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UK Season 2012

Persistent rains at the start of the season

Many chukkas have been cancelled

By Aurora Eastwood

What is the cost of a divot?
It’s not just Wimbledon and Lords that are affected by rain. The UK has experienced an unprecedented and record breaking amount of rainfall in the last six weeks.

The day after many water suppliers announced a hosepipe ban, the heavens opened. The wettest April in recorded history has been followed by what seems to the wettest May. At the time of writing, it hasn’t stopped and if the weather forecast is anything to go by, it’s not about to.

What has this meant for polo? Well, it’s a washout.

Many clubs have yet to start at all, several weeks after chukkas would normally be well under way. Cowdray, with grounds on arguably the most free-draining soil in the UK, has cancelled scores of games, and have decided to cancel the Young England game that was due to take place before the St Regis test match on the 19thMay. Even though it is over a week away, they already know the ground will be too wet to support two games.

Guards too, have had to cancel game after game - and these busy clubs then suffer due to scheduling  - trying to fit the rest of the tournament in before the next starts, and with pros all having no play days...I don’t envy polo managers right now.

Pity any clubs based in the Berkshire area - the soil there is predominantly clay - standing water and utterly saturated fields are the order of the day.

Private grounds have fared no better- Martin Brown’s beautiful field at Witley, home to Talandracas, has seen only the webbed feet of ducks and geese rather than the neatly shod feet of high goal ponies . "In 35 years of polo I’ve never seen anything like it" said Martin, glumly. Talandracas needed to give their horses an outing, but finding a field was tricky.  "It’s easier to ask someone if you can sleep with their wife than it is to ask them to borrow their polo field!".
When it comes to turf, nature has us beat. If the weather is too dry, provided the surface is very sandy and there is plenty of water with which to irrigate, we win. However in situations like this, with incessant rainfall, no amount of drains and sandy soil will make a surface playable - or even if it is, it will be destroyed and the repair costs astronomical - at least 1,000 pounds  per field per game. Not to mention lasting damage that persists for the whole season.

This is one situation no one can buy their way out of. We just have to hope for sunshine.

However, we few, we lucky few who have arenas (or access to arenas) can at least keep the horses fit and play chukkas. It’s not the same, but it’s better than nothing.