Chestertons Polo in the Park 2018 – Polo Fun in London

by Diana · Published June 10, 2018 · Updated July 21, 2018

Chestertons Polo in the Park is a sacred weekend in my calendar, it is a tradition I have with my two besties (Tiller and Ponti) that regardless of where we are in the world on that weekend we meet up in London and have a blast watching the sport of kings in Hurlingham Park. This year was our sixth year attending the 3-day event and it did not disappoint, it just went by way too fast, I guess time just passes when you are having fun.

Tiller and I rented an apartment on Airbnb which was a 5-minute walk from Hurlingham Park (every year we move closer and closer, aiming to stay in front of the park next year, haha).

Gotta get that driving at polo picture

Chestertons Polo in the Park was kicked off Friday, June 8th with a total of four matches, three of them between the 6 competing teams and the last match of the day was the historic ICM International Match between Flannels England and ICM Ireland.

The Chestertons Polo in the Park teams:

Rosemary Water Team London
Argentex Team Dubai
EFG Team Zurich
Experience Kissimmee Team Kissimmee
Air Europa Team Buenos Aires
Whitney Neill Team Cape Town

George Meyrick doing his thing for team Kissimmee

At it seemed like as good a time as any to practice my swing – the high heels made it just a little bit challenging

La Martina had a mechanical horse – Iggy at their stand

Polo and Pimm’s go together like peanut butter and jelly

Both teams had a strong game resulting in a 5-5 tie, to make things more fun for spectators the match was settled with a race to goal, where a player from each team, Ryan Pemble for Ireland and Jack Richardson for England, had to “simply” run from one end of the field to the other with the ball. I say “simply” as this can be a difficult task with a bouncing ball that has a mind of its own and cheering crowds putting pressure on.

Fun fact: Chestertons Polo in the Park plays with City Polo rules, the ball is an arena ball, which is larger than the normal grass polo ball and inflated, this makes it easier to see, but harder to play with, as it doesn’t quite go like the normal hard plastic ball. (Check out this post for the A-Z of polo).

Tip: always have a Gin Tonic handy when divot-stomping, it helps the balance.

Ryan Pemble hit the ball three times to get it across the field and lift the Hurlingham Cup above the ICM Ireland team.

ICM Team Ireland lifting the Hurlingham Cup high

Saturday was Ladies Day presented by Boadicea the Victorious and a sold-out crowd of over 14.000 fashionable Londoners. I rounded up the ‘blondetourage’ for polo fun and we had a hard time deciding which teams to cheer for as several of our friends were out there playing against each other.

The day started with a bicycle polo match between the universities, Oxford and Cambridge.

The Blondetourage living our best life and chilling in the Godiva tent.

The Lanson Perfect start is another thing unique to the city polo rules, the beginning of a match starts with players from opposite teams gallop towards each other to get to the ball first. It is safe as both players have to hit the ball with their right hand so they wont be in each others line.

With my friends from the EFG Team Zurich Juan Cruz and Greg

After all the polo excitement it was time for pizza in the food court.

Sunday is always family funday, where all the kids come out to play on the field before the final matches. The adults come out to play too, with funky drinks from the Mahiki tent and more polo action.