Premier Edition
Annabelle Kelly La Low Goal Introduces
Lucy Marsh Photographer and groom at Cheshire polo club
Laura Thomas MVP in the RJ Polo intro 6 goal tells us about herself
Victor Ludorum 8 goal Tayto take the Whichenford Bowl
Opinion Article
2018 HPA rule changes: Good or Bad
RJ Polo Intro Tournaments Ladies 0-6 Goal
Front Cover kindly supplied by Lucy Marsh
Looking for Contributors Could you write us an article? Tell us about yourself, your horses, your club, etc and get featured!
This Month… Older horses: what to look out for Page 14
Welcome Here at La Low Goal we feel that low goal polo is under appreciated and under reported. It may make up the overwhelming majority of the polo played in the UK, but very little is ever done to cerebrate it. Traditional polo publications focus almost solely on the high goal, following the pro players as they travel the world, chasing the sun. La Low Goal however will remain, throughout the depths of winter, to tell the stories of polo’s unsung heroes (we could’t afford the flights). You don't need to be a 10 goaler to get featured, or be a club with 12 grounds, instead you need to have a passion for polo and interest in the low goal (and to write in). Hopefully we can begin a database, allowing new patrons, pros and clubs to meet one another, breaking the individual club isolation the low goal currently suffers from. Instead of playing against the same 8 people each weekend you can find new clubs you've never even heard of, and make up teams with players from far and wide. The low goal scene will only become more vibrant and exiting, attracting sponsors and yet more players. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. In the mean time enjoy reading about up and coming players, our tournament reviews and have your say on our (sometimes controversial) opinion articles. Enjoy the issue (please)
New HPA rules good for low goal? Page 7
MVP: Laura Thomas shares her story after winning MVP in the RJ intro 6 goal.
Lucy Marsh Photographer Page 13
Connor Kay (editor)
La Low Goal Introduces: Annabelle Kelly
In this Issue An in depth look at how the new 2018 HPA rule changes have effected low goal polo.
Annabelle Kelly talks to us about her introduction to polo, her ponies and her plans for the future.
Tayto take the honours in the Whichnford Bowl 8 goal at Beufort Polo Club
Beaufort Ladies Intro Tournament
Ladies 0-6 goal
T
he weekend of the 18th-19th August featured he RJ Intro Ladies 6 goal tournament, supported by RJ Polo, Women In Polo and Hayley Hyde-Andrews. The teams – OKL Equestrian and Silverwood played two games over the weekend with an accumulative score. OKL Equestrian got off to a flying start on the Saturday to notch up 3 goals in the first chukka and followed this up succinctly in the remaining chukkas to finish on 5 goals to none. After a slight reshuffling of the teams on Sunday, Silverwood had a taste for goal time, scoring in three of the four chukkas. They also defended well to prevent OKL Equestrian adding to their Saturday tally; however, the final score on the board would show 5 – 3 at full time in favour of OKL Equestrian. There was an abundance of prizes courtesy of RJ Polo, Women In Polo and Hayley Hyde-Andrews, with Most Valuable Player being awarded to Laura Thomas and Best
Playing Pony went to Wasabi owned by Sol Green. A prize was also given to Jessica Renouf for Best Newcomer and special mention must go to Hayley HydeAndrews for returning to play after significant injury.
Photos kindly provided by Beaufort Polo Club
Laura
Thomas
MVP Most Valuable Player
I have come back to polo after a rather lengthy absence. I used to play pony club and schools and gave up when I had to have surgery for a reoccurring shoulder dislocation. When a friend said they were going for a lesson I thought it
“I hit the ball I was hooked again!”
would be fun to join her and the minute I hit the ball I was hooked again! The shoulder seems to be holding up at the moment thankfully! I work with racehorses, doing pre trainers, rehabilitation and training point to pointers so polo works very well alongside that. It’s a great way of staying fit and getting my adrenaline fix when I can’t race ride or hunt in the summer. I went to school with Mark Tomlinson and so we were extremely fortunate to get to go to the Beaufort for schools training so heading back to Beaufort was the obvious place to go. It’s a great club, very friendly and with lots of opportunities for low goal polo. Unfortunately my bank balance cant quite stretch to my own ponies so I hire off Olivia. Both her and Casper look after us really well and make the whole experience extremely enjoyable. Maybe when I’ve had enough of the thrills and spills of point to pointing I’ll swap my racehorses for some polo ponies!
“I have come back to polo after a rather lengthy absence”
2018 HPA Rule changes: Good or Bad?
For the 2018 season the HPA announced the introduction of two new rules, primarily with the intent of speeding up the game for spectator viewing. These had previously been trialed over in Argentina, for the Tortugas, Hurlingham and Argentine opens, as
well as in the US triple crown. Firstly the rules replaced throw ins when the ball went out of play, over the boards, and secondly disallowed the marking of the first man. This rule was intended to force the player who brought the ball into
play to pass to their teammates, as a result opening the game up, and in theory making it more appealing to spectators. And... it appears to be working. Many of the high goal games have been excellent to watch, with fast open play and far fewer melees. The game flows more naturally and the The low goal however, is a different story. The fact is, the quality of umpiring is simply not good enough for these rules to have any meaningful effect. At many low goal clubs umpires are just players from earlier games, and thus are not always in a position where they feel confident blowing up these new, boarder-line fouls. Umpiring the first man rule also requires umpires to look for fouls off the ball, which many inexperienced umpires will struggle with, as attention is often firmly fixed in the line of ball. The other major rule change, previously mentioned, replaces throw ins with automatic spot hits to the opposite team once
the ball is sent over the boards. This rule really has made a noticeable difference to the speed of the game, play barely pausing before the ball is live again. Once again however, the rule only partially translates into the low goal, the lower quality of the pitches creating in effect a lottery when the ball rolls towards the boards. I have seen balls that are in
their 5th bounce before they hop over the boards, giving up possession. This is mightily annoying, as previously the boards had played an integral part of the game, but now they are feared as the penalty of sending the ball out of play is greatly increased, leaving to this element of the game almost redundant.
Additionally, time to perform penalties, across the board have been slashed, increasing the intensity of the game and keeping spectators interested. However, once again low goal is much more flexible, with time wasting very rarely blown. Nothing has been lost from last year’s rules, but it is a shame to see the positive effects that can be seen so clearly in the high goal not carried through to Polo as a whole. So have the rule changes done any good at all? Are
Photo by Lucy Marsh
they the right step for Polo to take? In my opinion, yes. Despite the obvious drawbacks previously stated, the high goal has benefited hugely, taking it a step towards being realistically sponsor-able. Low goal must simply live with the rule changes, as separating the two levels would be effectively suicide for young players careers, making promotion from one level to the other far more difficult, as they would follow a completely different set of rules. That being said
the HPA, and other governing bodies of Polo around the world must make sure that the balance is not overly weighted in the high goals favour, as the vast majority of people play entirely in the lower levels. These people must not be forgotten or thought of as second class in a push to increase the high level game’s commercial value. For now though the levels are balanced. Polo is strong.  
La Low Goal Introdu Hi my name is Annabelle Kelly and I am a 13 year old Polo player from cheshire. I have been playing for two years, but I have been involved with my local club and riding Polo ponies for four years. I have ridden and been around horses all my life, however I never thought about playing until I became friends with a family who had two Polo playing sons. After we met them we began going to Polo and watching their sons play almost every weekend and I loved helping out with their ponies and going up to their yard a couple of nights a week after school and helping to exercise their ponies. I also borrowed their youngest sons ponies to do some chukkas at a near by Polo academy a couple of times the first season and I loved it so my parents agreed to start looking for a horse for me but I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to be a pony I could jump and do pony club on or a Polo pony. In the end I found a lovely Polo pony who I began loaning called Beana and after our first game I was hooked and I’ve played ever since.
uces: Annabelle Kelly
I play at my local club Cheshire Polo club. The club is a successor of the Manchester Polo club which can rightly claim to be the oldest club in England. They play games and tournaments every weekend from May to September. Currently I have two ponies, Aliendro (aka Ali) who is a 14.2hh bay Argentine Polo pony mare. She can be a challenge sometimes and hates hacking and being on a set but she is amazing on the Polo field and is really teaching and challenging me. Pepona (aka Peppa) is 15hh and is also a bay Argentine Polo pony mare. Peppa is the sweetest horse
anybody could ever meet, she loves attention and is well behaved doing anything such as hacking but she is a complete star on the field. In the future I would love to improve and be able to play in bigger tournaments and large ladies tournaments. It is my dream one day to be the best female Polo player in England or possibly the world.
“I have ridden and been around horses all my life�
Images supplied by Annabelle Kelly
Lucy
Photographer
Marsh
I have been properly into polo for about 3 seasons now, regularly watching at Cheshire and Chester Polo Clubs. I used to watch the Coutts matches at Chester when I was younger but I never really understood what was going on. I saw polo advertised one year and decided to take my new camera to try out. The rain was absolutely lashing it down and the ground was so awful that about three horses slipped, and I was absolutely soaked to the bone! I lost my camera to water damage that day but I’ve been hooked on polo ever since! I watch the matches down at Cheshire Polo Club in Tarporley every fortnight and I’m very fortunate to know so many friendly people there! The Club photographer, Sarah Clegg, made me feel so welcome back in 2016 and has taught me all the tricks of the trade when it comes to
photography! I was also very lucky to get an opportunity to groom for a little while for one of the players, which really opened my eyes to how much work goes on behind the scenes at each match and how fast paced the game really is! It was such an amazing experience! My aim for the future is definitely to play professionally one day. I would like to take a gap year and groom in England and then go over to either Argentina, New Zealand or Australia to groom once the English season is over. I’m currently saving all my money towards lessons next season and hopefully to play a few Chukkas (this is quite hard for me as I’m 15!). I want to take Equine Business Management course at university and am hoping to go onto the management of polo clubs and racecourses in the future. The university polo team has strong links with Cirencester and Longdole Polo Clubs where I aim to play over the course of my university life and maybe one day I’ll be able to afford my own string of polo ponies! My life has become so centred around polo to the point where I’m genuinely obsessed with the sport. So much so, my friends are fully educated on rules of the game regardless on whether there interested or not! I couldn’t imagine my life without polo, it’s really become a part of who I am. Its bad enough when the season has ended! I aspire to be a player one day and I will work as hard as I can to fulfil that dream!
All images supplied by Lucy Marsh
Older Horses: what to look for For many low goal players the costs of many polo ponies are simply unattainable, and therefore the only way to compete in the sport we all love is to buy cheaper, older ponies. Often a more senior pony can be picked up for under £2000, which, although not inconsiderable, is barely a drop in the ocean compared to the £10k + many people justify spending on low goal ponies. Older ponies are often a wise choice for beginners and low goal players. Many are experienced schoolmasters, and can help a new player get going before they have to concentrate too much on the horse. Older ponies do come with their drawbacks however, as some of the inevitable health issues may end up costing you far more in the long run (trust me it’s happened to myself on numerous occasions). Here we will try and outline some of the things you should aim to look out for when buying an older pony. 1. Arthritis-Very common, specially within older horses. Existing arthritis can often worsen as a horse ages, and it may even appear in horses that had no previous symptoms at a younger age. Part of this is down to the natural slowing down of the horses basic maintenance processes, however a loss in muscle mass, often seen in older horses can reduce the protection to the joint, allowing more abnormal movements and as a result, increasing the risk of injury. Arthritis can be partly managed by keeping the horse in light, non traumatic work. This will help to maintain muscle mass and reduce the risk of an injury, when the horse is played. 2. Tendon Damage-Tendons often take a bit of a pummelling in polo, the fast stops and turns being the main culprits. Consequently tendon injuries are very common, however they can often be repaired over time. An older tendon injury is much more likely to swell up in the future, especially considering the horses tendons will naturally weaken over time. When buying an older horse take consideration of any bumps and swellings around its lower legs, especially towards the back of the tendon, these may signify older injuries, some of which may be serious. 3. Weight Holding-Dental issues can often cause problems in holding weight, which may be a real problem for many polo players. Sometimes no visual clues for dental pain can be found, but the horse can struggle to eat effectively. Regular dental treatments are required for all horses but older ponies may require extra care. Managing weight loss or condition loss may include stableing and rugging up to conserve energy, and providing the horse with high energy, easy to eat food, such as regular bucket feeds and easily digestible fibre feeds.
The Inter Clubs Cup 4 teams contested the Inter Clubs Cup 0 goal which made up part of the polo on offer at this years Polo in the Park. Teams from Rugby, Cheshire, Dallas Burston and Rutland all traveled to the event, making up two semi finals to be played on Saturday. Firstly Specsavers (Rutland) took on Rugby Polo Club. A decisive win went to Rugby, who appeared to have the measure of their Specsavers counterparts throughout the entire game. In the second semi final Pro-fit (Dallas Burston) faced off against AR Aesthetics (cheshire). This match was much harder fought, but eventually AR Aesthetics came out on top by a single goal, the teamwork between Johnny and Lucy Coddington, as well as Johnny’s individual stick work giving their team the edge. The Subsidiary final was played early on Sunday morning, Pro-fit taking the win against Specsavers, despite some great individual goals from both Allex Boucher and Tom Collie. The crowds gathered as the final got under way, Rugby Polo Club and AR Aesthetics battling it out for the win. Phil Baker drew first blood putting his team 1,1/2 up halfway through the opening chukka. Johnny coddington responded however to bring his team within half a goal by the end of the first chukka. AR Aesthetics continued their form into the second chukka, somehow finding a way past Jeremy Pidgeon’s hard defence to put themselves in the lead for the first time in the game. The tables turned once again however as Phil managed to find another goal to bring his team ahead once again. The game continued after half time with the same fast and close polo the first half had seen. AR aesthetics however were able to sneak another goal bringing them once again into the lead heading into the final chukka. The final chukka saw AR Aesthetics extend their lead within the first 3 minutes of play, stretching their lead to 5-2,1/2. Rugby weren't going down without a fight however, as to the cheers of the crowd they fought back to score two more goals before the end, but eventually were not able to overcome the Cheshire Team’s lead, missing out by half a goal.
Rugby Polo Club - Sam Banks, -2 Nick Van Oppen, -2 Philip Baker, 2 Jeremy Pidgeon, 1 AR Aesthetics - Angela Robb, -2 Clare Hocking , -2 Lucy Coddington, 1 Johnny Coddington, 3
The Wichenford
Following a rather wet couple of days, the once bleached grass had returned to a luscious green and it was the leaves turn to change to brown, signalling the final stretch towards the end of the polo season at the Beaufort. The Wichenford Bowl is our penultimate Victor Ludorum tournament of the season, and it was down to Hascombe Stud and Jenkinson to start this popular 8 Goal tournament. Jenkinson stamped their authority from the off and charged into a strong lead of 6 goals to 1 in the first half. However, Hascombe Stud staged an impressive comeback in the second half and suddenly it was all to play for as they came within touching distance of the opposition. But it would prove too late as Jenkinson held their lead to win 8 – 7.  Monday 20th August saw teams returning to Three-Cornered ground, this time it would be Balaclava and Tayto. The latter led throughout, leading by three goals at the tread in with Balaclava
d Bowl 2018
Photograph by JRidley Art & Photography
chasing their tails. Balaclava would claw back goal time with back-to-back goals in the third and fourth chukka, but still found themselves wanting with a final score of 5 – 6 in favour of Tayto. Hascombe Stud got off to a strong start, taking the initiative of the game over Beaufort and continuing their lead throughout. Beaufort rallied to keep themselves in contention at half time, but Hascombe added to their tally where Beaufort could not, winning 4 goals to 2. In the second game there was little to split Tyrone and Balaclava as they took to No. 2 ground, with 2 goals apiece at half time and each team getting their fair share of goal time in third. Eventually, Balaclava would strike gold to score a sixth goal and claim the victory. Next Tayto would face Jenkinson in a close fought contest, the result being decided by a fifth chukka. It was neck-and-neck at half time and they were separated by only a whisker after the tread in as Tayto shadowed Jenkinson throughout to
Photograph by JRidley Art & Photography
be all square on 5 goals. The final score was 6 – 5, with the deciding goal going to Tayto. Beaufort redeemed themselves on the Thursday against Tyrone, to claim a storming victory over the Irish visitors. They lead from the off and followed through with impressive goals from Nico Antinori, as well as a skilfully judged shot from Caspar West. At full time the score board showed a tally of 6 ½ to 2. Friday 24th August dawned with dark clouds threatening on the horizon for the Semi Finals. First to try and claim a place in the Final on Sunday was Hascombe Stud v Jenkinson. Determined not the repeat the same mistakes from their first league match, Hascombe came out all guns blazing, taking the lead in the first chukka. However, by half time Jenkinson had pulled level. Hascombe kept up the pace and pulled ahead by 2 goals in the third. Yet again Jenkinson retaliated in fierce style to reclaim authority, levelling and then dominating the play with end to end goals to finish on a decisive score of 7 – 4. Tayto galloped past Balaclava in the second Semi Final of the day, comfortably securing their place in the Final with 8 goals to 4. Team shirts were switched for hula skirts as victory celebrations continued into the evening with the Paradise Summer Party. On the day of the Final, the dark clouds and sudden chill in the air signalled a definite end to the glorious heatwave we had been enjoying all season. As the heavens opened players and spectators alike looked reluctantly to the field for the Subsidiary Final, which was engulfed in a haze of rain. It was a gritty grudge match between Beaufort and Tyrone; the latter seeking and earning redemption for their previous defeat. Tyrone dominated the opening chukka to notch up a lead of 3 goals to 1 ½. The home side rallied a response in the lead up to half time to keep Tyrone watching their backs, but the Irish would maintain authority and a confident lead throughout. Vengeance and victory would ultimately go to Tyrone on a final score of 7 – 5 ½. As if on cue the weather began to clear and the sun made a vague attempt at showing its face for the Final of the Wichenford Bowl. The torrential rain had settled to a mild, intermittent drizzle, which could not dampen the enthusiasm of the spectators, nor the competitive spirit of the players as Tayto and Jenkinson rode on to the Swinhay No.1 ground, each vying for victory. The first chukka set the high calibre and scintillating standard of play for the match. Luke Wiles got off to a flying start, for his seemingly certain goal to be interrupted by an everpresent and efficiently defensive Jonny Coddington. Max Hutchinson kept the pressure on the Jenkinson side, running
Photographs by John Hankin
with the ball for Wiles to finish the job to score. However, Tayto could not rest on their laurels as following a tussle in Photograph by JRidley Art & Photography front of the uprights, Katie Jenkinson was able to pop the ball between them to level. The second chukka saw end-to-end play with a penalty in the favour of Jenkinson allowing them to inch ahead 1- 2. Tayto received two successive penalties, but both went wide, however, a scrabble at goal mouth eventually allowed Wiles to return the score back to level pegging. By half time Tayto would sit with a narrow lead of 3 – 2. Play continued in earnest after the tread in, with both teams taking their chance at goal time until Jenkinson managed to sneak a third across the line. The concluding chukka would see some excellent play from both sides, with fierce defence and ferocious attacks. Suddenly, a father and son effort between Stephen and Max Hutchinson along the length of the field resulted in an impressive hit from Max which sent the ball flying squarely between the uprights making it 4 – 3. Jenkinson had one last chance to level the score in the final seconds with a penalty, but it was not to be as it just ran wide, leaving Tayto the victors of the Wichenford Bowl. Prizes were kindly sponsored by The Rural Planning Practice and presented by Judith Norris along with The Wichenford Bowl, presented by Richard Britten-Long. The Polo Magazine Most Valuable Player was awarded to Christian Chaves and the Polo Times Best Playing Pony went to Storm Dos (who seemed particularly excited to win, throwing in some impressive fly bucks at the presentation!) ridden by Jonny Coddington, a home bred owned by Lucy Coddington.
Photograph by John Hankin
Goodbye Thank you for reading the very first issue of the La Low Goal Magazine and we sincerely hope you enjoyed the read. However we couldn't provide any of this content without our generous contributors, and all of our thanks goes out to them. Going forward, we are looking for anyone else who wants to contribute in any way towards further issues which we will releasing in the coming months. We rely on these people to help produce content, supply images and in general make it feasible to share these amazing low goal stories with as many people as possible. If you are interested in contributing in any way please contact us via our social media or on clarehamilton311@icloud.com. La Low Goal
la_low_goal
This Months Contributors: • • • •
Beaufort Polo Club Lucy Marsh Annabelle Kelly Laura Thomas
Editor: •Connor Kay
Contact Us: If you have any opinions, ideas, images or articles please contact us on clarehamilton311@icloud.com or via Instagram or Facebook.
Support The Low Goal: With your help we can share the stories of low goal patrons, players and clubs and build a stronger, more connected Low Goal Community.
Coming Soon‌ Watch out for brand new issues featuring a whole new set of contributors in the coming months.
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Looking for Contributors Could you write us an article? Tell us about yourself, your horses, your club, etc and get featured!