THE renowned designer of the museum at Croke Park, GAA sports historian, author and former broadcaster Eoghan Corry was at the AIPC in Phoenix Park to talk about the history of polo in Ireland, a talk which at all times was mesmerising in its content and sometimes found his attentive audience of around 25 people reeling on the sheer volume of where the sport came from, and where it could have been in the present day.

Following the official founding of polo by nine years, what the GAA took was a template, still visible in every one of the designated disciplines in thriving county clubs, peopled by enthusiasts that in the 19th century would have been as partisan about polo as their contemporary counterparts.

“One of the things the GAA stole was this great idea of a county team,” said Eoghan Corry, the founder and editor of Travel Extra. “If the county teams had kept going, counties like Sligo with seven All Ireland Polo Cup wins and Dublin with two titles, I believe it never would have lost its momentum in the way it did.”

Polo at the turn of the 20th century attracted as many as 20,000 supporters, many from Dublin and by 1949 reached its maximum of 40,000 before a slow decline that has lately turned the corner in a resurgence of interest.

With the wisdom of a historian, Eoghan Corry placed the future of polo in Ireland in the hands of the Irish people.

“Is it that we are not setting aside stock from our national horses? A small sport can grab the heart of a nation by coming up with something quite spectacular.”