IT’S one of only three truly Australian sports – Australian Rules and campdrafting are the other two – and now, thanks to a feature length documentary film, polocrosse is set to thunder across the world stage.
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The DVD of The Polocrosse Story, described as one of the biggest equestrian sporting documentaries ever made, was launched by the Polocrosse Association of Australia at the recent Rose Bowl championships at Warwick.
PAA president Rodney Geppert said it would be an international seller.
“I see this as the Christmas present for all those people with horses that aren’t playing yet,” he said.
Television producers Ian Withnall and Sharen Kenny, the owners of Palatine Productions, travelled Australia for 12 months to capture the furious competition, spectacular scenes and warm bonds created between riders and their horses, to document the passion of the sport.
“We started at Hall in the Australian Capital Territory where we followed a team of veteran players from the Harden club, and that became a story of unsung heroes,” Sharen said.
From there they covered the Albury Holbrook junior classic before the grand finale at Morgan Park in Warwick, the world’s best polocrosse facility and host to a number of national and international events.
Along the way they captured the beginnings of the game, when Edward and Marjorie Hirst visited an English riding school in 1939 and saw a training exercise being played indoors.
Their vision and equestrian know-how redesigned the exercise from the ground up, gave it new life and called it polocrosse.
It’s become a sport for all ages and has grown into a contest that encircles the globe.
Over 14 countries have teams, many of which face off every four years in a World Cup competition that would put many other sports to shame.
It’s the unbridled passion shown by both players and spectators that got the attention of the documentary’s director, Ian Withnall.
“We love the combination of unique and compelling Australian stories and spectacular visuals, and The Polocrosse Story has embodied both,” he said.
“It’s a very beautiful sport – people take such care of their horses and they’re all smiling their heads off when they’re not playing – but it’s such a dramatic sport too.
“It was a joy to shoot, script and edit, with the scope of amazing stories to tell.”
They included 78-year-old Kevin Bradford, who is filmed competing in the Hall Masters competition with section mates Tiger Hunter, 79 and Jon Weston, 61.
Kevin celebrates 60 years as a player this year and is one of the sport’s most entertaining gentlemen.
When asked what kept him playing for so long, he said it was “good exercise”.
“I’ve retired more times than I can remember but I’m still getting horses going,” he said.
“It’s a great thing – I can play with my grandson.”
As well as showing the origins of polocrosse and its future, highlighted by the talented juniors on show at Albury, it looks at how the special balls are made, using the same mould that was made in 1938, and the racquet craft.
“It was wonderful to finish up at the Barastoc interstate series at Warwick, where the legendary Warwick Fraser played,” Sharen said.
She and Ian have already had experience with unique Australian horse sports, having made The Great Australian Campdraft, which screened on television in 2012.
Since the launch at Morgan Park in August, The Polocrosse Story DVD has been selling “like hot cakes”, according to Sharen.
The DVD is available to purchase here.
Sally Cripps
Journalist
Journalist
