Polo & More, Singapore 2017 Polo & More, Singapore 2017 | Page 4

EDITOR’S
note
“Reversus In Tempore”
olo is arguably the oldest recorded team
sport in known history, with the first
matches being played in Persia over 2500
years ago. Polo continues, as it has done
for so long, to represent the pinnacle of sport, and
reaffirms the special bond between horse and rider.
The feeling of many of its players are epitomized
by a famous verse inscribed on a stone tablet next
to one of the oldest polo grounds in the world, in
the high mountain passes of Gilgit in the Chitral
in Pakistan: “Let others play at other things. The
King of games is still the game of Kings.”
Initially thought to have been created by
competing tribes of Central Asia, it was quickly
taken up as a training method for the elite cavalry
of royalty. These matches could resemble a battle
with up to 100 men to a side. The preserve initially
of Kings and Emperors, Shahs and Sultans, Khans
and Caliphs, the game has become so much more
now since it was first discovered in Manipur in
1862 by British Army officers who subsequently
went on to modify it to its present 4 a side format.
History and tradition therefore are very
notable fundamentals of this great game, as is change, the thing that has ensured its ongoing
survival and prosperity worldwide. We salute
history and marvel at its evolution these past
155 years. The sport of Polo in Singapore has
been around for 135 of those years, making the
Singapore Polo Club the oldest polo club in South
East Asia, and the second oldest in the world after
the Calcutta Polo Club, so it is only apt that we pay
homage to the architect of its post-war revival,
Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India.
(Page 20) Back in those days women playing polo
was virtually unheard of and it actually wasn’t
until the mid-1970’s that the USPA reluctantly
admitted its first female member; these days
women players are an integral part of the polo
landscape (Page 12).
Travel is also one of the vital modern
components of this very ancient game, the sport
has a global following, an itinerant caravan that
covers the four corners of the earth, touching some
idyllic and fascinating locations along the way. Of
the 365 days in the year, I don’t think there is a day
that goes by that you won’t find polo being played
some-where in the world, from the high mountain
passes of the Chitral in Pakistan, to the plains of
the Orkhon Valley in Mongolia to the Pampas
of Argentina. Polo is played in over 70 countries
these days, therefore in this inaugural Polo & More
(Singapore) edition it is only apt that we give you
a soupcon of flavours from France to Norway,
India and Sri Lanka and even as far away as New
Zealand as we give the Last Word to celebrated
New Zealand professional JP Clarkin (Page 120).
Bearing in mind the significance of travel to
polo, it is probably fitting that our feature designer
(Page 78) is none other than that most iconic
of luggage manufacturers come fashion house,
Louis Vuitton, for whom decadent journeys in the
early 19th Century were the protagonist for its very existence. Back in those days, when steam-
ship and train were the mode of transport, the
practicalities of trunks which could stack made LV
the go to supplier for exquisite luggage. As travel
has evolved so have they as a brand and their
pieces are still finely crafted works of art that are
essential to peripatetic polo types such as myself
who traverse the globe.
Style & polo are also very synonymous, and it
really doesn’t get much more stylish than this. For
more than a Century BMW have been pioneers in
skillfully uniting form, function & panache. So what
better way to arrive in style to polo and have heads
turning than in this chicest of rides, the BMW i8, test
driven for us by Torrey Dorsey and our Contributing
Editor Charley Larcombe (Page 98).
The ostensibly eclectic flavor of this edition
is highlighted with our fashion feature with
wearable yet exotic pieces from Indian Maestra
Malini Ramani to take you from polo match to
after party (Page 112).
I hope you enjoy our polo odyssey in this
inaugural edition that gives you