Beach Polo is coming to Denmark
What do you get when you mix the lovely scenery of the Danish beaches, happy sun-kissed Scandinavians and beach polo? Well you get absolute fabulousness and I cannot contain my excitement for this event.
From the 23rd to the 25th of July 6 international teams will be competing in the first ever Beach Polo Event in Denmark. I know that normally you wouldn’t associate Denmark with wonderful summer and a beach polo event, but this is just a well-kept secret. Denmark is the best place on earth in the summer, the temperature is around that perfect 28 degrees (low humidity), the Danes (who have been declared the happiest people in the world) are extremely outdoorsy and happy as soon as the sun shines and the beaches are so lovely that a few famous painters have used them as themes for their paintings and they are usually populated by sun-kissed bodies hopping around playing games.
Painting of girls on Hornbaek Beach by Paul Fischer
The lovely coastline in Denmark, view from my friend’s back yard
Well I think you might have understood by now that I really love being in Denmark in the summer. I am a bit of a traitor to my country, as I am not really a fan of the cold, so I moved away a few years ago, but remember I was born in Brazil and therefore not only like, but need the sun. Anyways in July there will be sun in Denmark and the Scandinavian Beach Polo World Cup will be an amazing event.
Beach polo is played in over 30 cities around the world, although it is quite a young variation of polo, which is said to be the oldest team sport in the world. The Beach Polo rules and regulations are slightly different to regular polo and are as follows:
- 3 mounted players on each team
- 4 chukkers of 7 minutes are played in total
- the polo field is about 100 yards long and 50 yards wide (normal field is 300 long and 160 wide)
- the ball is orange/red and made of plastic which is air-inflated and it is bigger than the normal wooden ball approximately the same size as the balls used in handball.
- There is only 1 umpire who is seated on a watchtower, apposed to 2 mounted and 1 seated in regular polo.
- Goals are only switched after a chukker and not after every goal as in regular polo
Beach Polo Ball and Horse
For spectators this is a much easier to follow form of the sport as the field is smaller, which makes it a nice event to attend, even if you have never been to a polo match before. The Scandinavian Beach Polo World Cup will be on Hornbæk Strand, which is located about 45 min drive from Copenhagen, the event will be free for the public, but in true lavish polo fashion there will be a Veuve Clicquot VIP tent, where the crème-de-la-crème will mingle and sip champagne as you do at polo. They are doing an early bird special with discounted VIP tickets at a price of 999 DKK and you can get them here.
I will definitely be there with my friends and I can’t wait!
As it is the first time we will see Beach Polo in Denmark I don’t have pictures from that event, but here are some pictures of the Beach Polo event I went to in Dubai.
