A HEAVY storm rolled over Morgan Park Warwick in the final stages of the prestigious Shell Cup Polocrosse final on Sunday, slowing play and dashing home club Warwick’s chances of a repeat win.
The storm arrived at a critical point in the main game, with Warwick on the charge to make up a narrow lead against rivals Sydney.
Players continued to battle it out for club and state supremacy in the rain, but the fast pace of the game was slowed and so were Warwick’s chances of regaining the lead.
Unlike last year where Warwick beat Tansey in an epic battle that saw the home club hang on in the dying minutes of the game to take out the Shell Cup by just one point, this year Warwick trailed by five points at the end of the game.
The final score was Sydney 18 to Warwick 13.
Despite the excellently prepared fields at Morgan Park holding up well to the heavy play, the storm also caused the cancellation of the Barastoc Interstate Series Men’s game with Queensland due to take on New South Wales in the final.
The Barastoc Interstate Series and Shell Cup Competition, which was the first carnival of Queensland’s Polocrosse season, attracted 76 teams in total. Polocrosse riders, their horses and support crew collectively travelled thousands of kilometres to take to the field with some from as far away as Victoria and down past Sydney in the South, as well as all over Queensland.
Almost 500 horses and riders competed over three days of state representative and two days of club level polocrosse games.
Eighteen teams of six players from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria took to the field to do battle for state pride at the ninth annual Barastoc Interstate Series.
The Barastoc Interstate Series comprised eight different levels of competition: Men’s, Women’s, Under 21 Men’s, Under 21 Women’s, Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Mixed Masters and Mixed Under 30s.
Warwick Polocrosse Club president Les Fraser said the interstate games were some of the best polocrosse he had seen in the history of the competition. Many of the horses and riders in the Barastoc Interstate Series are in heavy training in the lead-up to the 2016 Australian Polocrosse Nationals being held in Albury from 18 to 24 April.
“Never before have we run this type of interstate competition only one month out from the Nationals,” Mr Fraser said.
“Having this strong competition in the lead-up to Nationals will improve the level of play, so it should be a hard-fought battle for State pride.”
New South Wales again led the Interstate Series, clinching victory in four of seven divisions. The Women’s Team, Under 30 Mixed Team and Under 21 Men’s Team played hard against interstate rivals to secure a win for Queensland. No result was recorded for the Men’s final which couldn’t be played due to the weather.
A further 58 club teams competed in the Shell Cup and club competition, making for exciting viewing from the sidelines.
An estimated 4500 spectators passed through the gates over the three days and two nights to cheer on their favourite teams and riders.
Warwick Polocrosse Club boasts one of the world’s premier Polocrosse facilities. Seven fully turfed Polocrosse fields, one of which is floodlit for night games, and impressive facilities for the horses, including undercover stalls, is one of the reasons that the Warwick carnivals are so well attended.
Established in 1953, Warwick Polocrosse Club thought to be the oldest club in Queensland, is the venue for the next World Cup in three years’ time. Their forward planning has seen a lot of infrastructure put in place for spectators and those camping on the grounds making to the perfect venue for 2019 World Cup.
Cunningham Polocrosse Club will host the next South East Queensland carnival this coming weekend at Bony Mountain Recreation Reserve. It is a multi-horse carnival, so it will be an exciting competition for all weekend riders trialling young horses. Fresh horses will be available for finals on Sunday.
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 sport originated in Australia in 1939 and is dubbed as the “King of the One Horse Sports.” Polocrosse is currently played in 18 countries and boasts more than 10,000 players worldwide.
