Let the ladies of Royal family have their turn at polo
World’s leading female player Nina Clarkin says she wants to see the dukes on sidelines for a change
‘My husband, who is also a polo player, is often on the sideline watching me and taking care of the children’
AS ONE of the Royal family’s fondest sporting traditions, it is an unlikely front in the battle for gender equality.
During a polo match, the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex, or in years gone by the Prince of Wales, grace the pitch while their wives loyally watch, occasionally handing trophies to the victors.
But the roles of men and women should be reversed, according to the world’s best female polo player, who argues that more women in the Royal family should try the sport.
Nina Clarkin, the British polo player and the only woman in the world to be rated as 10 goals in the female handicap system – the highest level a player can attain – told The Daily Telegraph: “I hope to see a young Royal female in the future playing the polo match and her husband watching from the sideline.
“My husband does it for me and I think it is completely possible and is probably going to happen.”
Zara Tindall, the Queen’s granddaughter and a professional sportswoman, is currently the highest profile female member of the Royal family to have played the game. Mrs Clarkin, 35, who started playing polo aged six, said the male dominated sport was changing, and becoming “more focused on women”.
She said: “I have been playing a long time now and the number of women in the sport is growing exponentially. That’s at all levels, from patrons to beginners to pros.”
Women’s fixtures are proving just as popular off the pitch too, with crowd numbers on the rise and interest expressed from brands such as Swarovski jewellery, which sponsored the England Ladies’ team last year.
“We have had really great feedback from the tournaments that we played recently. People are loving the game and the atmosphere. That’s also really showing in the number of sponsors that want to take part and get on board with women’s polo,” Mrs Clarkin said.
Recently appointed an ambassador for the clothing brand Hurlingham Polo, the international governing body of the sport, she added: “Nobody worries about whether I am a mother of two, or a woman for that matter, it’s just whether I perform on the field well enough that they want to support me,” she said. “My husband, who is also a polo player, is often to be found on the sideline watching me and taking care of the children. The same goes for me. “Neither one of us gets prior- ity in that sense – we just support each other in the best way.”
She told how her children, Patrick, two, and Elizabeth, seven, attend most of her matches and have even started to show an interest in the sport themselves.
“Patrick is riding and he is mad about horses. He even runs around with a little polo handstick,” Mrs Clarkin said.
“My daughter just had her first pony club tournament this year and she loved it. I don’t think she hit the ball more than twice but she absolutely loved it.”
Taking up the sport professionally after graduating from university aged 22, Mrs Clarkin found returning to the game after having children challenging.
She said: “I played in a team with four girls in the mixed polo and we now have a number of children between us and we all still play, which is great.
“I did find it difficult at first – just juggling everything was very hard. Physically I didn’t find it too bad to get back to full fitness. I was looking forward to getting back into it.
“I quite enjoyed the break but I was keen to get back and get going again.”