The focus will be on families at this weekend’s annual Clifton Polocrosse Carnival, and for good reason.
Polocrosse has long been known as a family sport with families travelling, camping and playing together. The true “Australian made” sport, which originated in 1939 in Australia, has become a generational family tradition with grandparents, their children and grandchildren all currently playing at some clubs. It is popular with families because it is great game for teaching children important values such as teamwork, cooperation and good sportsmanship, along with responsibility of having to care for their horse.
It is this family bond that gave then Clifton Polocrosse Club president Mark Hoey the idea to trial a Family Challenge Competition for their carnival in 2013. At the time, Mr Hoey said the recently formed club wanted to honour the tradition of families competing together in polocrosse with a formal competition and trophy.
Following on from its initial success, Clifton Polocrosse Club made the Family Challenge Competition a permanent fixture of their annual carnival and in 2017 will celebrate five years of the event. Queensland Polocrosse Association (QPA), recognising the value of the competition, is this year allowing any family member from any QPA affiliated club to team up for the Challenge.
Clifton Polocrosse Club secretary Sheridan Dean said with the QPA facilitating members from the one family being able to cross club loyalties to play together, they expected a larger number of teams in the Family Challenge this year.
Clifton Polocrosse Club will run a normal club competition in conjunction with the Family Challenge. Play will start at 8am this Saturday at Clifton Recreational Grounds. While the games at Clifton will be fast and competitive, the carnival will be more relaxed than Warwick Polocrosse Club’s recent three-event extravaganza. Clifton Polocrosse Club, one of the newer clubs in Queensland, is encouraging spectators to come and experience the atmosphere and excitement of a country polocrosse carnival.
Polocrosse is a fast paced team sport played on horseback. It combines the speed of polo, the strategy and tactics of netball (in terms of the field being divided in to three sections), the toughness of rugby and AFL and the ball handling ability of lacrosse. This unique game is dubbed as the “King of the One Horse Sports”.
Australia is the largest polocrosse country in the World. The Polocrosse Association of Australia boasts a membership over 4000 players nationwide spanned over 135 clubs within the seven states and territories.