Auntielou

Lagos Polo Club

On 3rd Feb myself , Lisa, Marcus, Nigel, Mo, Mopsey and Raphael when to Laleyes bar on Awolowo Road to watch via Wales six nation rugby match. kick off was very tense with Nigel hanging the welsh flag on the wall. Large bottles of star at 200 each was a bit steep but sure they were going down very well as were the tries. Finishing score was 54/10 to Ireland (What a shame Nig!!! NOT) or something like that. Nigel disappeared very disappointed leaving myself, Lisa, Mo and Mopsey to continue the celebration. We met some guy called John who worked in the bank and he gave us Tee-shirts, pens, hats and key rings. At this stage we girls were very drunk and left the bar at 11 ish running up the road jumping on every concrete hump shouting at the top of our voices. When we got to the YMCA we stopped at Charlie's to order egg toasties, and water when Lynn met two guys who claimed to be polo players. We chatted and we asked if we would like to ride their ponies. I thought Hello there my kind of men! and quickly dragged Lisa over to introduce her to the. We arranged a meeting for 9.00 am the next morning, thinking it was all BULL and we would never see them again. Saying that it was pitch dark, we were drunk, and sure if they had stood in front of me the next morning I would not have recognized them. The next morning with hangovers from hell, myself and Lisa discussed if they would turn up, what they may be after and how we could get out of going with them. It was not to be. At 9.15 am a guy walked up to the truck dressed very expensively, in what looked like polo gear and designer sunglasses. It had to be a man from last night. We shook hands and off we went to the polo grounds. We arrived at the polo club only 4 minutes walk from the YMCA and waited for the stable boys to bring the horses to us. We both rode around the grounds having a little gallop. It was all very exciting!!!! We then went to the Ikoyi Hotel where we lounged around the swimming pool with the Kaduna El-amin Polo Team. All these guys were very well spoken, educated gentlemen, who invited us back to the polo club to watch Kaduna El amin 1 play. Bello a grade 5+ player was a treat to watch scoring nearly all the goals.

The rest of the week was spent between sleeping in the tennis court on the hard ground, sweating under mosquito nets and visiting the Polo grounds trying to get to grips with the rules as guests in the VIP enclosure hobnobbing with ex presidents sons and some of the most important people in Nigeria, Air conditioning, photos and TV cameras. It was like something out of Jilly Coopers Novel "Polo". without the love and sex. At various stages the others from the truck joined us and a great craic was had by all, especially on the Wednesday night, Bruce got up and dirty danced with a Zairian dancer wrapped around his hips.( who says white men have no rhythm)!!!!

The polo ponies mainly come from Chad, Sudan and Argentina, the main differences in size and ear shape. These very fast ponies can turn on tuppence and stop and start with a click of your heels. Depending on the grade of the rider, depends on how many chukkas are played. A chukka lasts 7 minutes and there are anything between 4 - 6 chukkas. Each time a goal is scored they change ends with four players to a team. Ponies are changed normally after each chukka, and many of the players had brought between 5 and 20 ponies to choose from. Its very much a gentleman's game with no foul play tolerated as both pony and rider can both be seriously injured. On the pitch these players are arch enemies but off the pitch they are brothers!! As the teams became better the pace of the games became faster with more risks taken. We saw many falls and several injuries including broken ribs and concussion. Our team (Ha Ha) won everything hands down and our new found pals were definitely playing to us as they scored and galloped by waving their sticks to us.

As with everything good in life the tournament came to an end on Sunday 10th February 2002. As myself and Lisa sat watching the trophies being handed out, we felt very depressed and so flat!!. Back to the Trans-Africa Trip and back down to earth with a bump. Thank you Baba, Rambo and Bello and all of the Kaduna El-amin Polo Team for your friendship and hospitality. We hope we can repay your kindness if you ever visit England or Ireland. If anyone is interested in polo you can check out the website of Lagos Polo Club on www.lagospolo2001.com.

Written by Lynn Clifford and Lisa Hill