The University of York Polo Club
Club President Sarah Freites with 'Humereda'
Exclusive photographs by Irene Sieberger
The setting is picture book rural idyll. Amidst the rolling fields of the East Riding, among the trees and hedgerows stripped of all foliage by the autumnal blasts, lies the White Rose Polo Club, the unfussy, unpretentious venue where the University Polo Club are busy blazing a trail for the sport in the north.
Under black November rainclouds, laced with defeated sunlight, an intense three-on-three practice match is unfolding. In one of the only mixed contact sports, the splendid polo ponies hustle and bustle in an equine mêlée as their riders, adorned in York’s smart black and gold livery, try and manoeuvre an oversized ball between two crudely assembled posts. In such confined quarters – the grass pitches, three times the dimensions of their football equivalents, are off-limits until the new season – it represents a beautiful spectacle.
The afternoon is cold, as days this time of year tend to be, but the warmth of the club’s welcome easily negates the chill. This isn’t the sport of polo as it’s all-too-infrequently depicted on the six o’clock news or alternative sports channels – the stuffy domain of the wealthy, landed and royals – but all-embracing, accessible and friendly.
Club President Sarah Freites neatly illustrates the difference when the post-training discussion moves to membership fees. To join the club for a year will set you back £15, which includes a free taster session. Outside of the student bubble, it would set you back at least £20,000 annually to merely cross the threshold of a polo club, thus emphasising the point that university polo is a million miles away from people’s preconceptions.
Under the expert supervision of the White Rose’s Tony Wesche, a handful of freshers, for the cost of an average night out, are learning both the basics of riding and the sport itself. They trot around merrily, soaking up their first experience of the sport, while grappling with reins and mallet to keep their gracious mounts in check. One of the club’s ponies was formerly owned by Prince William and, beautifully groomed by the in-house stablehands, looks fit for a future King. Once the initial nerves have been overcome – most have not played the sport before university – the afternoon passes all-too-quickly.
Without elevating the pace to anything more than a canter, the new recruits learn how to perfect the broad, sweeping windmills needed to direct the ball in the intended direction. A wooden version of the real thing stands adjacent to the playing area, allowing additional opportunities to hone hitting techniques without the added complication of movement.
The secret of the White Rose Club is out, however. York train alone on this occasion, but the venue, just off the Hull road thirty minutes drive from campus, has become a Mecca for northern-based university polo clubs. Traditionally confined to the southern counties, polo is a blossoming student sport, as demonstrated by the recent successes of the Newcastle and Durham university teams at national competitions.
The venue is certainly appealing – secluded and modest, with rustic stables and outdoor training facilities capable of staging anything from a casual knock-about to a full-blown tournament. Opened just two years ago to promote polo in a generally apathetic Yorkshire region, it has developed in lockstep with the university club.
Although unaffected by the recent York Sport budget cuts, the club are frugally saving for the highlight of their year – the La Martina National University Championships. Entry to this prestigious event, which offers students a rare taste of the high life, is usually set at a budget-stretching £150 per player, though this has been negotiated down to £50.
Polo: A bluffer’s guide
Polo was first played in Persia during the 6th century BC as a training game for cavalry units, though it wasn’t popularised or codified until the 18th century by British colonialists in the Asian subcontinent. The first Polo club was founded in Calcutta in 1862 by two British soldiers, who later spread the sport to England. Field polo, where goals are scored by manouevring a ball of high-impact plastic between two posts with a wooden mallet while on horseback, is played by teams of four on a pitch three times that of a football field. Polo must be played right-handed – left-handed play was outlawed in 1975. Games are divided into six chukkas, each of seven minutes with a rest of four minutes between each one and ten minutes for half-time. Variations include camel polo, beach polo and segway polo.
Last year, York’s inexperienced teams made a positive impression at the Offchurch Bury Club, near Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, winning a number of chukkas, though they were handicapped by what those present now jovially call ‘psychopathic’ ponies. At this level, much depends on the allocation of ponies and an unsuitable mount, lacking in the necessary agility and speed, can ruin even the best laid plans.
Little wonder the novice team trio of Freites, Steph Ritchie and Molly Riggins have been working hard on the almost telepathic understanding needed to deliver success. In the chaos of the chukka, with peripheral vision reduced to a blur by the speed of movement, knowing precisely where to position the ball, so that a teammate can capitalise, is essential. In the aforementioned practice match, the trio find themselves on opposing sides, much to their distaste.
The sense of community within the club is emphasised by Jess Grundy, who graduated last year, returning to oversee her friends’ preparations, and the club’s socials, notably the imminent and ironic chav-themed night out.
So, what lies on the horizon for the club? The next task is to organise the inaugural Northern Championships, a barometer that the sport is growing nationwide. University teams, both brand new and well-established, from Manchester, Leeds, Durham and Newcastle will offer ready-made opposition in this new venture. It is another example of how the York club are pioneering as well as playing.
Not that a north-south divide is being encouraged: the club plan to visit the famous polo team at Cambridge University and the Rugby Polo Club, in Warwickshire, to benefit from different coaching methods, different approaches to training and different perspectives on the game. It is all part of a rich and varied polo education and the members buzz with excitement at the prospect of learning new facets of the sport.
In just a few years, the University Polo Club have risen from humble beginnings to become a powerhouse for the sport in the north, but they have not forgotten what should be at the heart of every club – inclusion, cordiality and ambition.
For further information on how to get involved with the Polo Club, e-mail polo@yusu.org or visit the website at www.yusu.org/polo.
2 responses below. Comments are open.
Leave a Reply
Related Posts
Popular This Week
- Elections Night – Tim Ngwena re-elected president
- University criticised for allowing student to incur a personal debt of over £2,000 for campus event
- Exit polls reveal Hutchings to win Presidency
- Success on two fronts for the University Boat Club
- Ngwena takes Presidency for second year running
- The uninformed must not undermine the role of LGBT
Polls
Loading ...
Awesome article- Very true to what the club is all about!!
Awesome article, well written and researched. It’s very nice for Newcastle to get a few mentions in there as well. Best luck for the coming competitions!