last gasp penalty shot for England in the last 35 seconds of the game not quite finding the goal. Nonetheless a wonderful and palpitating match, with South America winning 6 - 4. As the spoils, in a lovely nod to the past, the trophy was the Olympic one played for up until 1939 (polo stopped being an Olympic sport after that).
Ladies Day today is booked out though there are still some tickets available for Sunday. For a cracking day in what looks to be fab weekend weather, get down to Hurlingham Park. 