2018 Polo Review: EL-Amin, National Tour end season on high note
There will be those views from afar, held by those armed with statistics and the obligatory memory of an on-the-ground highs and lows of the outgoing 2018 Nigerian Polo Tour season, but these would not quite do justice to the epochs of the noble game of kings this year. Top performing patrons & teams EL-Amin won the epic Kaduna Centenary polo tournament by four goals despite coming into the grand finale as second fiddle, given the awesome horse power of their Abuja Rubicon opponents. It was one victory that headlines the Nigerian polo that recorded its fair share of highs and lows during the season.
Winning the Centenary tournament and their fifteenth title of one of the world most revered trophies was fitting for plenty of reasons.
First it was on this very ground that they archived their high-goal status, earning their first Georgian title in 1999. Ironically, it was at the same legendary Murtala Square; four years earlier, they lost their treasured crown to Abuja Rubicon who blasted all comers to their first Georgian Cup glory.
The centenary conquest was their first Georgian Cup win in four years after losing out in 2015 to Rubicon and staying out 2017. “It means everything to me. I feel like it’s my first win,” team patron and defender, Mohammad Babangida, said.
“It’s a 100 years for Kaduna polo we are happy we participated in the centenary tournament, we are happier we won back the Georgian Cup for the 15th time which is the longest winning run by any team in the history of the400 years old Georgian Cup series” he added in a chat with Polo Royals.
In addition to his over flowing polo cabinet, Babangida has also surrounded himself in top laurels with multiple wins of the Nigeria’s other top high goal prizes. Notably the IBB Cup, Majekodunmi Cup , Emir of Katsina Cup, Nigerian Cup, General Hassan Cup, among others.
Before the Centenary firestorm, there were polo earthquakes aplenty in Katsina, Kano, Port Harcourt where Rubicon and debuting Almat Group shone brightly, but it was in Lagos, the birth place of Nigerian polo in 1904, that rumble was most felt, and again, the Majekodunmi Cup was at the centre of it all.
After a deserved restoration procedure by the finest craftsmen in London, the gleaming Majekodunmi cup was dramatically delivered by a Caverton helicopter to the Lagos polo club moments before the final match of one of the most coveted prize in Nigerian polo.
But for the thousands of wowed spectators there would have been very little doubt in their minds where the silverware would end up in the hands of one of Nigeria’s most accomplished patron, Adamu Atta - and for a record fourth consecutive year at that.
It is also Atta’s Fifth Chukker team’s seventh title in ten years, and his 11th since he first won the cup presented to the club in 1962 by the administrator of Western Region, Dr. M.A. Majekodunmi with Team MIA-First Fuels in 1998.
Apart from other top high-goal performances by Kano Titans (in Katsina, Kano), Keffi Ponys (in Fifth Chukker, Kano), there were a battery of medium-goal team across the country that keep polo buffs on their toes all season long.
Leading this pack are high flying Abuja Almat, Jos Malcomines, kano Titans, Lagos STL, Zaria Pony West Stream and Profile Group, Tila Farms and lately Imani that turns heads at the recently concluded Keffi Polo Ranch Open tournament.
Almat Group polo patron, Maurice Ekpenyong is enjoying life at the moment. Having hung up his boots and mallets for the season, the business tycoon is “just taking it as it comes” as he weighs up exactly what to do next season and with his polo farm, longterm. Abuja Almat Group LCC polo team maintained their winning run this year, at the recently concluded Kaduna centenary, clinching the highly revered Emir of Katsina Cup on first attempt, ruled the Unity Polo tournament with back-to-back wins.
The 2018 incredible story of Almat Group galloped off early January with the Niger Delta polo festival in Port Harcourt, where Maurice and his top running Almat squad hit the ground running in a grand style winning the prestigious Governor’s Cup.
Before hitting this historic hard trick, Almat had archived a double, when they stunned all comers to defend the General Hassan Cup for the third year running and powered to their first Kangimi Cup victory, at the 2018 African Patrons international tournament at Fifth Chukker & Country Resort in Kaduna.
Another new revelation to hit the polo scene in 2018 is Murtala Ahmedu Laushi whose Jos Malcomines team is pushing Almat all the way throughout the season in the race for the medium-goal team of the year award.
Until recently, the noble game of polo did not resonate with the people of Jos. No thanks to the recurring crisis that threaten to change the long held tradition of the chilly city as the “Home of Peace & Tourism.
However, since he joined the club, and thanks to the support from members, corporate and individuals stake holders, the king of games has made significant headway in the chilly city.
Not only has the game returns fully to Jos, Malcomines polo team which is the flagship of plateau in the national tour, is breaking all barriers, winning at all tournament is participated in the year under review.
From Zaria, Katsina, Bauchi, Yola, Keffi to the newest frontier, Argungu, it’s Laushi and Malcomines all the way and pundits are heaping all the odds in his favour to continue the winning streak in the coming years.
His contribution to polo’s rise in popularity in Jos and winning run at the national tour has received big thumps-up by the Nigerian Polo Federation (NPF). He was elected as the General Secretary of games’ governing body.
“I’m so proud,” Laushi said of his success. “I didn’t know so many young people would get involved and that it would spread so much like this. I just started because it seemed like a good opportunity at the time and now, look how far it’s come.” he added in chat with Polo Royals. Most exciting tournaments Off the pitch and best performing teams during the season, ten of the best tournaments this year came from the World Armed Forces tournament in Abuja to Niger Delta Polo festival, Lagos, Fifth Chukker, Kano, Katsina, Yola, Keffi Ranch tournaments to the epoch centenary in Kaduna and the latest addition, NSK Farms Polo Tournament in Argungu.
There were numerous memories of conquests, comrades; new heights resonate on the international scene. For the umpteen times, the Lamido Adamawa and grand Patron of the Yola polo was the star man as his commitment to raising the bar of the noble game in his domain, paid off with the home teams sweeping most of the major prizes at stake this year.
This year, Yola added another big feather to its caps, hosting the hugely successful general election of the NPF where the Nigerian polo family endorsed Francis Ogboro for yet another tenure that has been running since 2011. Season’s greeting & New Year wish As Ogboro declared in his review, “Over the century, there were pioneering efforts of great men whose dedication and enthusiasm for the sport sparked a craze across the country. Today, Nigeria is about the only member of the world polo governing body, (FIP) that the game of kings is played all year round.
“As the NPF President, the duty has fallen on my shoulder to express, on behalf of all living players and supporters, our gratitude to all my predecessors, he stated adding, “On behalf of the Life President, patrons, players and polo enthusiasts, I wish to end by wishing everyone a an exciting holiday season and a promising New Year 2019 for Nigerian polo.”