The Polo Sisterhood of Manipur

I got an invite from Mr Somi Roy of Manipur to visit Imphal during the first Manipur Statehood Day Women’s Polo Tournament (2016) where the Manipur women polo players would compete with a USPA women’s team for the first time. Mr Roy who is a promoter of international polo in India had seen a previous film of mine – Riders of the Mist who was shot around the Mishing ponies of Assam. He told me that he was working on something very important to kickstart women’s polo in Manipur. Modern polo as we know originated in Manipur and men have played there for the past several hundred years. However the dwindling Manipuri pony population was a cause of grave concern. Mr Roy was instrumental in starting the “Save the Manipuri Pony” campaign. As part of this campaign, he formed alliances with the United States Polo Association. Edward Armstrong ( formerly with the USPA) and Steven Armour (Governor at Large with the USPA) joined hands with Mr Roy and they decided to bring in the USPA men to play and popularize the sport so as to help preserve the pony. Men’s teams from other countries started to come in to play in Manipur. The ‘Save The Manipuri Pony’ campaign picked up. The women were an addition to this effort in 2016.

Mr Roy and I both have an a media background, he having curated film and varied media in New York for the Museum of Modern Art, Lincoln Centre and the Whitney Museum etc. I am a documentary filmmaker. We knew we had a task in hand. We had to popularize Manipuri women play and bring attention to the pony. Mr Roy had already set the ball rolling early on by collaborating on a permanent Manipur polo exhibit at the International Museum of the Horse in Kentucky, USA. He earmarked funds to document women’s polo and asked me to step into documenting the sport in 2016 . During this time, he formed Huntré Equine LLP which would help promote the sport. The strategy to grow the women’s polo efforts was three pronged – the girls would play a competitive tournament every year, USPA or equivalent bodies would provide training, affiliations would be formed with major national and international polo organizations and last but not the least a very directed and targeted media approach would be used to spread awareness. I started filming the USPA women coach the Manipuri players, progressing onwards to the main tournament where four Manipuri teams played with one USPA player as their captain. The show then continued onto Jaipur where two Manipuri girls and two Indian IPA players played mixed with the USPA team and played a game just before the Bhawani Singh Finals Trophy match. My documentation continued through the next three seasons where the Manipuri girls played in Imphal, Jaipur and Hyderabad under the PoloYatra banner from Huntré Equine. We continued using media to popularize the game. My fascination with these strong Manipuri players was also increasing and I thought this would be a good documentary for the general audience. The world needed to see women’s polo flourishing in an ancient place which was essentially the Holy Grail of modern polo. My efforts continued through 2018 when I met with the families of the girls, took their interviews and shot more stock. This culminated in my film Daughters of the Polo God which shows the genesis and growth of women’s polo in Manipur in recent times. The film premiered in 2019 and was shown in several prestigious international film festivals as well as multiple national screenings.

Our three pronged approach of pure competitive sport, strong coaching/affiliation and creating awareness started working well and between 2016-20, we hosted teams from USPA/USA, UK, Canada, Kenya, Argentina, Australia, Egypt and players from the IPA, India. Starting the 2017 session, the Manipuri women formed their own team and they have consistently put up two teams for every tournament. In 2020, they played under the IPA banner for PoloYatra in Hyderabad. The USPA has helped with coaching clinics and general guidance. In addition, alliances have been formed with IPA (India), Hurlingham Polo Association (UK), Australian Polo Federation, Asociacion Argentina de Polo among others. Argentina hosted a Copa Manipur twice in Argentina to help select Argentinian players to come for the tournament in Imphal. IPA put together a women’s team for the first time to come play in Manipur. Egypt send Nefertiti Polo Club – again a first time effort to put a women’s team together to participate in an international competition. The Bombay Stock Exchange became the official cup sponsor for the Manipur Statehood Day Women’s Polo Tournament. Manipur Tourism is the main sponsor and the absolute backbone for the tournament. Incredible India has also helped with sponsorship. About 60 international polo players and 20 Indian players (16 of them Manipuri) have participated so far. The list grows every day and we feel happy that the polo sisterhood is gradually expanding.

Manipuri polo women are a strong resilient lot. What makes them special is their athleticism combined with a never-say-no attitude. They carry a fighting indomitable spirit that is truly their own, unparalleled in the rest of India. Their sense of community and belonging is very strong, their support systems within their families to play polo, the support from local horse riding associations and the state government is also a factor that helps grow their sport tremendously. They have competed with well-known polo players like Megan Judge (USA), Cindy Halle (USA), Rowena Stichbury (Kenya), Roseanna Turk (UK) and Pamela Flanagan (USA) among others. Their charter to Save the Manipuri Pony gets increasing awareness as each new team comes to Manipur to compete. To quote polo player and USPA Governor-at-large Pamela Flanagan

“The respective polo federations sent teams representing Argentina, the United Kingdom, Egypt, Indian Polo Association from New Delhi and a local Manipur team. Here I had the amazing experience of playing on what is arguably the descendants of the first polo ponies, the Manipuri Pony." Flanagan explained, "a historic juncture marked by Polo150 of the UK Armed Forces Polo Association (UKAFPA) designated this Manipur tournament (2020) as the official closing event of the celebration of 150 years of polo in England. Indeed, the convention of calling all polo-playing horses ponies comes from this polo heritage horse”. (SOURCE:USPA GOVERNOR-AT-LARGE PAMELA FLANAGAN SEEKS TO PRESERVE THE MANIPURI PONY – AN ARTICLE BY CLICKPOLOUSA, MARCH 2020)

The Manipuri women effort in competitive polo is a significant step forward for the growth of women’s polo in India. Polo played in Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai and Hyderabad have been solid male bastions so far. There are a handful of Indian women polo players excluding Manipur. At last count, Manipur accounted for about three-fourths of the total polo players from India. The growth of women’s polo in Manipur sets the stage for laying a good foundation for women’s polo in India. The Manipur model of skilling women polo players with support from government, family and local equine association has worked wonders. The outreach to international players and associations and the targeted media approach initiated by Huntré Equine has put in the polo tournament in its right place at the forefront of international polo tournaments. All these factors have gone a long way in building the foundation of the global albeit egalitarian polo sisterhood with its roots in Manipur.

Today, the building blocks are set, the initial hard work is done. Now it is time for the rest of India to replicate these efforts and compete in the international arena. The women of Manipur would certainly be formidable and accomplished team members in these efforts.

Originally written by Filmmaker Roopa Barua in 2020. She can be reached at roopabaruamumbai@gmail.com