Oldest club hails date with diplomacy, targets young in season of hope
by SUBHRO SAHA
Calcutta will play a part in the polo diplomacy at Washington in the summer of 2010 only because it happens to house the world’s oldest existing club for the sport. A 147-year-old club that is eyeing a comeback, after decades of being out of the race, its hopes riding on the city’s GeNext.
The Calcutta Polo Club, established in 1862 by two British soldiers, Captain Robert Stewart and Major General Joe Shearer, was where the modern game was formalised. But like in horseracing, the polo club has been left way behind by other Indian cities following the flight of the corporate flock in the 1980s.
“We aim to bounce back to reclaim our pre-eminent stature, and we are going to the grassroots to trigger this revival,” said Keshav Bangur, the president of the Calcutta Polo Club, with plans to catch them young.
The Telegraph had reported on Monday how polo and its Calcutta connection would figure in the India-America parleys. “It’s a matter of great pride for the club that the game is bringing the two countries closer. We consider ourselves the original cradle of polo and this high-profile exposure will do the game a world of good,” said Bangur, who has to run the club from his own corporate office in the absence of a proper clubhouse.
The club, which runs the oldest polo tournament in the world, The Ezra Cup (1880), has already approached some top city schools.
“We have hired an event manager to coordinate with the schools for free-ride sessions, and we will support the talented kids with all technical inputs,” said club secretary Cyrus Confectioner.
The club is offering a two-month training course at a subsidised fee of Rs 3,800, and schools like La Martiniere, St James, MP Birla Foundation and Kendriya Vidyalaya have evinced interest. The young brigade must look at polo as a “cool, fashionable sport with a wonderful heritage appeal”, said Bangur.
Polo has been synonymous with glamour, and the Pat Williamson Ground on the racecourse has drawn royalty and celebrities, from Queen Elizabeth to Maharani Gayatri Devi.
Lack of corporate sponsorship — combined with the elitist image — has been the bane of the game in town over the past two decades. Now, the club is desperate to change the game’s perception by highlighting the entertainment quotient, attract the young and lure sponsors.
The club’s season of hope trots off on December 17 and concludes on Christmas Day. But the big goal is hosting the World Cup in the winter of 2011-12, when the club celebrates its 150th anniversary. The club has already petitioned the Federation of International Polo. “By bringing the Cup to town we can achieve in a week what we won’t in years,” said the president.