Perfect your polo speak
Thousands buy tickets for event in Queens Park
CHUKKAS, bumps, knock-ins, divots... Confused yet?
If you fear looking like a boludo* in front of the ponies at the Spring Polo today, some last-minute polo swotting is in order.
To start, the aim of the game is to move the ball down the field and through the goal posts to score.
Every time a goal is scored, the teams switch ends.
Games are called matches, and today, two will be played on a reduced-sized field in Queens Park.
The smaller field means each side will be made up of three players - not the usual quartet.
The idea, says Event Group Toowoomba’s Maree Parsons, is to ensure “a
❝
We’re wanting to ensure a spectator-friendly match.
— Maree Parsons
spectator-friendly match”. (Somewhere in Argentina, a purist just got a chill.)
Play begins when an umpire throws the ball in at the start of each chukka and after each goal.
The team with the most goals at the end of four chukkas wins. Simple.
Wait ... what’s a chukka? A chukka is a period of seven minutes and four will be played in each of the matches today.
An interval lasting between five and seven minutes will break up play between the second and third chukkas.
This is the time when polo fans can take to the field to stomp in divots caused by the ponies’ hooves.
Polo handicaps rate
players from minus 2 to 10. The higher the handicap, the better the player.
Attaining a handicap of 10 is extremely difficult; roughly a dozen players globally currently can lay claim to the feat.
Finally, a little polo quirk to keep up your linen blazer sleeve: There are no lefties in polo. Mallets are only wielded in players’ right hands.
Ms Parsons expects more than 2000 people to attend the event in Queens Park which bookends the Carnival of Flowers.
“We sold out of the VIP areas months ago but we still have tickets available in the canopy lounge for $75,” Ms Parsons said.
“They’ll be $95 (today) if there are any left.”
Gates open at 11:30am and play begins at 12:30pm. The ball drops for the second match at 3pm.
*Boludo is not a term of endearment.
It’s a Spanish word usually shouted by high-handicapped South American players to lowly counterparts and can be roughly translated as fool.