TALK
OUT OF AFRICA Intent on fixing polo firmly on the calendar of the continent, Nigeria’s foremost club also aims to help those in the community who need it most, say Ade Adedeji and Terri Brennan
Polo may not be the first topic that springs to mind when you think of Nigeria. Indeed, the country’s prevailing narrative generally omits its Argentine ponies, 20-goal polo, international professional players, modern facilities or solid roster of patrons. What Nigeria is most often associated with is poverty – women and children being at greatest risk – but Fifth Chukker Polo & Country Club is doing its best to address this. Excepting South Africa, the Fifth Chukker Club is perhaps the leading private polo facility in the continent. Located in northern Nigeria, on the outskirts of the ancient city of Kaduna, it was founded in 2001 as a private ‘farm’ to hold practice games among friends and businessmen. Since then, it has developed into a world-class equestrian facility, with three regulation-sized polo fields, riding trails, an exercise track and stabling for up to 400 horses, as well as the facilities to host private and corporate events. Describing itself as ‘representing the new in the old world of the equestrian sport of polo’, Fifth Chukker aligns its sporting programme
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hurlinghampolo.com
03/02/2016 14:40
