33
follow @hurlinghampolo
A L I C E G I P P S
Right:
Sunny Hale, who
was often described as
history's best female
player, died last year
of cancer
P O L O I S A S P O R T WH E R E ME N A N D
WOME N P L AY T O G E T H E R A S E Q U A L S
A N D T H AT I S U N D I S P U T E D
When women first started playing polo –
back in the late 1880s – most were still riding
sidesaddle. They wore restrictive clothing, and
were expected to conform to the Victorian
era’s unwritten codes of conduct. Fast-forward
to the 1950s and 60s, and one of the most
prominent figures in women’s polo, Sue Sally
Hale, was pretending to be a man. For nearly
20 years, she would apply mascara to her lip
as a fake moustache, wear oversized shirts and
tuck her hair under her helmet to compete in
polo tournaments.
Years later, Hale revealed to the
Los
Angeles Times
that ‘After a game, it was
a kick to clean up for the parties and mingle
unrecognised with the guys I’d just played
on the field with’.
Eventually, the United States Polo
Association admitted Hale as its first female
member in 1972. A true trailblazer to the
end, she was 53 when she went on to win
the first US Women’s Open in 1990 with
her daughters Sunny and Stormie. As
anyone with a foot in the polo world will
know, Sunny (often described as history’s
greatest female player) died at the age of 48
last year, due to complications from cancer.
But the legacy that she left behind is
inspiring, to say the least.
Not only did Hale found the Women’s
Championship Tournament (WCT) and help
revive the US Women’s Open, she also won
the 26-goal US Open in 2000 on a five-goal
handicap rating – the highest handicap
a woman has ever received among male
players. ‘It is fantastic how far women have
come in polo,’ remarked Hale in her final
months. ‘In polo we have one of the most
unique opportunities that women can play
on an equal basis as men.’
In 2015, the HPA introduced a ladies’
handicap system to reduce the issue of
compression. ‘Of the 765 female polo
members registered with the HPA in the
UK, only 20 have a handicap of one or above,
