Polo around the Globe

Pakistan After centuries, polo thrives in some areas

By Atif khan

The Shandur Polo Festival is played at Shandur Pass, above 12,000 feet. Tourists flock to the area to watch polo in its rawest form.

Picture the clap of hooves and the thwack of ball against mallet in the moonlight, a distant drumbeat echoing off the icy Karakorams. This is the picture painted by the poets and historians of the region where polo originated. Sit around a bonfire or trek through the mountains of north Pakistan, and locals will tell you amazing tales of how their ancestors played polo to celebrate births, marriages and conquests. Pakistan is doing wonderful things in and around its polo fields even today.

During their years in South Asia, the British picked up the sport and when they departed in 1947, they left behind some of the finest polo fields. These were the fields where local royalty, landowners and the British Brass once mingled—and they remain meticulously maintained by Pakistanis

today. Recently, new fields and clubs have been added in and around major Pakistani cities to cater for the growing demand of new players.

Lahore, a historic city in Central Punjab is considered the hub of polo. Top-rated tournaments are held at three playing fields of Lahore Polo Club (established 1886). Recently, seven more fields have been added to the city to bring the total number to 10! The most noticeable and promising amongst these is the three-field complex of Lahore Garrison and Country Club. With three international standard fields, plush stables for over 200 and club facilities, including an equine swimming pool, the venue is a dream for professional and amateur players alike.

Additional fields at Pakistan Park and Fortress

Stadium have enhanced the capacity of the city to hold more games in the short competitive season and to give new players a chance to play with higher-handicap players.

Further north sits the Rawalpindi Polo Club, one of the oldest in the country, while a brand new polo club has been established in nearby Islamabad. Nesting at the base of the Margalla Hills, astride an 18-hole golf course and the Islamabad Club, the facility provides an excellent opportunity for diplomats and other foreign dignitaries to watch a thrilling game, learn to ride at the riding arena or attend polo clinics. Though yet to be affiliated with Pakistan Polo Association, the club has all the trappings of a top-class facility.

Apart from the establishment of new clubs and facilities, the focus on field improvement is greater than it has ever been. Relaying of grounds in Rawalpindi and Lahore and complete refurbishment of the field and club house in Quetta and Karachi have been completed in recent years. With the introduction of improved grass qualities and sanding techniques, older fields are being improved every year. Softer fields with more cushion prevent lameness and other injuries to ponies.

The increase in facilities has led to the emergence of younger talent, with many teenage players showing great promise on the field.

“Although we have only a 100 registered members at the association, club memberships are almost five times that number,” says Col. Tiwana, secretary of Pakistan Polo Association.

Every club has an associated riding school, which provides basic riding lessons. On game days, these young riders hang around the fields to watch, and most are inspired to take up the sport. Each club has an affiliated polo academy, which helps beginners with basic techniques and rules.

The majority of ponies are bred and nurtured at two military depots, each covering a vast acreage, both established by the British. The growing demand for ponies has led to sourcing from private breeding areas, most of which were originally designed to breed for racetracks. The trend of

Lahore Garrison has three fields, an equine swimming pool, stabling for over 200 horses and a grandstand with clubhouse.

A dozen foreign players participated in last year’s FIP Ambassadors Cup.

Winners of the 2019 Ambassador’s Cup included Mike Egan, second from right.

importing ponies from Argentina is on the rise. Lahore alone has more than 150 Argentinian ponies in its stables.

With faster ponies, better fields and the handicaps going up, there’s a great demand to bring in better umpires to regulate the games.

“We are trying our best to raise umpiring standards, by holding regular umpiring clinics at all clubs,” says Tiwana. “The association brings in FIPcertified umpires for high-goal tournaments; local umpires watch these games and interact with them off the fields and learn.”

The association sent a five-member delegation to Malaysia to attend an umpiring clinic held by FIP in 2018. These master trainers held sessions all over the country to bring consistency to umpiring. The Pakistan Polo Association now reaches out to organizations such as FIP, HPA and AAP to bring back better facilities and regulations. The 104th FIP Ambassadors Cup was held in Lahore in 2019, with 12 foreign players participating in the tournament.

“What an amazing event!” remarked Mike Egan, who participated in the tournament and also took a motorcycle trip across the country. “But more important, what an amazing country and the people that comprise it! How people opened their homes

A saddle pad with the presidential seal. The president’s bodyguards have their own team.

Lahore has 150 ponies imported from Argentina.

and hearts to us!” Mike’s team went on to win the final.

Venture to the ancient mountain ranges in the north and you’ll meet polo players from a different era. Traditional polo is still played in fields nestled in valleys between snow-covered mountains, as it has for centuries. This is the game in its rawest form, unhampered by a lack of resources and oblivious to formal rules. The absence of a mallet is easily remedied by procuring a sturdy tree branch and players think nothing of hooking across a pony’s haunches. You may even come across a local polo hero, with colorful feathers stuck in a hand-made woolen cap.

With no polo association to fall back on, however, and with the new development of roads and highways, the sport in its traditional form is in decline. Automobiles are slowly replacing horses. Village polo fields are being converted into shops and stores. Para military forces sponsor players by maintaining teams and ponies, but only a handful of notable players have emerged in the last decade.

There still are a handful of players who love the sport and claim that it is ‘in their blood.’ Their biggest annual celebration is the Shandur Polo Festival, which is played at Shandur Pass at above 12,100 feet. Tourists from all over the world flock here in July to pay homage to this dying breed of polo players. Mountain slopes around the field are filled with tourists and locals and they are rewarded by a game of polo unlike any they’ve ever seen.

The most cheered moment is a Doghur, when a goal scorer resumes play. Galloping in from the goal

Atif Khan, playing at a brand new club in Islamabad

posts, he holds the mallet and the ball in his right hand, tosses the ball high, hits it mid-air and the game starts anew. Drums and flutes play local tunes that change with the flow of the game, the entire scene emits a unique energy.

It is at the polo ground in Gilgit, the capital of the area, where you will find the plaque with the famous inscription, “Let other people play at other things, The King of games is still the game of Kings.”

From the looks of it, perhaps the poet meant a King of Hearts! •

Players compete at Lahore, considered the hub of polo.