POLO Wicklow celebrated its milestone 30th anniversary recently to great fun and fanfare. The club was founded in 1993 by Micky Herbst. It was always a dream of his to play polo all year round and he recalled, “With the grass season only being five months long, it just made sense to build an all-weather arena so we could play 12 months of the year.”

Joe O’Connell had the grass field which the club played on from May to September so the deal was that Micky would build the arena and it took off from there. When complete, Polo Wicklow arena was actually one of the first international standard polo arenas constructed in Ireland and the UK.

The USA have many polo arenas and they had set the standard size of 100 yards by 50 yards and it inspired Polo Wicklow to build its arena 100m by 50m, ‘the bigger the better’. After much research the surface chosen was granite dust, not only local to the area but it made a very fast surface for playing while still having enough ‘give’ to keep the horses happy. With the help of a LEADER grant, Polo Wicklow was able to build the arena to international standard, making it one of the best in the world.

Originally, Polo Wicklow had a 40 ft trailer that was wood-lined and set up a pot belly stove in to keep players and supporters warm, this was the heart of its friendly clubhouse. And while it had no water and no electricity in those early days, club members and supporters look back fondly at this as being the best of times.

As the new millennium dawned in 2000, Polo Wicklow began to build what is now the current clubhouse, which many have described as ‘a world class pavillion’.

With arena polo being mostly played in the winter, it was vital that the new clubhouse had all the facilities, including power showers, sauna, wine bar and even a massage chair. The flagship clubhouse is a long way from the trailer the club first began in.

Fathers and daughters Minnie and Dan Keating. Belen (standing in for husband Sergio) and Delfina Valor, Siobhan and Micky Herbst, Sophia and Jim De Angelis enjoying the celebrations at Polo Wicklow's 30th Anniversary weekend \ Kim Mullahey

Incredible support

None of this would ever have happened without the help and support of the many founder members. The late Craig McKinney, Alex McKay and Major Hugh Dawnay would come every weekend to play supporting the club from day one, all of them learning the arena rules with the club members as they went along.

Many other sponsors such as Noel Rhatigan, who provided all the wood for the large table that seats 22 people, and Ed Holfeld, who donated the massage chair, and a full size professional snooker table which is located downstairs in the clubhouse. Cornelius Grupp provided all the beautiful glassware for the wine bar, Wolfgang Keiling drove over from Germany with 20 chairs for the table while Craig McKinney provided the first electronic scoreboard. There have been so many people that helped this dream happen that we simply cannot mention them all but their lasting contribution ever remains.

In 1993, the first winter season of the arena, the club invited Eileen Flint, head of Yale Polo in USA, to come over with a team and teach club members and supporters a few more of the rules. Since then Eileen had returned every year and a close friendship began. Eileen was present for the 30th anniversary last week and as she said in her speech, ‘In polo you don’t meet new friends you just extend your family’.

Other guests from the USA were Jim De Angelis, top polo coach, and his daughter Sophia, along with Dan Keating of Newport International Polo Series, joined by his daughter Sophia, with Liz and Martin Brayboy, also from Yale, in attendance.

On the Friday, Polo Wicklow held the Pynck.com Novice Cup match. This was for all the new players to get a chance to integrate with the USA players and show them the hard work they had put in over the winter. With five students from UCD teaming up with Toby Walsh from St Gerard’s School Bray, they joined one more experienced Irish player in Michael Gately and Sophia De Angelis from the USA.

Team White:

Michael Gately (Wexford)

Toby Walsh (Wicklow)

Julianna Gallo (UCD)

Barbara Radmanic (UCD)

Team Pynck:

Sophia De Angelis (USA)

Sita Malone (USA)

Heather Kamataris (USA)

Zoe Day (USA)

A very close game left Team Pynck.com winning by one goal. Toby Walsh took the Most Valuable Player award, sponsored by Irish Polo Foundation. Siobhan Herbst, Polo Wicklow’s in-house coach, commented, ‘It’s a very proud moment when you see your students do so well, they showed off all the hard work they have put in over the past couple of months. The UCD students will be heading over to the UK for the University Championships this summer – they have a very good chance of bringing back some prizes.’

The day ended with a fabulous traditional Argentine Asado (BBQ) Lamb cooked over hot coals for three hours by resident horse breaker Sergio Valor.

On the Saturday, club members mixed the rest of the USA players amongst the Irish players and played a round robin exhibition match. With club members such as Colm Kelleher, Caroline Keeling, Michael Gately, Siobhan Herbst and Audrey O’Sullivan joined by Hazel Hourigan from UCD, the USA players were made to feel at home. ‘It’s incredible to be able to travel so much with polo, players are so generous in lending their horses and all the ponies we were given were just great,’ remarked Dan Keating after the game.

Fantastic sport

That Saturday night the main event, ‘Polo Wicklow’s Birthday Bash,’ took place in the clubhouse. Incredible food from Fed-up Catering fuelled all the guests before they danced until their feet were sore to music from The Cazettes.

Among the speakers on the night, Micky Herbst had a few words explaining what a truly International sport polo is today. ‘My biggest mystery in life is why everyone does not play polo - it’s such fantastic sport,’ adding, ‘Through the club, we have met many people from all over the world, back when we had monthly international matches with teams from Spain, Germany, Pakistan, France, and the USA just to mention a few. We have made many memories and good friends over the years. I must, of course, give a special mention to my wife Wendy who had supported me with my crazy dream and works away relentlessly in the background.’

The following day, Sunday, teams made up of the next generation players competed – all the daughters of the men who helped make this arena happen. Siobhan Herbst, Minnie Keating, Sophia De Angelis and Delfina Valor took to the arena with Jimmy De Angelis and Dan Keating while Sergio Valor and Micky Herbst cheered from the sidelines.

“It’s a special sport that you can play all ages together, Minnie had always been like my little sister in the USA but we never get to play together, the same with Sophia – the last time she was in Ireland she was only five years old and Delfina moved to Ireland three years ago, never having picked up a polo mallet. To watch and play polo with these young girls is really incredible. I played with and against their fathers for many years and now it’s our turn to take the reins,” said Siobhan Herbst.

If you would like to give polo a try, please call Siobhan Herbst at 087 2869691 or email siobhan@polowicklow.com

Team white at Polo Wicklow (l-r) Micky Herbst, Barbara Radamanic, Julianna Gallo, Toby Walsh, Jaqui O'Neill (Pynck.com) and Siobhan Herbst \ Kim Mullahey