18th March 2011 Sponsored by
REDMAN VASE
PRINCES’ CUP
THESIGER TROPHY
CAVALRY & GUARDS VS OXBRIDGE
ETON VS HARROW
HACKETT BRITISH ARMY POLO VS HABTOOR POLO
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Welcome Note
Sir Wilfred Thesiger
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan
Welcome to British Polo Day 2011 sponsored by Hackett. For those that have been here before, it is good to have you back and for those that are here for the first time, you’re in for a thrilling afternoon of polo and much, much more. This year we are delighted to be hosting The Hackett British Army Polo Team on their first ever tour to the Middle East. As ever, we are indebted to all the sponsors for making this possible. In particular, Habtoor Polo for their continued generous support and Bentley Emirates, Backes & Strauss, Intercontinental Park Lane, Thales and The Hideaways Club for their partnership. We start proceedings off today with The Redman Vase: Oxbridge versus The Cavalry & Guards. A combination of Britain’s two oldest educational establishments against the two oldest groups of regiments in The British Army. Will intellectual strategic cunning win the day or will brawn and bravery have the last laugh? Second up, we have Eton v Harrow in the Princes’ Cup. Eton and Harrow’s sporting rivalry goes back more than 200 years with the Eton v Harrow cricket fixture at Lords. Polo is no exception to the school’s sporting calendar and this will be the third time the Princes’ Cup will be played. Finally, UK v UAE: The Hackett British Army Team v Habtoor Polo in a thrilling climax to the day. Both sides will be competing for The Thesiger Trophy. The Thesiger Trophy, beautifully sculpted by Old Etonian George Bingham, is modelled on a photo that Sir Wilfred Thesiger took of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan over 60 years ago. Sir Wilfred Thesiger perhaps embodies the essence of today, a product of almost all the institutions playing polo (having graduated from Eton and Oxford and served in the British Army). He came to the UAE, made lifelong friends and was awarded the UAE Order of Independence. It is that friendship between the UK and the UAE that we celebrate with this event.
I hope that you have a great day.
Tom Hudson
Founder of The British Polo Day
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Timetable
13:00: Gates open 14:00: VIP Terrace opens (lunch served 14:30 - 17:30) 15:00: The Redman Vase: Oxbridge v Cavalry & Guards 16:00 : The Princes’ Cup: Eton vs Harrow 17:00: The Thesiger Trophy: Habtoor Polo vs The Hackett British Army Polo Team 18:30 : Prize giving 19:00 : DJ and Dancing
Carriages at Midnight
There will be VIP Coaches returning regularly to the Habtoor Grand Hotel, Dubai from 9:30pm onwards. Please ask at the lobby of the Polo Club for more details.
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Cavalry & Guards Team Having last year taken part in a thoroughly entertaining camel polo match, this year the Cavalry & Guards club will be entering a “real” polo match. The Cavalry Regiments and The Guards Regiments have fought side by side for centuries but more recently socialised together when The Guards Club (founded in 1810) merged with The Cavalry Club (founded in 1890) in 1976 and joined forces at their current residence of 127 Picadilly. There are a number of retired officers in the region and it’s great that such traditions can continue here in the Middle East. The British Polo Day would like to welcome The Middle East Guards Association and the chairman Jan de Haldevang.
Michael O’Dwyer (1) Justin Stanhope - White (1) HRH Prince Rashid of Jordan (1) Guy Bartle-Jones (0)
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The eton team The Eton team is captained by Will Emerson, who has a 5 goal handicap. We are also pleased that Alex De Lisle, an Old Etonian, who has journeyed from Singapore will be playing today. Eton won the Princes’ cup the first year it was played, lost the second year and are very keen to win it back this year. This is a grudge match! Of course the most well known Eton players are its polo playing princes, William and Harry. Eton also has produced some other fine polo players recently, perhaps typified by Luke Tomlinson, an 8-goal player and captain of the England Polo Team. However the history of Eton polo stretches a long way back with the first match played by Old Etonians outside of England being held over 100 hears ago when an OE team played in the United States.
Will Emerson (5) Alex de Lisle (2) Tom Hudson (-2) Arun Pancharia (-2)
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The Harrow team The Harrow team is captained by Hugh O’Donnell who has been based in Dubai and Bahrain for a number of years and has played in every one of the Harrow teams to have played in the Princes’ Cup. Hugh will be joined for a second year by HRH Prince Rashid of Jordan, the captain of the Royal Jordanian Polo Team as well as Clark Betz, a 2 goal player and Philip Kaye, an Old Harrovian touring with the British Army Polo Team. Harrow too boasts some other famous polo players: Jack Kidd in the modern era, a 4 goal player, and, perhaps most famous of all, Sir Winston Churchill.
Clark Betz (2) HRH Prince Rashid of Jordan (1) Philip Kaye (1) Hugh O’Donnell (-1)
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the Oxbridge Team The Oxbridge Team is captained by Stuart Wrigley (Oxford) and Mike Harrison (Cambridge), both keen players and members of the Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club. Stuart began playing after watching the Oxbridge Team playing in the first year of the British Polo Day. Prince Charles, Chairman of the Cambridge University Polo Club, is perhaps the most famous polo playing Oxbridge graduate but plenty more keep the game thriving at university level.
Raja Abuljebain (1) Mike Harrison (0) Stuart Wrigley (-2) Josh Morris Lowe (2)
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Habtoor polo Team For over 10 years, Rashid and Mohammed Habtoor, the two brothers who began Habtoor Polo have been encouraging its growth in the Middle East. As proud sponsors of the Al Habtoor Windsor Cup, they are great patrons of the game and forging links with the UK. Having beaten Oxbridge in 2009 and 2010, they are looking for the hat-trick of wins in the big match of 2011; The Thesiger Trophy against The Hackett British Army Polo Team.
Mohammed Al Habtoor (0) Rashid Al Habtoor (0) Juan Roman (5) Sebastian Petracchi (5)
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Proud sponsors of the British Polo Day, Dubai & British Army Polo Snow Polo, Klosters
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Hackett British Army Team The British Army lays claim to founding and inventing the modern game of Polo. For years Polo was encouraged during times of peace as a way of fostering strong bonds between men and contributing to the cohesiveness of a regiment as a fighting unit, whilst also honing horsemanship. The Army Polo Association now keeps polo the game alive under the watchful eye of its enthusiastic chairman Lt Col Simon Ledger. We are delighted that he will also be our guest commentator for the day. He comes with a wealth of experience having ‘called’ international matches in The UK, Italy, USA and Spain.
Quentin Hicks (1) Nick Hunter (2) Michael O’Dwyer (1) Gaston Devrient (5)
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History of the Game Polo is perhaps the oldest game in the world – having been played over 2500 years ago - and is truly international. The name polo is said to have been derived from the Tibetan word “pulu”, meaning ball.
Ancient Polo In 600 BC the first recorded game of polo took place between the Turkomans and Persians. The Turkomans won. Polo began as a training game for cavalry units, usually the king’s guard or other elite troops. To the warlike tribesmen, who played it with as many as 100 to a side, it was a miniature battle. Persian literature and art give us the richest accounts of polo in antiquity. Ferdowsi, the famed poet-historian, gives a number of accounts of royal polo tournaments in his 9th century epic, Shahnameh (the Epic of Kings). In the earliest account, Ferdowsi romanticizes an international match between Turanian force and the followers of Siyâvash, a legendary prince from the earliest centuries of the Empire. The game spread into North India. In fact Sultan Qutb-ud-din Aibak, the first Muslim Emperor of North India, actually died accidentally in 1210 playing polo.
From Persia, in medieval times polo spread to the Byzantines (who called it tzykanion), and after the Muslim conquests to the Ayyubid and Mameluke dynasties of Egypt and the Levant, whose elites favored it above all other sports. Notable sultans such as Saladin and Baybars were known to play it and encourage it in their court. Polo sticks were features on the Mameluke precursor to modern day playing cards. Polo was passed from Persia to other parts of Asia including the Indian subcontinent and China, where it was very popular during the Tang Dynasty and frequently depicted in paintings and statues. The Moguls were largely responsible for taking the game from Persia to the east and by the 16th century the Emperor Babur had established it in India. Polo was revived in Japan by the 8th Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684-1751) and was played until early 20th century. It was the favourite sport of the last Shogun who surrendered power to the Emperor in 1868.
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Sir Winston Churchill Old Harrovian
The celebration of polo in Jodhpur
Modern Polo The modern game of polo, though formalized and popularized by the British, is derived from Manipur (now a state in India) when British tea planters discovered the game in Manipur (Munipoor) on the Burmese border with India and established the first polo club in the world at Silchar, west of Manipur in 1862 In 1869, Edward “Chicken” Hartopp, 10th Hussars, read an account of the game in The Field, while stationed at Aldershot, and, with brother officers, organised the first game known then as “hockey on horseback”- on a hastily-rolled Hounslow Heath against The 9th Lancers. The 1st Life Guards and the Royal Horse Guards were quick to follow suit on grounds at Hounslow and in Richmond Park; and then on a small ground near Earl’s Court known as Lillie Bridge. The first polo club in England was Monmouthshire, found-
ed by Capt. Francis “Tip” Herbert, 7th Lancers, at his brother’s seat, Clytha Park, near Abergavenny in 1872. In 1875, the first official match in Argentina took place on 3rd September, where the game had been taken by English and Irish engineers and ranchers.
Prince Philip playing polo
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The Rules of Polo
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Polo’s Highway Code When playing polo, the two most important rules are: “Right of Way” and the “Line of the Ball” If a ball was covered in wet white paint and hit, it would leave a trail, like the white line in the middle of the road and the two “lanes” are 5 feet either side of this. The player who has hit the ball has the right of way and no-one can cross the line unless legitimately riding off which is ushering your opponent off the ball. You cannot barge in, and it must be shoulder to shoulder You must come in at a safe angle and be at a similar speed.
The official rules are those published by the Hurlingham Polo Association but here is a summary: The Ground - The ground is 300 yards long and 160 yards wide (about the size of 6 football pitches) - The field has a 12 inch upright board bounding the perimeter - The goal posts, positioned at each end, are 8 yards apart.
Duration of the Play - The game can be anything from 4 to 8 chukkas - Each chukka is timed to last 7 mins, then a bell is rung, but the game goes on until the ball goes out of play, or for another 30 seconds when the bell is rung again - The clock is stopped between the umpire’s whistle to stop the play and the whistle to start play (eg.ball out of play, foul etc.) - There are intervals of 3 minutes between chukkas and a 5 - 10 minute break at half time. At half time, the public are asked to walk on to the field and ‘tread in’ the divots of turf carved up by the ponies’ hooves. Ends are changed at every goal scored. This rule traces its origin to the hotter climes of the empire on which the sun never set.
Handicaps - Each player is handicapped (on a 4-6 chukka basis) from -2 (beginners) up to 10 goals (professionals). - The aggregate handicap of the four players in a team is the team handicap. - In handicap tournaments, if both teams do not have an equal aggregate handicap, one team is given a number of goals start which is calculated as follows: the number of goals start is obtained by multiplying the difference between the two teams’ handicaps by the number of chukkas and dividing by 6, any fraction counting a half a goal.
Fouls - A player following the ball on its exact line has the Right of Way over all other players. Any other player who crosses the player on the right of way close enough to be dangerous commits a foul. - Penalties vary according to the degree of danger and closeness of the cross. - No player may hook an opponent’s stick unless he is on the same side of the opponent’s pony as the ball. - Dangerous play or rough handling is not allowed - a player may ride an opponent off, but must not charge in at an angle.
Penalties - A goal is given if the cross is dangerous or deliberate in the vicinity of the goal. The ball is then thrown in 10 yds in front of the goal without ends being changed. - Free hit from 30 yds opposite the centre of the goal - defenders to be behind the back line and outside the goal posts but must not ride through when the ball is hit. - Free hit from 40 yds, same conditions as b). - Free hit from 60 yds. Defenders to be 30 yds from ball. - Free hit from the centre of the ground, none of the defending side to be nearer than 30 yds when the ball is hit. - Free hit from spot where the foul took place, no defender to be nearer than 30 yds - Corners are not taken as in Association Football - instead, a free hit is given 60 yds from the goal from a spot opposite where the ball was hit behind the line, none of the defending side to be nearer than 30 yds. - Captains of teams are the only players who can discuss questions arising during a game. No player shall appeal in any manner to the Umpire for fouls, but the Captain can discuss any matter with the Umpire.
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Proud sponsors of the British Polo Day, Dubai & British Army Polo Snow Polo, Klosters