hurlinghampolo.com
48
G E O R G E G U N N / B E A U F O R T P O LO C LU B , K AT Y H AY WA R D
sport further. For £575, the west country
outfit offers 12 sessions (‘a combination of
one hour lessons, instructional chukkas and
club chukkas dependant on progress’) and
a full playing membership. Consider the fact
that one upmarket gym in London charges
£350 a month – not including the joining fee,
and personal training sessions at £130 per
hour – and suddenly playing polo to keep
active doesn’t seem quite so out of reach.
As well as complete beginners with no
riding experience, there is also a growing
number of established riders who are
engaging with the sport. Take Olympian
Victoria Pendleton, for instance. Admittedly,
the double Olympic cycling gold medallist
turned jockey is not your average rider, but
she joined the King Power polo team in
2016. Attendees at this year’s Gloucestershire
Festival of Polo (
beaufortpoloclub.com
) will
also have seen the athlete participating in
a celebrity match.
‘I think the way to [tap into the wider
market] is to embrace different, more
bite-size versions of the game where
the rules are simple to follow, it’s easy to
watch, and the play is continuous and fast,
such as Chesterton’s Polo in the Park
(
polointheparklondon.com
), or the All-Pro
Polo League (
allpropololeague.com
), which
recently put on a 40-goal game at Cowdray
with eight of the world’s best players – all
10-goalers – playing short, fast chukkas on
one horse,’ says McCullagh.
Perhaps unsurprisingly in this day and
age, social media has also proven a valuable
tool when it comes to recruiting new entrants
to the sport. Big names such as Nacho
Figueras (137k followers on Instagram) can
reach a wider demographic of potential
players than many traditional polo outlets.
‘Media coverage of polo has traditionally been
very limited outside of the dedicated polo
channels and press,’ says the 21-year-old
Instagrammer Polo Days (@polo.days).
‘Since [my account’s] inception just
under 18 months ago, it has continued to
grow, which I believe is a reflection of
the increasing popularity of the sport
internationally. The public are becoming
increasingly exposed to polo through great
events such as Polo in the Park and the beach
polo at Sandbanks. The brilliant marketing
of these events attracts a wider audience by
encouraging people to include the sport as
part of their social calendar. Exposure to the
sport and witnessing polo at a professional
level can also inspire members of the public
(riders and non-riders) to experience the
thrill for themselves. As players, we all know
that once you hold a stick for the first time
there is no looking back.’
‘In Argentina, the sport enjoys huge
television coverage and has an incredible
following, which is yet to be reflected
elsewhere in the world. From marketing the
sport myself, it is clear that there needs to be
more awareness of the sport and my hope is
Below:
Victoria Pendleton
in a celebrity match at
Gloucestershire Festival
of Polo.
Opposite
:
A Power
of Polo charity match
ME D I A C O V E R A G E O F P O L O H A S
T R A D I T I O N A L LY B E E N V E R Y L I M I T E D
