Sport of queens

Ahead of the England versus France ladies' polo international match this weekend, Aurora Eastwood finds out why the English team is still the one to beat - but will their dominance last?

- Aurora Eastwood

BRITAIN isn't shy about producing elite riders in every discipline, but there is one in which our women are currently topping the leaderboard ahead of players from the very mecca of the sport - polo.

For a small and climatically temperamental island where we can play only five months per year on grass, British women have been the best in the world for decades, outstripping Argentina, the USA and France.

Hazel Jackson, Milly Hine and Nina Clarkin are currently ranked one, two and four on the World Polo Tour rankings respectively. How, despite the many disadvantages afforded by our contrary weather and sheer cost of keeping horses in this country, are we outperforming Argentine women, who hail from a country where it's possible to play polo for 12 months per year? After all, for men, the reverse is true.

Rural girls in the UK often grow up riding, and polo had the pioneering role model of Claire Tomlinson, who not only reached a five-goal handicap, but also forced the governing body (the Hurlingham Polo Association, HPA) to change the rules to allow women to play high goal.

While horses are very much a female pastime (and career) here, women have always played with men, making up 31% of current HPA membership.

“English female players play a lot of mixed polo, so they are solid and hard-working,” says Hazel. The equine culture in Argentina is the reverse. It has long been seen as a country where men are very “macho” - this meant that for a long time, ladies’ polo was considered a frivolity.

The male players didn’t take it seriously, so few women played, and only a handful had positive handicaps (over zero goals).