You might like to know that ... Chukkas
The full game of polo is eight chukkas, but often, in club matches, four or six chukkas are played. Each chukka is timed to last seven minutes. There are intervals of three minutes between
chukkas and five minutes at half time. Ends are changed at every goal scored - this has been found fairest when there is a wind.
Ponies
Ponies can play two chukkas in an afternoon with a rest of at least one chukka in between. There is no limit to the height of ponies. Each player in high goal (top level professional)
tournaments uses a fresh pony for each chukka because the game is played at a very fast pace, with the horses galloping much of the time. In club games, ponies may play two chukkas in a match.
Should overtime be required, a seventh mount
may be called upon, or a player may go back to his best mount of the day. Three minutes are generally allowed between chukkas to change horses.
Handicaps
Each player is handicapped (on a 4-6 chukka basis) from -2 up to 10 goals (the top professional players).
The aggregate handicap of the four players in a
team is the team handicap. e.g. if all players have a handicap of two goals each, the team handicap is eight goals and is referred to as an ‘8 goal team’.
In handicap tournaments, if both teams do not
have an equal aggregate handicap, one team is given a number of goals start which is calculated as follows: the number of goals start is obtained by multiplying the difference between the two teams’ handicaps by the number of chukkas and dividing by six, any fraction counting a half a goal.
in spring and apply insecticides in the autumn to control leather-jackets and frit fly. I bring in ACS, a Midhurst- based firm, to do the spraying for me.” Despite the constant upkeep needed to maintain Cowdray’s internationally high standards, Julian relishes the challenge. “My job is a wholly demanding one which means we do work long hours, especially in the summer, but it’s enjoyable and we’re all looked after really well by the club. The opportunities to work lots of overtime are welcomed by all of us, especially through the busy summer months. “We run a well oiled machine - everyone knows what they are doing and no-one minds getting on with the job as it’s important to make hay while
the sun shines, as they say.” Groundsmanship on such a huge
scale requires a balance between maintaining such a vast area in a cost and time efficient manner and addressing the finer detail of nurturing well-groomed turf for top class polo. There’s no getting round the fact though that irrigation – or “irritation” as Julian and the team fondly refer to the process - is one task that is never anything other than monumental in scope. “Our irrigation is conducted on a massive scale,” he declares. “Water is pumped out from the river Rother, which runs nearby the Ambersham complex. It’s pumped up through a ring main to water hydrants at the end of each lawn. We then use agricultural-
Unit 11B, Hill Farm Estate, Irthlingborough Road, Little Addington, Kettering, Northamptonshire, NN14 4AS, UK Ph: 01933 652235 Email:
info@trimaxmowers.co.uk
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