Online Guide to the main events of the English POLO season FINANCIAL TIMES SPECIAL REPORT | Saturday May 26 2012 ft.com/polo www.ft.com/polo | twitter.com/ftreports Rule changes promise exciting season Patrons have rethought teams, raising expectations of a year of surprises, writes Bob Sherwood he English high-goal polo sea- son is shaping up to be one of the most open and unpredicta- ble for years, with all of the 16 Tor so teams that will compete at the top level having undergone significant reshuffles of professional players this year. Add to that the return of one of polo’s great forces, Ellerston – whose patron is James Packer, son of Kerry Packer, the late Australian media tycoon and polo enthusiast – to UK high goal for the first time since 2008, and expectations of a classic season have rarely been higher. Unusually, polo insiders have been loath to make predictions. Even the professionals chose to sit on the fence when contributing to the annual Polo Times predictions for the season. “So many teams and combinations have changed that it is difficult to know how it’s going to turn out,” says Max Routledge, the 21-year-old five- goal professional and one of the Eng- lish game’s rising stars. Alterations to handicaps forced Alterations designed to speed up the game and stop the best players from hogging the ball have contributed to some surprising results Reuters some of the changes. However, Routledge believes changes to polo’s best option. The combined handicap of includes Luke Tomlinson, the Eng- Cartier, the jewellery maker, switched rule book in 2011, designed to speed a high-goal team must not exceed 22. land captain. Inside this issue its backing from the International up the game and stop the strongest “Before it was two big players and a One potential cloud that threatened Gulf The United Arab Emirates’ China The country is once again Day at Guards, the biggest attended professional from hogging possession lesser player. But Zacara won the to cast a shadow over the season also casual polo scene is a hit with playing the ancient game that polo event of the year, to the Queen’s of the ball, have forced patrons to Gold Cup last year with a strong seems to have lifted. Early in the ex-pats Page 2 originated on the plains of Asia along Cup, one of the top two high-goal rethink their sides. three-man team. Now it is not so year, diplomatic relations between the the famed silk routes Page 4 tournaments. The changes were credited with much about blocking and it is going UK and Argentina became frayed Australia Laid-back approach That left a gap for sponsorship of leading to some surprise results last to be much more about three strong ahead of the 30th anniversary of the matches the local mood Page 2 Interview Lyndon Lea, co-founder the international event. Woodd con- year – notably the Zacara team’s vic- players,” Routledge says. Falklands conflict. of Lion Capital, is a passionate cedes the task of finding a sponsor tory in the Gold Cup. Previously, the Routledge will join the brothers In the midst of the tensions, the Competitions Playing for your player whose Zacara team was not helped by the 2012 London best players were able to keep posses- Nico and Facundo Pieres at La Bamba England team was due to play at the country is not always the pinnacle won last year’s Gold Cup and the Olympics. “The Olympics has eaten sion of the ball by continually chang- de Areco, one of the strongest teams famous Palermo polo grounds in Bue- of the game Page 3 recent US Open Page 5 up a huge amount [of sponsorship],” ing direction to avoid tackles, a tactic in recent years, and likely to be so nos Aires, which is owned by the he says. that often won them penalties. again this year. Argentine military. To head off any Different formats Fresh ideas are Hardcourt bike polo Urban However, Audi, the carmaker that But the altered rules stopped play- Aficionados say much will depend potential trouble, the English team helping to make polo more hipsters are reinventing the already sponsors the England ers turning if an opponent was follow- on the improvement of Nico Pieres, was asked to play as the “rest of the accessible Page 3 game Page 5 national team, recently announced a ing closely, forcing more backhand who has captured much attention and world”. deal to back a new series of interna- shots and consequently more changes joins the team in place of his other “They [the Argentine polo authori- tionals, called the Audi International of possession. brother, Gonzalito, who has switched ties] were very grateful and we were Polo Series. This will include not only Routledge thinks this altered team to Ellerston. not too fussed as there was no spon- Falkland’s conflict in the 1980s, when no animosity between British and the International day at Guards in dynamics in such a way that the Zacara are again expected to prove sorship involved,” says David Woodd, Argentines stopped travelling to the Argentine players,” he says. July but also new internationals at standard format of two strong players challenging, while Salkeld, the team chief executive of the Hurlingham UK, Woodd insists the raised tensions Another high-profile issue that was Beaufort Polo Club in Gloucestershire plus a weaker professional to help out of patron Nick Clarke, has reportedly Polo Association, the sport’s govern- will have little impact on the sport. resolved recently was the question of and Chester Racecourse Polo Club in by blocking opponents, along with the been lining up new horses. It will ing body in the UK. “It would have to get a lot worse sponsorship for prime events. patron, is no longer necessarily the undoubtedly attract support as it Unlike the disruption caused by the before it really affected polo. There is After 27 years of sponsorship, Continued on Page 2 2 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES SATURDAY MAY 26 2012 Polo Changes promise exciting season Continued from Page 1 Cheshire, the latter being outside the traditional ven- ues for the sport. “This will allow a new audience to witness and enjoy the thrills of interna- tional polo,” says Richard Thomas, chief executive of Chester racecourse. It is not the only non-tra- ditional venue for polo, of course. Alternative forms of the game have made strides in recent years, including the Polo in the Park tourna- ment at west London’s Hurlingham Park, the Gau- cho International at the city’s O2 arena and the Brit- ish Beach Polo Champion- ships, held at Sandbanks in Dorset. Yet while the top end might be poised for a poten- tially classic season, lower levels of polo are feeling the pinch in the tough eco- Players in the pipeline: a band performs at the recent Cartier International Dubai Polo Challenge, one of the United Arab Emirates’ most prestigious tournaments Getty nomic climate. The HPA expects player numbers in the UK to remain steady at about 3,000. Dubai club belies desert city’s reputation But, Woodd says, “partici- pation has held up quite well at the top and bottom Continuing on through In Dubai, which has a ten- expatriate visiting the club Dubai would mean the the game in a way that within weeks, the Gulf’s end – but it could be Gulf the desert you find a fully- dency to turn even the most for the first time. Her two event would be “a bit over occasionally raises eye- notorious summer will because the middle is slip- functioning autodrome, the pedestrian of life’s moments children play on an inflata- the top”. Instead, she is brows among the regulars. make these kinds of days a ping downwards. If low-goal The UAE’s casual headquarters of the Interna- into a platform for extrava- ble castle nearby while she taken aback by how relaxed Casual or first-time visi- distant memory. After the participation is increasing, polo scene is a tional Cricket Council and a gance, a day at the polo is a sits on the patio of the club- it all feels. tors tend to stick to the season closes, match play at it is because it is stealing multipurpose sports sta- surprisingly casual affair. house with a group of On this day in April, the clubhouse side of the field, the club is over until mid- hit with ex-pats, dium that hosts interna- “It’s one of the most pop- friends and watches as the club is hosting its end-of- seated at shaded tables October, as is the prospect David Woodd writes Tom Gara tional cricket matches. ular picnic destinations in season tournament, a series where waiters serve food of sustained periods out- says the And, if you set out to find the city – no other venue of matches played by teams and drink. doors when temperatures economic it, you will also find one of attracts the kind of people The sight of made up of the small The regulars, many of cross the 45-degree mark. downturn has o get to the Dubai Dubai's three polo clubs. that come to the club,” says families picnicking number of players that form them friends and family of “This is a family game, affected polo Polo & Equestrian The polo club is an Vasken Vartanian, its sales the backbone of the club. the players on the field, and from the time we start participation Club, a home for improbably low-key – verg- and marketing manager.