June 19, 2019

Europe, Polo News

19. June 2019

1869 – 2019: The UK Armed Forces Polo Association (UKAFPA) celebrates the 150th Anniversary of Polo in the United Kingdom. A bunch of celebrations and events throughout the whole season accompany this jubilee.

The first acknowledged game from whence it all began was in 1869, (“hockey on horseback” as it was referred to then) was organised by officers stationed at Aldershot, one of whom had read about a form of the game in India, in a copy of The Field magazine. Eti-quette, followed by rules developed very quickly afterwards, as did the emergence of polo being played at many Clubs, Hurlingham being amongst the first (1874).

Mark Cann, a Trustee of the UKAFPA Charity, is the principal coordinator of Polo150 activity: “2019 is a major year for the UK Armed Forces Polo Association. During Summer 2019, we will host a series of events to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the 10th Hussars starting polo in England and defining the modern game. The celebration of Polo150 involves events all over the world, is designed to the polo world and endorses the five key messages: Polo has a unique connection with the military in UK until today, polo is philanthropic, men and women compete equally at the highest level, polo is a significant employer across the world and last but not least the incredible and unique polo ponies.” The main UK celebrations are around the existing Chapple Cup series, 8-14 July 2019, other events will take place outside this period both in UK and globally.

Principal Polo150 activities: Golden Polo Balls will be distributed to influencers of polo, this will include top polo clubs, players, sponsors and governing bodies around the world in each polo playing nation. A Hackett Photo Exhibition in London, Poloafrica Tour to UK at Cirencester Polo Club (22 June), and Guards Polo Club (23 June), the Finals Day of the Royal Windsor Cup is traditionally attended by Her Majesty the Queen. International Matches in UK, Asia, USA and Southafrica as well as the Chapple Cup Series Matches at Sandhurst, Tidworth PC and Guards PC.

www.ukafpa.org.uk

1869 – 2019: The UK Armed Forces Polo Association (UKAFPA) celebrates the 150th Anniversary of Polo in the United Kingdom. A bunch of celebrations and events throughout the whole season…

Polo News

Extreme Polo League (XPL) starts in September

19. June 2019

An eventually world wide polo league is due to start in Argentina on September 21, before the start of the High Goal Season with the final at the Palermo Stadium on October 5. (By Eric Weil, Buenos Aires)

It is the Extreme Polo League (XPL) which will be administered by EBI Media Holdings Ltd founded by an Argentine, former low handicap player, Juan Zavalia. The tournament will not interfere with other major tournaments and aspires to have 10 or more stages around the world for teams of minimum 28 goal per team and minimum four handicap players.

Franchises have so far been bought by La Dolfina Polo Ranch (with Adolfo Cambiaso and his son ‘Poroto’), Ellerstina (possibly with two teams), Las Monjitas, La Aguada, La Ensenada, La Albertina and Alegria for the first two years, while USPA (US Polo Association) with an entirely US team and HPA (Hurlingham Polo Association) with a British team are also close to join.

As in Formula One motor racing, teams will earn points at each stage and at the end of the year receive money according to their position. In the first year, Zavalia says 740,000 dollars will be distributed with the money coming from sales of franchises, TV, marketing, attend-ances, etc. Some rule changes will be made to presumably make the game more dynamic and interesting to watch. Goals scored from a minimum of 80 yards will be worth double. Players can have a maximum of 12 horses per stage and teams can change players during the match.

Former NBA basketball player Pepe Sanchez is Zavalia’s partner and in charge of the financing. For next year, the sum to divide among the teams is expected to be 1,180,000 dollars. Zavalia worked for 20 years in an investment bank and was part of the Genii Capital Group when it owned the Lotus team when it was racing in Formula One from 2008 to 2014. “Something like the XPL could not have been done before when the media was only interested in the attendance at matches before writing about the sport. But now they have the backing of OTTs (Netflix).”

An eventually world wide polo league is due to start in Argentina on September 21, before the start of the High Goal Season with the final at the Palermo Stadium…