So, I’ve been gone for
awhile. Unfortunately, I’ve been working
to finish my teacher certification because it’s crucial that I have an actual income. Fortunately, even though I haven’t been
writing, I have been having many awesome adventures. Starting with the only sport where you tailgate
through the whole game and drink on the field.
To think, all these years I’ve
been forced to watch football, coerced into viewing basketball, and sucked into
attending soccer games. When all along, this was happening ON THE FIELD at polo
matches.
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| Yes, my friends, you are served bubbly during halftime! |
We attended this polo match at International Polo Club in Wellington, courtesy of one of my awesome co-workers. Wellington is the “winter equestrian capital
of the world.”
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| Perhaps Wellington's only claim to fame. That, and the Mall at Wellington Green. |
Awesome Thing #1 About Polo: Almost everybody is tailgating. The tailgating starts before the match and
continues long after.
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| Courtesy of Sari |
You have to be a member to tailgate,
or at least know a member. I am lucky enough
to know someone who belongs to the club.
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| Sari, on the right, was our "in" to this crazy event! |
But even if you aren’t a member,
the general public is allowed to watch the match and take pictures, just like we did.
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| Trying our best to pretend that we understand the rules of the game! |
Oh yeah, the polo game. Here’s how polo goes: four players ride
around on four horses during seven-minute intervals. Those periods of time are called chukkers.
During the chukkers, the players
are speeding across the field on the polo ponies (not ponies at all, but that’s
what they are called), with the horses kicking up dirt everywhere. After a few of these chukkers, a 10-minute halftime
starts. This is also when the fun
begins.
It is now that everyone rushes the
field. They are supposed to be stomping the divots, or pieces of grass the horses
kicked up. Really, everyone is just
bee-lining for this:
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| Just bags of champagne glasses everywhere on the field, a sport after my own heart! |
And then this:
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| Men driving pick-up trucks with bottles upon bottles of sparkling wine unload their bubbly into our glasses! Forgive the fuzzy picture, but I didn't want any socialites stealing my pour! |
Which brings me to…
Awesome Thing #2 About Polo: You are invited to drink on the
field. Once the wells ran dry of sparkling
wine on the field, people were much more
interested in stomping the divots.
Let’s just say, hypothetically,
that you ran out of drinks while you were tailgating during this sport. Not to fear.
Awesome Thing #3 About Polo: People ride around the perimeter of
the field on bicycles taking your orders for Veuve Clicquot.
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| Don't be silly, I didn't run out of drinks! |
I’m very grateful to my co-worker,
Sari, who invited me to this wonderful event! Anyone at all can attend on Sundays through April 21st... trust me, it's better than baseball!
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