The politics of polo, middle eastern style

Aptly named the sport of kings, it is not surprising that polo has found a natural home in the UAE where many of the nation’s elite have adopted the game as their own. In a country where ready funds for prestigious pastimes are not in short supply, the sport has flourished. The past ten years have seen the game come along in leaps and bounds and with the opening of a polo academy at the new club at Arabian Ranches in Dubai, polo looks set to cement its status as a high-profile fixture in the UAE’s burgeoning elite sport portfolio.Abu DhabiPolo in the capital is still something of a closed shop to the uninitiated tourist. The club; based at Ghantoot halfway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, is currently open only to guests of the chairman of the club, His Highness Sheikh Falah bin Zayed al Nayhan, although there are plans to open up membership to a wider clientele in the future. Built in 1995 to nurture the sport in the UAE, the club stables a whopping 200 horses, houses on average six professional players each season to teach members, and has one of the most technically advanced floodlit polo fields in the world. With such facilities on hand, it’s no wonder that the UAE team’s international ranking is creeping up year on year.Khalid Tantom, a pilot with the UAE airforce, plays for Ghantoot and showed me around the club: ‘Ghantoot is not a commercial venture’ he explains, ‘It is a privilege to play here and players are invited to use the facilities by the Sheikh himself’. The fact that membership to the club is restricted to those invited by the Sheikh to join, does nothing to dispel the sport’s reputation for exclusivity. However, there is an explanation for the imposition of limitations on the public access to the club. Ghantoot is not only a haven for polo heads, it is an open air extension of the capital’s governmental infrastructure with many visiting dignitaries and VIPs brought to the club to watch a game or discuss business in the sumptuous clubhouse and its surrounds. In its short life the club has played host to such A-list polo celebrities as the Heguey brothers, Prince Charles (who met his second wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles at a polo match and has just announced his retirement from the sport) and the polo loving Sultan of Brunei. Next to the unabashedly Arabian opulence of Ghantoot, the Guards Club in Windsor (home to international polo’s most bling event, the Cartier sponsored Gold Cup) looks like a marshy, overgrown playing field; ‘English ground’s have nothing on Ghantoot’ says Khalid appreciatively, ‘you can’t beat this place. It’s like playing on a snooker table’.It’s certainly an impressive set up. But for those of us who are not fortunate to be invited along to Ghantoot for an exhibition match or a corporate event, where to go to feed our budding polo obsession?DubaiIf you haven’t made it on to Sheikh Khalifa’s list but you’ve got the inclination and cash to grab a mallet and hop on a pony, up sticks and head North. The Dubai Polo and Equestrian club has just opened the UAE’s first public polo academy, making the sport accessible to all those interested in getting into the game who have a large amount of disposable income at their fingertips.Although polo has the not undeserved reputation of being inaccessible and intimidating, a one and a half hour lesson, with Steve Thompson, the club’s dashing pro will dispel this myth. ‘The lessons are designed to give any putative polo addict the opportunity to actually participate in that ‘once in a lifetime experience’ explains Steve, ‘From that moment on, they’ll have an interest and connect with the game when they see it on tv or in the papers.’The academy at the Arabian Ranches club breaks new ground for the UAE. The two other major clubs in the country. Desert Palm and Ghantoot, were developed as private playing grounds for the benefit of their wealthy patrons. Whether you play the game in the States, Argentina, the UK or the UAE, there is no financial reward for a winning team and polo is funded by private individuals. Private clubs have had little incentive to allow their facilities to be used for training purposes, although this looks set to change in the light of new initiatives put in place by the team at Dubai Polo Club.As momentum gathers throughout this season, the team at the Club are being inundated with enquiries and bookings from UK and the States from existing and aspiring players who are coming to Dubai for a polo holiday.In England, polo players faced with rain and sleet are now giving up the winter concept and coming to Dubai instead. Unlike other polo holiday destinations such as Argentina and South Africa, Dubai has more all-round family appeal; instead of being stuck in the pampas on a remote estancia five hours from Buenos Aires, a player can bring his family to a city which strives to cater to all tastes.Although the opening up of public clubs like Arabian Ranches has made polo more accessible, be warned, it’s an addictive and pricey hobby; you’re not going to be able to take it up seriously unless you have a hefty wad of cash to wave about. With ponies fetching over Dhs140000 each; the cumulative costs of equipment, club membership fees, vets bills and livery will leave all but the über-rich percentile of budding enthusiasts pale and shivering at the thought of the cost. Nonetheless, this arcane game of four-man teams, six chukkas and the ritual of treading in the divots at half time has a certain edgy sort of social cachet which you don’t have to be rich to enjoy.
By Michelle Madsen, January 2006