Equestrian - Irish Polo Team Reach European Championship Final

The Irish Polo team have defeated the host nation Germany to reach today’s (Sunday) final of the European Championships at Maifeld stadium in Berlin, which was the venue the last time Polo was part of the Olympic Games in 1936.

Germany were many people’s favourites to win the Championships, however an outstanding performance by Mickey Henderson, Stephen Hutchinson, Max Hutchinson and Creighton Boyd, saw Ireland defeat their hosts by 8 goals to 6 in the semi-final.

Speaking afterwards, Ireland’s Stephen Hutchinson said:

“The lads played really well and to score 8 goals was a great result. Our Irish ponies were the talk of the stadium. They are trained and played by the players all season and are all from a racing pedigree. On a few occasions in a flat run for goal the Irish horses just left the opposition behind.”

Ireland will now face France in today’s European final after the French defeated Austria in another thrilling semi-final which needed extra-time to decide the winners. 

Looking ahead to today’s final, Hutchinson added:

“France are a strong team but we in very good shape and playing just so well as a team, passing to each other, riding off the opposition and getting the scores.”

Today’s European Championships Polo final between Ireland and France will be shown live on www.pololine.com starting at 12 noon.