British Army polo official clothing partner and team sponsor
army polo sponsor
London, 7th August 2024 – Hook Polo, the UK clothing brand, announces its appointment as the British Army Polo Team’s sponsor and official clothing partner.
Hook Polo’s sponsorship strives to provide support for Army Polo in several ways, and, as a company
run by serving members of HM Armed Forces, the company is very proud of this partnership.
Director of Army Polo
Lt. Col. Simon Ledger, Director of Army Polo, said: “Hook Polo is the ideal fit to be in partnership
with Army Polo. It is a young, forward-looking company and the potential journey for both parties is
most exciting. Army Polo represents the ideal platform for the exciting plans by Hook Polo to be taken
forward, developed, and matured over the next three seasons.”
Offical clothing partner
Capt. Robert Cameron, Founder of Hook Polo, said: “We see this as a very natural collaboration and a wonderful opportunity for our brand. Hook Polo has always been grounded in the sport and places emphasis on the unique heritage of the British polo scene, of which the Army is synonymous."
600BC
Origins of Polo
The first recorded game took place in 600BC between the Turkomans and Perisians (the Turkomans won). In the 4th century AD King Sapoor 11 of Persia learned to play aged seven. In the 16th century a polo ground (300 yards long and with goal posts 8 yards apart) was built at Ispathan, then the capital by Shah Abbas the Great. The Mohguls were largely responsible for taking the game from Persia to the east, and by the 16th century the Emperor Bahur had established it in India. (It had already long been played in China and Japan, but had died out by the time the west came in contact with those countries).
1800's
Tea'ing it up
In the 1850’s British tea planters discovered the game in Manipur on the Burmese border with India. The first polo club in the world was formed by them at Silchar west of Manipur. Other clubs followed and today the oldest in the world is the Calcutta Club founded in 1862.
Malta followed in 1868 due to naval officers stopping off there on their way home from India. In 1869 Edward ‘Chicken’ Hartopp, 10th Hussars, read an account of the game in The Field, when stationed at Aldershot and with brother officers organised the first game, known then as ‘hockey on horseback’, on a hastily-rolled Hounslow Heath in 1869. He drew a short list of nine or ten rules; but it was John Watson, 13th Hussars, who formulated the first real rules of the game in UK and India in the early 1870s.
1870s
The Rules of Polo
The rules of polo as we know them today were drawn up by Capt John Watson, 13th Hussars, when he posted to India in 1870s. Watson’s orders came from General Frederick Roberts VC – later Field-Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar, immortalised by the British public as the hero, ‘Bobs’. Watson has gone down in history as the ‘father’ of English polo; but it was not he who actually introduced the concept of the game to this country. The honours must go to Edward ‘Chicken’ Hartopp, 10th Hussars, who initiated the game in 1869. He was hooked immediately and with 5 or 6 other officers of the 10th Hussars improvised the game described above.
They rode Army chargers and used heavy walking sticks held the wrong way up. Army chargers having proved impracticable, 17 ponies of about 12.5h were imported from Ireland, on the understanding that they were ‘quiet and handy’.
Polo was encouraged by the Cavalry Regiments as it improved horsemanship and confidence in controlling a horse with one hand and required fitness, courage, skill and team work.
Modern times
Army Polo association (APOLOA)
The Army Polo Association (APOLOA) was founded in 1998 to coordinate and encourage polo in the Army, both at home and abroad. The home of APOLOA is Tedworth Park PC where the Army Polo Grounds are based both grass and arena. In the UK, servicemen are integrated as members, within different polo clubs. The Association seeks to widen access, support and improve polo at all levels from novice, developing and senior and form teams up to +8. Regiments and Corps form their own groups such as the RA, AMS, RLC, AGC, The Defence Academy and the Veterans Group.
In 2021 the APOLOA had 184 players across all members of the Army including woman and other ranks. There are 3 main Army tournaments as well as the Inter-Regimental which is the oldest Polo Trophy in the world dating back to 1871. This year the Queens Royal Hussars beat the Kings Royal Hussars by just ½ goal at the Guards Polo Club. Army teams have played in Morocco, Malaysia, Mongolia, Barbados and India in the last 5 years and Egypt is now added to that list.
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British Army Polo Team
