HOME AND AWAY POLO PLAYER SIOBHAN HERBST Gavin Cummiskeytakes a peek behind the scenes of the rarefied world of polo and talks to one of the sport's most prominent advocates in Ireland
SHE ENDS by quoting Winston Churchill: "A polo handicap is your passport to the world." Churchill was known for his astute commentary and is associated with so much that is British; Conservative, the stiff upper lip mindset and naked snobbery.
Polo fits nicely in behind such stereotypes. But what interests any inquiring mind is what lies beneath the surface. How many know Churchill was once a journalist or that one of the 20th century's great orators wrestled daily with a speech impediment? The sport favoured by the current British royal family does, however, ensure certain connotations.
"I always say Prince Charles gives the game a really bad name," says Siobhan Herbst.
I interrupt - "Is Charles a decent polo player?"
"He is supposed to be good and the two boys (William and Harry) as well. I've never played with him or met him but maybe one day."
Polo is also a favoured pastime in Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand, Spain, Canada and many parts of Asia and the Middle East. Everywhere really. Its origins date back to Persia in the 6th century BC. Back then it was a 100-a-side war zone. Civilised parameters have gradually evolved and while it's not exactly prospering, polo survives upon a healthy diet at seven different Irish centres.
Polo Wicklow is the only facility to function all year round with indoor as well as outdoor fields. This is run by the Herbst family - of German descent - with 26-year-old Siobhan the manager.
Herbst is also a fine player and is keen to dispel the notion that polo is confined to the upper classes. "In Ireland that is very much a myth. Now, of course, in England it is different. You've got the royal family, all the la-di-dah and the Gucci shoes types.
"But in Ireland it is not really like that at all. It is pretty much people who hunt in the winter and come summer they play polo."
Okay, but the imagery conjured up by this sport is inescapable. Lunch by the playing field's edge. Jazz band playing away in the background. The great unwashed are nowhere to be found. This she partially concedes.
"A little bit of snobbery comes into it. It's an excuse to buy a new dress, pair or heels and a nice hat."
Then you dig a little deeper by speaking to someone who lives and breathes the sport, practically all her life. Herbst is a young woman who, in keeping with Churchill's aphorism, has travelled the world with polo. She spends the winter months in Pilar, just outside Buenos Aires. Sounds like a grand retreat but there is work to be done.
"I bring clients out with me. My boyfriend is Argentine so that's how I ended up over there. He comes over for seven months of the year - out of season in Argentina, which is March to September. Then he goes home and I go over in November."
The Herbst family relationship with the game dates back 35 years when her father, Michael, spied the Irish Army playing one afternoon in the Phoenix Park.
"Basically he saw the game and asked what's it called. To start he was told he had to get two horses from Argentina so he got 10 of his friends and they brought 20 horses over from Argentina.
"At the time he would've been the youngest there. They all would have been 70 years old. A lot of the polo in Ireland is bound to my father.
"At the time you used to be able to get horses there for as little as £500. Now there's not really much difference (in price).
"We do all our own breeding and training here of Irish thoroughbreds. All the horses we use, and the horses in England, are Irish thoroughbreds (racehorses) and they are getting more popular in Argentina. They do have a polo breed but if you look back at the grandparents they are Irish thoroughbreds."
Although Herbst competes all year round, she does not play professionally. She classes herself among the middle tier of competitors, "the worst on the field when I'm in Argentina!"
Polo is not divided by gender. Sure the great players, like Adolfo Cambiaso, are predominantly men, but few barriers exist to deny a competent female rider from taking part.
"I know there was a female friend of my father's who started about five years after him. At the time Dublin (Phoenix Park) was the only club in Ireland and there wasn't a woman's changing-room up there.
"So, after protesting, she went into the men's changing rooms and stripped off, and the next day they had a ladies' changing room.
"You would never have a men-only tournament. And if you are to talk to most women polo players they hate playing women's polo because it is so bitchy. But saying that, the biggest tournament of the year is a ladies' (only) tournament."
This is the annual Inchydoney Island tournament, run by Siobhan, which takes place in Ashford for the ninth consecutive year this August. It raises funds for the Bubble Gum club charity.
"It's gone from being a bit of fun to a very serious event. We have a team coming over from South Africa. We have a team from the United States and then individual players from France and Argentina. It's kind of a place to be seen."
Maybe it is too stuffy for some (not the supermodel Jodie Kidd, by the way) but in the aftermath of the Dublin Horse Show the polo-school booking list goes into overdrive.
"We always put a stand up in the Horse Show. Last year we were booked solid for two weeks with lessons and then maybe two or three of those people would turn into full-time playing members. I've started now doing day courses that normally get a few who return. It works out well. At the moment we have about 40 members and 30 of them are players."
As with all fringe sports, an expense must be incurred.
"In Ireland the only way you can really get into the sport is if your parents play. Or if you've got parents with a hell of a lot of money who are willing to push you as hard as they can.
"You can spend four or five million a year or you can spend €20,000, which is a lot of money to spend on a hobby, so it is expensive, but it is as expensive as you want it to be."
