From its humble beginning in 1879, the Adelaide Polo Club has evolved into one of Australia's leading and most competitive clubs.

Originally located in the centre of the city at the Old Victoria Park racecourse, today the Adelaide Polo Club is based at Mount Barker, 25km from the CBD among rolling hills and many gums.

The Club is always keen to attract new members who enjoy the excitement of speed, horses, and team ball sports in a well organised and safe environment.

Polo in South Australia was first thought of in 1874 when a young graduate from Cambridge University returned home to SA carrying with him some polo sticks and balls. Having recently watched a polo match at Hurlingham, the young Lancelot Stirling brought the idea of the game to Adelaide where the first game was played on Montefiore Hill in 1876. Robert Barr Smith, W Gilbert, WH Horn, Major Godwin and Stirling were the initial recorded players.

Thus it was that in 1879 the Adelaide Polo Club was officially formed, seemingly at the instigation of WH Horn, though there are records of polo being played at garden parties of the Hon. Alex Hay at Linden and CB Hardy at Mitcham at that time.

Other clubs were formed in SA early on including the very famous Mt. Crawford club in 1883 and one at Burra.

By 1880 Intercolonial games were being played between the Western District of Victoria and South Australia at Albert Park in Melbourne. The first two were won by SA, despite playing the same ponies throughout the game while their opponents were on bigger more numerous horses and reputedly used mallets a foot longer. This was the beginning of the great state rivalry that exists still today.

But then as now distance has always been a problem for SA polo when it comes to playing interstate. Much inter club polo was played, teams such as North versus South and Married versus Unmarried contested the games of the day with the occasional foray to Warrnambool.

Early Adelaide Club polo was at the old racecourse at Victoria Park but later returned to Montefiore Hill until 1902 when the new grounds and clubhouse were opened on the 22nd of November. Couch grass was sown and pipes laid out for irrigation to attract teams from the other clubs which by now included Strathalbyn and Broken Hill.

The Club remained at Birkalla as it became known until 1960, when due to suburban development, it moved 25 kilometres to the north of the city to two irrigated fields at Waterloo Corner. This green oasis in the middle of the North Adelaide Plains for the next forty years was the Mecca of polo in SA and hosted a number of International teams as well as all of the Australian States. But as the city grew and horses became used less except for pleasure, it was apparent that the club needed to be located closer to where the horses lived.

So in 2000 the club began at it’s third owned fields, this time at Mt. Barker with again two irrigated grounds, among rolling hills and many gums. Its proximity to nearby Pony Clubs will hopefully see the influx of new and younger members.

Nearby clubs now include Strathalbyn, Penola in the South East and Wentworth in NSW, all coming under the administrative umbrella of the South Australian Polo Association formed in 1899.

It is a game for people who enjoy excitement at speed, horses and team ball sports.

Well organised and umpired, it is safe and exhilarating. Not always has this been so.

E. Reg White founder of the NSW Musselbrook club in 1890, complained in the 1930’s that the fun had gone out of the game that he had played in his youth.

"My word we used to see the skin fly then. Mind you, I’m talking of 40 years ago. We used to put the ball in the centre of the field, the teams would retreat to their own goal lines and be given the signal to charge. I remember one day a chap had a leg broken, another was knocked out and still another had an awful spill. My, it was good! We used a solid hardwood ball, any kind of wood. No umpires in those days. And none of your cane sticks. You’d often see a player with a bit of hoop iron fixed to his stick to give it strength”!!