THE SPORTING LIFE

Naturally, the major focus of the Club’s sporting activities is the noble game of polo.  The Club is represented in local and national tournaments by several teams which boast some of Australia’s best -known amateur players.  The Club hosts an annual polo tournament, where the excitement of the game and the social activities in the marquees on the sideline always attract a large number of non-playing members.  Polo is Australia’s premier corporate sport, with the Club tournament providing a unique opportunity for members to expand their social and professional networks.

Polo is a team game like no other. Although the basic pattern is much like ice hockey, soccer, lacrosse or basketball, it takes two heads, six legs and a pair of arms to play polo. The fact that the player holds a mallet in one hand and accurately manipulates a 4 1/4 inch ball seven feet away from his shoulder with a hitting surface the size of a pineapple renders the game difficult, but not necessarily unique.

Polo is such a fast and fluid game with so few set plays that it makes team play an unparalleled accomplishment when compared with other sports. The most important ingredient for a player is anticipation, just as in ice hockey, anticipation makes the big difference. What makes polo so truly unique is, of course, the horse. It isn't just equestrian skill, it's the horse as a being, as an independent ego and ultimately, in the purest form as an alternate ego. The horse is as great a challenge as the game itself, in fact, the two cannot be separated. Eight players on eight horses combining stunt riding with a juggling act. The objective though, is not a mere show of skill, it's winning the game. It is that competitive desire that drives these players and brings out that sharpened ability; that ability which tests their balance to the extreme and heightens their reflexes and courage to where danger is repeatedly challenged, yet defied over and over again.