SPORT OF KINGS AND THE COMMON MAN

LAURENT PERRIER 11 V VDOCS 1
ARBUTHNOT LATHAM 7 V LDF 3
LDF INTERNATIONAL POLO SEMI FINALS  @ THE ROODEE, CHESTER RACECOURSE
8 JUNE 2018 --- 2.30PM
Life as well as sport if often guided and decided by pre conceived ideas and so I guess it is with the sport of polo that of course bills itself as 'the sport of kings' but often you have to go and sample the book to find out what's beneath the cover, or at least a flute or two of champers.

ACTION FROM THE LDF INTERNATIONAL POLO EVENT

A first visit to polo was secured quite by accident while checking out end of season travels that would mean avoiding busy trains around Chester it was then that the LDF sponsored international polo tournament was spotted for both today and the Saturday and a note was made that there was a chance to widen the sporting horizon.

CHESTER RACECOURSE A FINE VIEW

So with a departure just before 9am the vagaries of a busy public transport system were encompassed full on, no arriving by Range Rover et all here, with an arrival in the delightful city of Chester just after mid-day.  On a warm day the racecourse at Chester, otherwise known as The Roodee, was arrived at after a short amble with plenty of time to familiarise myself with the surroundings.  The racecourse is the oldest still in use in England and at 1 mile and 1 furlong one of the smallest, however it is so well appointed sitting on the banks of the river Dee with the properties on the south bank overlooking the course and back to the walled city which sits majestically above the main stand.
Interestingly the day had started with a conversation with the proprietor of the base station newsagents when I mentioned I was off to the polo she informed me that her granddaughter played horse ball, a form of horse basketball, another one to look up!

HOW FAR AWAY ARE THE GOALS

Guided towards the centre of the racecourse where the expanse that is the pitch with at either end two posts to form the goals made up of black and white hoops, the length is 300 yards by width of 160 yards and you certainly need a trained eye to follow the ball during play.  The goals are 8 yards apart and a chukka is of 7 minutes in time with today 4 chukka's being played in a match.  Interestingly, but of course for safety reasons, no left handers are allowed they were banned in the 1930's but when you observe the speed and swiftness of the mallets safety has to be of paramount.
There were by now a fair few spectators gathering pitch side but overall it appeared very much a corporate event with today being semi final day a lot of the outlets were not open or stocked but HR Owen luxury cars where in attendance with 3 Maserati's totalling just shy of 1/4 of a million pounds.  The star player being the Gran Turismo all coming in at a very reasonable price with the bargain priced Levante Gran Sport at £77,000 you can guess where the formers price range is.  The other side players in attendance today where a quality fish and chip outlet with bar adjacent.

GO ON THEN THE MASERATI GRAN TURISMO

With hospitality the order of the day the pre match meals and drinks were well underway while the blog wandered off to take a look at the ponies and their carriages all being prepared and kept in shape.  Chester Polo Club had their own little VIP area along side four tents for todays teams.

JAMES FIELDING SIGNS THE VDOCS SHIRT

The whole event was sponsored by the LDF group who took up one of the four teams the others where sponsored by bankers Arbuthnot Latham, VDOCS and Laurent Perrier and with prize money of £10,000 the event was not to be taken lightly.

LAURENT PERRIER TEAM COOLY GATHER TO MEET THEIR SPONSORS

Before proceedings got underway there was a chance to observe the teams in their mini tents and get a quick picture of James Fielding signing his VDOCS shirt for some lucky winner later.  The event thanks to the LDF group had produced what appeared an excellent programme that was available to hospitality it was just a shame that it never made the rounds of the general spectator, although many were of course left on the tables in hospitality afterwards.

VDOCS TEAM WITH A FORMAL TOGETHER TEAM LINE UP

The first match would see Laurent Perrier ahead 4-0 after the first chukka and by the end of proceedings they had stolen an 11-1 march on VDOCS with Michael Henderson scoring 9 of their goals.
Half time in each match saw a silver champagne stopper placed under a divot on the pitch and with members of the crowd invited on to 'stomp' down the lifted up turf the person to find the silver today were awarded with a bottle of Laurent Perrier for their troubles.

CLOSE UP ACTION FROM LAURENT PERRIER V VDOCS

Interestingly the winner followed out one of the organisers of the day and was immediately in for the winnings but the second match saw nobody locate the stopper and who knows its probably still their now.

MORE ACTION FROM MATCH ONE

The second match pitted Arbuthnot Latham against LDF and it proved a slightly less one sided affair with the bankers running out 7-4 winners to secure a place in the final against Laurent Perrier on the Saturday, a final that they won the following day in the presence of Sir King Kenny Dalglish.
Todays proceedings received an overview commentary throughout to guide spectators around the matches and alongside a post lunch introduction to polo this was very well applied by the man on the mic.

GOOD JOB FROM THE MAN ON THE MICROPHONE KEEPING ALL UP TO SPEED WITH GOINGS ON

Live sport is live sport much like live music and just needs to be sampled to see if your taste buds are whetted and today was an enjoyable afternoon watching the speed and undoubted skill of the players, bring it a bit closer to base and I would definitely attend again.  If you want to look for the stereotypes then they are there just as in any sport but along with quite a few other people sampling it for the first time I had an educational and enjoyable day in the company of Chester Polo Club.
The sport of train cramming and delays was endured back to Stockport before changing onto a further crowded train back to Sheffield and finally a seat for the return to base station around 9pm.