(polo-watching)

Er, I went... to watch polo. All the way to Windsor.


Polo and horse-racing are two horse-related sporting activities that are infused with glamour. I missed out on getting a good ticket to Royal Ascot, so polo seemed to be an appropriate alternative. Horses and WAGs aside, two things separate polo from its more popular cousin: dogs and better-looking players (note the order in which they were mentioned...)


Just before heading off, the sky was cloudy - luckily the day turned out to be sunny and gorgeous. Fresh air, a rarity in London, was abundant. Wearing polo-like stacked heel boots makes sense, as getting stuck in mud while teetering on stiletto is no pleasant business. Spectators were invited to 'turn the ground' at half time to render it more playable in the second half, but several men were employed to turn the ground at the end of each chukka anyway. The competitions yesterday were for the Golden Jubilee Cup and the Coronation Cup.

From what I watched, polo is a dynamic and highly aggressive sport. Eight mounted men (approx half a tonne of flesh plus four tonnes of horses) trying to hit a baseball-sized ball with their own mallets is more physical than twenty-two chasing after a soccer ball. To everyone's horror, a player actually fell off along with his horse on one of the games - he was lucky to be able to resume playing right away!

At the end of day, polo seems to be... interesting, enticing and energetic rolled into one ^__^ I'll probably go watch polo some other time... or go for a picnic in the countryside while summer weather is here :D