MICHAEL CHEVIS
talking point
Pony Club Polo player Tabitha Taylor, aged eight, on Danny
Growing pains here is a theory that polo originated as a sport played by women in Persia in the 6th century B.C. Early Mughal paintings in India also depict scantily clad courtesans playing alongside men on wonderful, ornately tacked-up ponies. Today, in the macho world of Argentina, polo’s spiritual home, female players are regarded as mildly eccentric. Over here they are observed with a mixture of bemusement and admiration. Nina Vestey, England’s highest handicapped woman at 3 goals and last year’s winner of the HPA’s Best Young Player believes that any prejudice rapidly diminishes once the game is in play. ‘I think if real prowess is shown on the field, then dues are given, but women must play even better than their male counterparts to gain respect,’ she says.
T
This year, out of the 2,348 HPA registered polo players in this country, 652 are women, representing a 28 per cent slice of the polo playing cake – a figure that has remained pretty consistent over the past five years or so. In the last year, over 46 per cent of newcomers to the sport were female. Added to this, the number of women’s tournaments has grown. There is also an established circuit worldwide of invitational women’s tournaments with one being held practically every month. In June, the Beaufort Polo Club held a women’s international game which, at 10goal level, was the highest rated female game ever played. Competing against the home team of Nina and Tamara Vestey, and Claire and Emma Tomlinson were Sunny Hale (4, The four Graces: a ready-made team
MIKE ROBERTS
Pony Club Polo is full of girls swinging mallets, but few go on to play at a high level. Should more be done to help women in polo? Asks Clare Milford Haven
28 Hurlingham
28-31. Women in Polo.indd 28
11/8/05 12:58:06 pm
