Polo is a sport fit for a king. In fact it is known as the game of kings. That might be because it is one of the most expensive sports or simply because it is an ancient war-game used to train royal cavalries.
Polo, as a military training method, dates back to the fifth century BC, but was first played as a sport by Persian warrior tribes.
Not moving too far from home, polo is now coming alive among Emirati men who seek to revive the regal sport and pass it onto the youth.
As a team sport of strategy, agility and skill, polo is clearly fit for any fine soldier. Yet, the Emirati nation's roots in a vast desert brings the sport even closer to home. For it is the bedouin's love and respect for horses, and the communication between man and elegant beast while playing polo, that forms a true bond.
"It's an exciting game about human and animal contact," said Ahmad Mohammad Bin Dasmal, 25, a student at the Abu Dhabi Men's College (ADMC).
"It's a challenging sport because a player needs to be focused on two things simultaneously — communicating with the horse and controlling the ball."
Horses are bred and trained especially for polo and imported to the UAE from Argentina.
The price and shipping of one horse to the UAE costs on average $25,000 and in real terms can cost a player nearly Dh2,000 a game, as each player needs four horses at an average rental cost of Dh500.
Bin Dasmal is the only polo player in his college and recently participated in a friendly fundraising match for the Al Ain Private Centre for Care and Rehabilitation.
The event was sponsored by the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) and the Ghantoot Racing and Polo Club — one of the three polo clubs in the UAE. The event raised Dh150,000.
The Ghantoot Polo Club is a private establishment founded by the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
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It is now owned by Shaikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
"Shaikh Falah loves polo and is a big supporter of it in Abu Dhabi," said Bin Dasmal. "He wants to show the youth of Abu Dhabi that this game is worth playing."
Bin Dasmal has been playing polo for 10 years and was first introduced to the sport by his brother.
Although he was sceptical about the game at first, he now urges his peers to at least watch a game when they get the chance.
"When I first heard about polo I wasn't convinced until I saw it," said Bin Dasmal. "I want my peers to watch the game and see how great it is, or else one of the world's greatest sports will die."
What is polo?
Polo is a team sport played on horseback. Each game is made up of two opposing teams with four players each. The objective is to score goals against the opposing team by driving a small plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a long-handled mallet.
The game commonly has six periods of play know as chukkas, which are usually seven minutes long.
Each player uses up to four horses a game as they switch to fresh horses between chukkas.
