Today I'm going to try my hand at what some have called
the sport of kings
I'm referring to polo
leading me by the reigns is trainer Thom Bell
Brilliant, that's it follow it
Training over it's time to have a go at the real thing
Well come this way and I'll introduce you to Peeky
Thom teaches a wide range of players
and I'm interested to know if he feels
there is still a class association to the sport
So class it's a difficult thing to say
but a little bit like many things in this world
it really no longer exists
Do you have quite a diverse range of people who come here?
Absolutely, hugely diverse
You know billionaire children from America coming here
can afford to buy me every day
And again we have some that work every night of the week in a bar
to afford a lesson with me once a month
They're both equally welcome here
and that is the change of the sport of polo
because in the past it was always very much
either landed gentry army officers or the very wealthy that played it
I'm a fool to say that it's a cheap sport
but it is available and we make it available to people
Accessible, inclusive
And yes you still can play polo at the highest level
as long as you employ some very good players to play with you
That level of... that side of polo is still there
which you're gonna have to budget
two, three, maybe four million pounds a year to play
If you just walk round in a circle to the left there
and we'll get you hitting a ball
At fifty quid for a lesson, polo is more affordable than I had expected
Easy and drop, drop
That's out
But I suspect for many in the working class
the barrier that stops them playing is not an economic one
but a cultural one
Basically, polo is football wae horses
I don't know much about football
There we go
Do you think
that you don't know anything about football
but you know everything about polo
because the social stratification of our society
directed you towards the activities that you are passionate about
and that you are knowledgeable about?
No, no
My father, huge...
you know, god rest his soul
a huge football fan
and my nephew as well
So they've come up the same way
I'm the first person in my family to play polo
but we have ridden since there was no other mode of transport
My father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather
you know absolutely all the time ridden
I wouldn't necessarily say
you have to be from a background to go this way
and if I'm from that background I go that way
But having horses helps?
Yeah but a lot of people here haven't got a horse
and have no interest to buy a horse
Yeah, yeah
Are you gonna come up as your forward please?
Thom trains the St Andrews University polo team
and as a final challenge
I'm joining them for a match
Swing properly
Oh shoot
All I need to do is actually hit the ball
And finish it
Don't hit it so hard!
He's taking the ball on the near side way up here
Come this way please
Darren your ball's coming
That should be you
Hit it hard, hit it properly
And again lazy, lazy
Nicely done
Finally a goal in the bag
Well done Darren, you scored a goal
Gotta be good
My rise to high society is complete
Good game
Nobody was gonnae convince me today
that class didn't exist
I think Thom...
really what he was alluding to was that class
in its historical manifestation
no longer exists
And he's absolutely correct
But it didn't just evaporate it evolved into something else
so instead of a landed gentry
we have people who have inherited wealth
When you have people with that lack of social experience
ascending to the top
and taking decisions about how everyone else lives
It's only so long before the dynamic becomes so lopsided
that what seems like the right thing to do up there
just makes no sense down here