Polo, the elite and mysoginy

[CrackersAndMarmite]

So I sat down to watch the new Haggs and Merry Netflix show 'Polo'. I managed about 25 minutes I think before I was sooooo bored I had to turn it off.

Anyway, when watching it all I kept thinking about was how mysoginy is just so massively perpetuated by the elite. The programme was all about the rich male oligarch/oil tycoon/CEO types. No women's team represented - future episodes seem only focussed on male teams too from my brief look at what's to come.

The men all have their picture perfect little blonde wifey's who look after the babies and children and home and are expected to fawn over these men's (not as nice as they think) bodies. Meanwhile, these men pour millions into a sport that seems to be about appearances more than actual passion. They use horses as their play thing.

I just felt a bit sick watching this programme as it really made me think about how the upper classes/elite are everything that is wrong with the world, yet they run it. The mysoginy, the arrogance, the splashing of millions on a sport when there are people starving, the expensive cars and private jets guzzling fuel and gushing out pollutants.

I don't often give much thought to the super rich, but watching this made me feel really really angry. While millions of people around the world are suffering famine, war, death, cost of living crises, homelessness, struggling to put food on the table, these rich men are prancing about spending millions on simply having fun, while wifey attends to their every whim and they do what the hell they like regardless of climate concerns, animal welfare concerns etc..

AIBU to think the elite are everything that is wrong with the world. If they could use their millions to support homelessness, support those undergoing war and famine, raise awareness of women's rights (instead of walking about with the trophy wife attached to their arm leading us back to the 50s), and take action on climate change, the world would be a far far far better place. ...

(Sorry I don't know if I spelt mysoginy right!)

Polo is a mixed sport - I used to watch a lot of it and lots of women played.

Totally agree on the rest of your post though.

Thanks. I wonder if it's like football, where the big bucks are in the mens competitions?

picture perfect little blonde wifey's

That's pretty misogynistic.

Exactly.. (the point of my wording!)..

The only really big bucks in polo is what is spent on running a team...

when I was last playing (c. 18 years ago!) the costs were roughly:

• grass roots polo you needed a couple of ponies at c. £10k each + stabling + mileage to transport them + player memberships + match fees etc. - realistically £40k-£50k p/a if you didn't have a farm to put the costs through...
• mid-goal polo - budget £100k - £150k p/a
• high-goal polo - budget £1.5m+ p/a

you don't play polo to make money unless you are an Argentine when alongside football it is still seen as one of the routes out of poverty...

The polo I played was predominantly men, but plenty of women also playing - look up the Tomlinson family - Claire the mother was a powerhouse in the polo world - then the tomlinson kids - they set up Beaufort polo club where I was a member (alongside Guards)

Agree with akkakk (although I used to watch at Ciren Park!)

Also Polo operates a handicap system, meaning less good players play against world classers. Means also that women can play against men.

Thanks! V interesting! (Slightly wow at the Costs involved!!!)

I agree. It’s such a niche sport & so abusive towards animals that I have zero interest in watching it. It just looks like rich men showing off. There are far more interesting things to watch.

No, OP, I'm pointing out that you're being misogynistic talking about women, wives and mothers, that way.

The men all have their picture perfect little blonde wifey's who look after the babies and children and home

or maybe OP was just stating a fact?

A top class high goal match with the top ranking players in the world is phenomenal to watch but then that's true of most sports when you watch the world class players, athletes etc. That said, it's incredibly brutal on the ponies. The vast majority are treated as tools/equipment and the abuse of them would shock most people to the core. Just one small example. The ponies are typically exercised with the groom riding one and leading a few on either side. Any ponies that refuse to do this/lag behind/snatch the rein and run off are tied to a tractor and dragged along until they learn to keep up and 'behave' themselves.

😥😮that's so sad. How could people.treat animals like this? Well I guess some might be the same bunch of entitled elites that are also big on fox hunting so we wouldn't expect much else. But still...

I was aware of what you were suggesting ...

the rules of polo are all in the favour of the pony being protected - any risk of injury to a pony and the match stops - risk of injury to a player - crack on...

yes, sure there will be some participants who don't treat animals well, but the vast majority do - even for the uber-wealthy a top polo pony is probably £100k - £250k - they get looked after...

the costs are interesting - it is one of the few sports played at international level where the players share the costs - not sure of current costs but it used to be £5-£10 to get a car of up to 5 spectators into most normal clubs (outside the big ticketed matches) - pull up at the side of the pitch and sit on your car with a picnic while top world players are on their ponies at up to 40mph right by you...

compare that to the cost of 5 people going to watch a football match where the players are paid millions - polo as a spectator is a far more accessible sport (not as a player though!

It is also one of the most exhilarating sports you can play I have done serious skiing / raced yachts / raced cars / etc. - but 8 ponies at 40mph trying to ride each other off the line is just an amazing experience...

If you think those mens "wifeys" are looking after the kids you are very mistaken! That is what a Norland nanny is for!

I suppose the main point of this thread was not really so much about the sport of polo itself (as interesting as some replies relating to the sport have been) but more about how the super rich and elite seem to perpetuate and represent everything I dislike about the world! ... animal cruelty, arrogance to do what the hell they like (treat animals badly, pollute the climate through use of jets and super cars), mysoginy, sexism, greed and gluteny, splashing the cash on a 10k bottle of wine, when a homeless person could use that money as rent for a year, and blatant hypocrisy....

😅👍😉

All of that is reasonable - but not all who play polo are in the super-rich category... to be fair, most won't be suffering from poverty, but there is a lot of polo which is grass-roots level...

There was a very good episode of Faking It (where people were given a different job and within a few wakes had to try and appear professional) where a bicycle courier from Manchester was 'turned into' a polo player...

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/faking-it/on-demand/36186-002

worth watching - it is a far better representation of polo than anything Harry put on - though it is based at The Beaufort polo club (Tomlinsons mentioned above) and Harry & William used to play there a lot as a child as it is basically next door to Highgrove...

like most things in life, take the super-rich out of the picture and what is left tends to be fun - mostly they make it worse, but that doesn't change what polo itself is like...

I get your drift OP.
I had similar vibes when watching Alpine Hotel at Christmas on channel 4 last Sunday.
"Rooms costing up to £18,000 per night......"
Had to turn it off.
Utterly nauseating but I suppose if you have (or Daddy has) sooo much money that you don't know what to do with it some folk will spend it on excessively expensive "experiences".

It's not the responsibility of HNWI to solve the problems in the world (although there are some that try), it is the responsibility of the respective Governments. Corrupt politicians and religion play a huge role in the why the world is as it is.

These types of programmes do not reflect reality, they are made for "entertainment" and the producers always have an agenda.

Yes I watched that, it was sickening.

I'm not so sure. Most people are trying to make a comfortable life for themselves and family - put a roof over head, cook or obtain good food, ensure clean clothes, etc.. yes it could be argued we don't need a cheap holiday to Spain or an x box for the children. However, dropping 10k on a bottle of wine or 5 million on a season of sport just makes me feel ill. I would really struggle to do that knowing people in the same country, maybe even the same town or street, were homeless. I already feel guilty about Gaza, Syria, Sudan etc.. and give what I can. Average people are persuaded all the time to donate money to children in need, red nose day etc.. etc.. I think a lot of ordinary folk do their best.

I really don't think I could spend so much on frivolity when so many are going through such hard times.

I also think the 'average' household is constantly told not to pollute, to use paper straws, to limit car use and plane journeys etc.. to limit our footprint on the environment, but the super rich take private jets which chuck out so much pollution it somewhat negates the efforts of the rest of us.

And as for mysoginy and sexism. I think the average person is trying their best to move things forward, to get women recognised as more than just their body and a nice accessory for men. Meanwhile in the elite world some women seem content to just look nice by the side of their man and there are v few men who would seem to be content with a strong, intelligent career women who is maybe a size 12 or above and doesn't have salon ready hair and nails. It just seems like the elite want to keep women thin and pretty as accessories whereas the rest of us are trying to move into the 21st century....

What do you think the agenda of 'polo' is?? I honestly just found it utterly boring, except for it's spurring my dislike for he hypocrisy, mysoginy, arrogance and sexism of the super rich. I have no idea of the agenda. Didn't seem to be one?