For those who are just waking up to the thrills and the excitements of polo,
the game of kings and the king of games, it may be hard to believe that this unique sport reputed as the oldest team sport in the world, has been in Nigeria
for over a century now. This would automatically make the game the first
organized sport in the country, dwarfing other popular sports like Boxing,
Athletics and Football by decades.
Over the last 100 years, the sport of polo has grown by leaps and bounds thanks
to legendary players, patrons and eye-catching tournaments. However, it is the
strength of an increasing number of polo clubs that has provided the influential
base to enable the sport with its unique attributes and enduing lifestyle to
expand so much.
Whatever else is said about it since its introduction over 107 years ago,
Nigerian polo has undergone many changes. Its history is replete with the
activities, antics and abilities of some of the most influential personalities
in the country and its survival has been due to a number of devoted horse men
and lovers of animals who at different times have given much to keep the game
alive.
Available facts indicate that the first set of polo ponies hit the Lagos turf,
just as the first set of mallets hit the first set of balls, to ignite the birth
of Nigerian polo as early as in 1904. Since then, the equestrian game has
witnessed tremendous growth, with polo being played in virtually every state of
the country.
Barely a decade after its introduction, teams from Lagos and the then German
Cameroun, were already competing for major prizes like Kaiser Wilhelm Cup
presented by Kaiser Wilhelm (11) of Germany, in Lagos where the first polo club
was established by the colonial British masters.
Four years after the amalgamation of the southern and the northern
protectorates, the game spread to the northern part of Nigeria, where it was
received with great enthusiasm by the people. Since then, as they say, polo in
Nigeria never looked back.
The love for this distinctive game that unite man and horse in sporting activity
in the north led to the discovery of talented young Nigerians at the time. With
the keen interest and promotion of the late Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Muhammadu
Dikko, polo quickly spread across the north, with polo clubs springing up in
Katsina, Zaria, Kaduna and Kano.
In 1919, the then British Bank for West Africa (Now First Bank Plc.), presented
the Georgian Cup to be competed for by teams in the north. Produced from the
Georgian silver in 1785, the Georgian Cup became the premier polo cup on the
annual calendar of the NPA, and the second major polo cup in Nigeria, after the
Kaiser Cup in Lagos.
By 1922, Katsina had become a major polo centre in the north, with Alhaji Usman
Nagogo who succeeded his father Alhaji Dikko as the Emir, with his brothers
emerging the first set of handicapped Nigerian polo players.
The games' ruling body, the Nigerian Polo Association (NPA), now federation, was
founded in the early 1920s and has been functioning till date. The first head of
the NPA, was “The Father of Nigerian polo” Sir Usman Nagogo whose extensive
travels gave the Nigerian body an international recognition.
While the game was growing in leaps and bounds in the north, polo was equally
flourishing in the south with Lagos hosting international tournament that
attracted players from within and outside the country.
Polo was introduced in Ibadan, the heartland of western Nigerian in the 1930s,
while the game is also popular in Port Harcourt, with its polo turf being touted
as the best in Nigeria.
Affiliated to the Hurlingham Polo Association in the United Kingdom, the
Nigerian polo ruling body has fourteen affiliate clubs, including the Nigerian
Army and Police polo associations
Today, the high profile game of polo in played across the country, with Lagos,
Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Port Harcourt being the major ones.
The game is truly popular in cities like Ibadan, Abraka, Jos, Bauchi, Yola,
Maiduguri, Zaria, Sokoto and Benin, with the establishment of the Okada Polo and
Country Club, Uyo Polo Club and lately, Guards and 1212 polo clubs, both in
Abuja.
In his address to mark the centenary of Nigerian polo 2004, the then NPA
Chairman, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi said though polo found its initial abode in the
palaces of the northern emirates and in the Army barracks, the game has over the
years left imprints in the hearts of Nigerians.
He paid glowing tributes to the late Life President of NPA, Major General Hassan
Usman Katsina for flying the flag in the same noble way as his fore fathers. He
singled out Usman Dantata whose flamboyant lifestyle and wealth gave Nigerian
polo an enduring international boost particularly in the United Kingdom and USA.
Shinkafi who delivered the address during the Lagos'2004 International Polo
Tournament organized to make the milestone, singled out Col Abubakar Umar for
reviving the game in Bauchi, Lt. Gen. Theophilous Danjuma for pioneering the
founding of Polo Port Harcourt Polo Club and late Col. Isa Bakar who made a
worthy attempt at starting the Njikoka Polo Club in Awka.
"Equally significant is the contribution to the development of polo in the
southern part of the country through such families as the Katsina royal family,
The Dantatas, Da Rochas, Alakijas, Ojoras, Akinkugbes Saffiediens, Amusans,
Ogunbanjos, and more recently Prince Albert Esiri, Babangida and Adamu Atta, he
added.
Shinkafi did not forget the pioneering effort of great men like Ahmed Joda whose
dedication and enthusiasm for the sport ensured the establishment of private
polo farm in Yola that sparked a craze across the country. Today, private polo
farms are the vogue, competing with the public clubs in numbers and patronage.
"As the NPA Chairman, the duty has fallen on my shoulder to express, on behalf
of all living players and supporters, our gratitude to all my predecessors, he
enthused, adding, " On behalf of the Life President, players and enthusiasts of
polo, I wish to end on a note of prayer for a safe and promising new century for
Nigerian polo."
