Oxford University Polo Club teams up with British Polo Gin
Oxford University Polo Club (OUPC) has signed an exciting agreement with British Polo Gin for the upcoming season. This new partnership will see British Polo Gin, which specialises in creating 100% organic quadruple-distilled, hand-crafted, small batch gin, as OUPC’s shirt sponsor and official spirit supplier. This means that British Polo Gin will be the drink of choice at all of the team’s upcoming polo fixtures, including the prestigious La Martina Varsity Day – their annual contest against Cambridge – at Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park on Saturday 3 June. OUPC is also planning a garden party/gin reception in Oxford this summer to further celebrate this landmark partnership.
Issa Dasu Patel, Chairman of the OUPC and a student at Lady Margaret Hall, said of this new sponsorship deal: “Oxford University Polo Club prides itself on its partnerships and is delighted to have already secured the backing of two of the sport’s leading brands, La Martina and Guards Polo Club. The opportunity to add British Polo Gin to our impressive cohort of partners is excellent news and we look forward to working with them on some exciting initiatives this season. The first of those was a chance to celebrate the new partnership at the OUPC Annual White-Tie Ball at Blenheim Palace in early March, where all the guests were able to taste some of the very fine gin!”
British Polo Gin, was founded by Rich Hine in 2016 after an epiphany while working in a gin business in Western Australia in 2015. He identified a gap in the market for a 100% organic gin and simultaneously identified that the first British polo players were the first men to drink gin with their daily tonic ration. Thanks to Rich’s excellent ties to the great game of polo, including his uncle being a former captain of the England Polo Team, British Polo Gin has successfully established itself within the sport. Rich has represented England in polo across the globe and was, at the time, the youngest ever winner when he won the iconic Archie David Cup at Guards Polo Club, aged just 16. However, this new partnership with OUPC highlights the importance of varsity polo to the game in general and will help create that all-important platform for student players to experience the sport of polo at the highest level possible.
Rich Hine said of this new exciting new partnership: “Following my conception of British Polo Gin in November 2015, the salient tenets of the company were to deliver an exceptionally smooth, 100% organic gin which would challenge conventional gin distilleries and become established as The Polo Player’s choice. Through our invaluable link to OUPC, we are able to ensure that British Polo Gin continues to enjoy the patronage of leading millennials and to enjoy association with the rich and colourful heritage of Oxford University. We are very excited to explore how our new relationship develops and look forward attending events in partnership with OUPC across 2017.”