Zimbabwe, horses  and the game of polo Zimbabwe has a history of world class achievements in polo. Today, South Africa is ranked number one in polo and Zimbabwe is second
Zimbabwe has a history of world class achievements in polo. Today, South Africa is ranked number one in polo and Zimbabwe is second

Zimbabwe has a history of world class achievements in polo. Today, South Africa is ranked number one in polo and Zimbabwe is second

Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday
Long before independence, we knew a lot about donkeys and nothing about horses. We got to know about a sport called polo during the Olympics on television.

But we often switched off the television when polo games started and waited for athletics, high jump or marathon. In those days, we could not understand how people can dress up in big boots, red jackets and helmets then hold sticks to hit a small ball from the top of a horse.

Last Saturday, I learnt something about the game of polo. I was invited to the Annual Ambassador’s polo competition at Bushman’s Rock just past Ruwa, off the road to Mutare, not far from Harare.

I carried a VIP ticket. My cousin Piri was not invited, but she came along anyway because after the polo match and lunch, we had plans to drive to the village.

Piri sat on the grass, next to many other polo match spectators who were not VIPs like me. She spread her wrap-around cloth and sat with men and women from the nearby farms and villages. Several men were crowded on a bench. Some European people sat away from the exclusive invited guests.

They had brought their own chairs and rugs, cool boxes and flasks. They looked like seasoned polo game spectators. I was dressed in what I assumed was “casual smart” attire as was specified on the card.

A dress, boots and a jacket seemed to fit in somewhat. There was a fashion show as well to accompany the polo match. If a competition had been held on who was the best dressed for this polo lunch, I was probably not going to be noticed at all. The ladies, especially my African sisters, were dressed to kill. They wore really fancy beautiful dresses and hats.

At Bushman’s Rock on Saturday, the four teams playing were Safeguard Sables, Barclays Buffaloes, Fine and Country Eland, Fine and Country Kudus.

The British Ambassador HE Catriona Laing was guest of honour. “Sis, mune shuwa kuti vanhu vese ava vachenera kuzoona mabhiza achitandanisa kabhora?” asked Piri, meaning, are you really sure these people are all dressed up to see horses chasing a little white ball?

The women sitting next to her laughed and said, yes, some games that people play are strange. But when you get used to watching the game, you can enjoy it too. The polo ground was shaped like a rectangular field with goal posts like a football pitch.

The horses looked graceful with no mane, studs in their rear shoes and white bandages on their four legs. Apparently, the bandages give them extra support and protection. They wore boots and the tail was taped up. Each horse had a bridle on its head and a polo saddle with a breastplate to stop the saddle from slipping back.

The polo players wore riding boots that reached up to their knees and a helmet with a wide brim and thin steel bars to protect themselves.

The players held sticks with a wooden head that they used to strike the ball. I looked around for someone to help me understand the game. One does not attend a polo competition simply to dress up, enjoy the food, and drink the wine and not polo.

Failing to find one person free to explain the game among the VIPs, I went back to deliver a beer to Piri. I found her in the company of an elderly man called James Banda. Piri makes friends easily. They were drinking from the same bottle of beer and laughing like old friends.

James Banda knew about horses. He said that he used to work on various farms where horses were bred. At one time, he worked in Shabani on a farm owned by Ian Douglas Smith, the former Prime Minister of Rhodesia.

Banda said Smith opened the local polo in the 1970s.

In those days, Smith and many of his colleagues in the colonial Rhodesian parliament believed that this country would never see majority rule.

I agreed, recalling that one of Ian Smith’s most famous statements was that Zimbabwe would never be ruled by Africans, “not in a thousand years.”

Smith was wrong. Zimbabwe became independent in 1980. James Banda said polo is an equestrian sport played on horseback. If you go to Bulawayo, you will find more polo players there than in the whole of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has a history of world class achievements in polo. Today, South Africa is ranked number one in polo and Zimbabwe is second.

In the World Cup in 2011, Zimbabwe kept its second position after winning against Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland, United States of America and Zambia.

During a polo game, there are two umpires mounted on horseback and a referee on the side lines. The polo team comprises of four players on each side playing against each other. They aim to hit the ball while sitting on horseback.

The polo match is broken down into periods called chukkas and each chukka is 7 ½ minutes long. The umpire rings the bell at 7 minutes and again at 7 ½ minutes at the end of each chukka. The match starts with the two teams facing each other in the centre of the ground.

Umpires throw the ball on the ground to start the chukka. From that moment, the players compete for the ball by hooking another player’s stick to stop them hitting the white ball.

The two teams aim to score goals and after every goal, players meet again at the centre of the ground so the umpire can throw the ball. After each chukka, a player changes his or her horse and gets another one.

Although James Banda did his best to explain the game, Piri kept on interrupting him. At one time, there was a goal and she joined the other women in shouting “Huree!” They were so excited, as if they were at a football game.

Then I had to leave them. I crossed over to the special guest VIP enclosure for more champagne, meat balls and spring rolls. The tables were set with white table cloths, napkins and several glasses like we were at a wedding.

An Argentinian guy introduced himself to me. He jokingly said I should learn to play polo because some women from Africa played. He knew of a girl from Nigeria who played it professionally. I doubted that such an African polo player existed.

Later on, I checked on the Internet and discovered that there was indeed a young girl called Uneku Atawodi from Kaduna in Nigeria who learnt to play polo over there.

Then she moved to England and joined the Epsom Club where she started by cleaning stables until she rose to the level of playing polo. Today, Uneku Atawodi is the only black woman in the world who plays professional polo. Polo is believed to have started among the nomads of Central Asia, who played a version of polo which was associated with training for war.

The game moved to Persia (modern Iran) sometime between 600 BC and 100 AD, where it became a national sport played by the upper class and high ranking military officials.

Later on, it became a sport in China, Japan and south to India. Around 1859, the British colonialists in Manipur, a north-eastern state of India, formed the Silchar Polo Club.

From then on, polo spread throughout the British Empire and reached Rhodesia. Some established white farmers then started breeding horses. Despite the Argentinian’s explanation, I realised that the polo game was too complicated to understand.

It was best to relax and enjoy looking at the graceful horses as they galloped on the pitch. This place called Bushman’s Rock was very scenic. Beyond the polo ground was a magnificent background of hills and mutondo trees. If it was not for the rocks and the indigenous trees, you would not believe that you were in Zimbabwe.

The beauty of this country never ceases to surprise. No wonder the British called it their home during the empire days and many years after the empire collapsed.

They imported the game of polo to this country. I wondered how many of us Africans sitting around the tables aspired to learn more about polo so we could be more like the British.

Then told I myself that I was too old to learn polo. Such an admission of failure cannot be that bad in itself. Zvimwe hazvisi zvedu.I did not get to meet and greet Jonathan Passaportis, who owns Bushman’s Rock because Piri was getting very impatient, telling me that we should leave and get to the village before dark.

We left before the game was over. But I knew that Piri wanted to stop at a shopping centre, where she enjoys a dish of fried mixed meats called gango and a couple of beers. If I get invited again to a polo match, I will not take Piri with me. The village journey cannot be combined with a polo match.

The two must remain separate.

One day, I shall learn more about polo. Kufunda hakuperi.

  • Dr Sekai Nzenza is a writer and cultural critic.

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