What better way to enjoy a lovely afternoon than to take in the polo matches? Sure, you’re saying, that ain’t happening! The only polo you know about is the Ralph Lauren shirt you picked up at a Salvation Army consignment shop. Polo matches are for that slice of society that does not run around on the backstreets at the Jersey shore. Polo matches are not for the hoi polloi. Usually these antics are hidden behind the ivied gates of country clubs; inaccessible to all but landed gentry with money to burn. No, the only horses most of us get to be near are the trotters at the Meadowlands.
Well, I’m not completely dispelling that “Pretty Woman” imagery of mint juleps and wide floppy hats and seersucker suits. It surely exists, but if you’re ever interested in attending a polo match, you don’t have to risk arrest by sneaking onto the club’s grounds.
For the past 19 years the Tinicum Park Polo Club, located in Bucks County Pennsylvania, has been holding polo matches on Saturday afternoons from May through October, weather and field conditions permitting.. At just $10 a car load it is a great way to spend the afternoon. The organization invites you to bring tents and lunches and make it a unique day. I have gone a number of times and though there are a number of tents set up adorned with crystal and linen for members (you get the picture), there is ample room for joes like me.
The match is breathtaking with the thundering horses and the flash of the sticks or polo mallets. For a mook like me from Harrison, New Jersey, it is a well-spent afternoon. Even if you know nothing of the sport it is a wonderful time.
The match is breathtaking with the thundering horses and the flash of the sticks or polo mallets. For a mook like me from Harrison, New Jersey, it is a well-spent afternoon. Even if you know nothing of the sport it is a wonderful time.
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| coutresy: Richard Green all rights reserved |
If you’re interested in going please call the Tinicum Park Polo Club’s hotline at 908-996-3322 that Saturday morning to find out if the match will go on. For example last week the match was cancelled because of the rain we had in the area.
If you’re interested in learning terminology and the game itself, i.e. a match is comprised of six chukkas, each 7 ½ minutes long. Go to the club’s website: TINICUM PARK POLO CLUB
Another nice resource is: IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS WITH POLO KNOWLEDGE
And remember the most important part of life is acting as if you belong there, Sure you can go in your daisy dukes and doo rags and you’ll be accepted, but you will stick out. ENJOY and Talley Ho… oops wrong equestrian event.
Remember, polo ponies are two words…Not one… Ask Ralph Kramden.
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