POLO BY NUMBERS

BY NUMBERS

This year we are celebrating HM The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – honouring an incredible 70 years on the throne. Queen Elizabeth II is the longest reigning monarch in British history, beating her own great-grandmother, Queen Victoria’s record by some six years already.

Guards Polo Club is celebrating its 67th season this year. The Club was founded by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in 1955 as this Royal Duke wanted to play closer to home, Windsor Castle. Today Guards Polo Club is one of the most famous polo clubs in the world and home to the coveted Cartier Queen’s Cup.

There are four players in each team in outdoor polo. The highest handicapped players usually play at 3 or 4 and the person in the number 4 shirt, sometimes referred to as back, is the most defensive player. It is their job to keep the back door firmly shut.

The number of teams in this year’s tournament, featuring the world’s best players and their incredible ponies. That’s a total of 330 goals (15 x 22) of polo power – amazing!

Polo has three umpires – two mounted on the field, distinctive in their black and white striped shirts – and a “third man” who watches the game from the grandstand. At this level of polo only professional umpires oversee the game and they are all ex-players who know every trick in the book. If the field umpires cannot agree on a foul, they turn to the third man and their decision is final.

The number of polo fields here at Smith’s Lawn. A polo field is the equivalent of seven football fields!

The number of minutes in a chukka – the period of play. High-goal polo like the Cartier Queen’s Cup is made up of six chukkas. If scores are level at the end of the sixth then teams head into sudden-death, extra time. In one game last year the scores were still level after seven chukkas and so the umpires widened the goals for an eighth chukka!

The maximum team handicap in the Cartier Queen’s Cup. Each player has an individual handicap and it cannot add up to more than 22 goals. Equally the handicap total cannot be less than 17 goals. Teams will receive a goal on handicap for every goal difference between a higher handicapped team. So a 20-goal team will have two goals on the scoreboard before the game starts if they are playing a 22-goal team.

The number to look out for on New Bond Street, London W1 as this is the home of the stunning Cartier Maison. An elegant, Grade ll Listed building that houses a veritable treasure trove of jewels and timepieces.

Polo is a global sport and currently there are 77 countries around the world that actively play polo. The world’s top players invariably hail from South America – Argentina in particular – but Britain is creating its own superstars thanks to some excellent training programmes and expanding opportunities at school and university.

The total number of years that Cartier has sponsored polo at Guards Polo Club. For 27 years they sponsored the Hurlingham Polo Association’s International Day before taking on the more tournament-focused Queen’s Cup. An incredible partnership and no doubt a sporting sponsorship record. Cartier, we salute you.