Explainer / How polo became the ‘sport of kings’: loved by Prince Harry, Winston Churchill and Walt Disney, the horseback ball game spread from ancient Persia to become the aristocrat’s ultimate status symbol
What do Prince Harry, Winston Churchill and Walt Disney all have in common? Answer: a passion for polo, and not just as spectators. The Duke of Sussex is well known for playing in charity matches alongside the world’s top players like Nacho Figueras, while Churchill loved the game so much he was known to play even when injured. As for Disney, who played polo regularly with Hollywood’s elite, he developed an animated short called Mickey’s Polo Team and even named his own team after the cartoon mouse.
Dubbed the “sport of kings”, the game of polo has long been associated with nobility, wealth, power and prestige – which makes playing it rather than watching it the ultimate status symbol for the world’s elite. A demanding sport requiring strength, agility and skill, it originated in ancient Persia as a form of military training before spreading to Arabia, Tibet (the word polo comes from the word for ball in Balti, a language of northeastern Pakistan descended from Old Tibetan), Japan and China, where it was played among Tang dynasty emperors. Muslim conquerors in the 13th century then introduced polo to India, where British settlers fell in love with the game and brought it back to the UK, from where it spread west to the likes of the US and Argentina.
Today, polo is one of the fastest-growing sports among those with deep pockets – whether they are players, spectators or investors. But what is it that makes polo so expensive? For starters, the equipment, which includes the saddle, bridle, helmet, mallet and attire, can run to US$10,000 alone. Horses (or ponies, as they’re called in polo) come at a price, too, with each player needing at least two to play a game, costing upwards of US$30,000 – and that’s not including livery, feeding, grooming and veterinary bills.
In the United Arab Emirates, for instance, business mogul Mohammed al-Habtoor has played polo professionally and began the Dubai Polo Gold Cup in 2009, now the biggest tournament in the region. Al-Habtoor is also the owner of the Al Habtoor Polo Resort & Club, a five-star hotel with 151 rooms and villa that is home to a polo academy with two floodlit training arenas, a riding school and 520 stables. The whole project was estimated to cost US$270 million to build in 2013.
Chinese billionaires are also getting in on the craze at the country’s premiere polo clubs – such as the Tianjin Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club, Beijing Sunny Time Polo Club and Nine Dragons Hill Polo Club in Shanghai – through membership and through enrolling their next generation into polo academies in the hopes of cementing their place among the “new nobility”.
Polo tournaments are highly lucrative too, with the most prestigious events being the Cartier Queen’s Cup (named after the late Queen Elizabeth), US Open Polo Championship in Florida, Argentine Open Polo Championship in Buenos Aires and the Beach Polo Cup Dubai.
Attended by equestrians, celebrities and high society alike – and backed by glitzy sponsors such as Richard Mille, Bentley, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Hermès – such events are a sure-fire way to capture the attention (and wallets) of the world’s nobility and tycoons.
