Page 181 - AGC Journal 2018

AGC JOURNAL 2018

Polo

By Major Marcelle Wright | Photos: Peter Meade

A roundup of the exciting thrills and spills of the 2018 season.

Red and
Blue teams
with Colonel
Frances
Alika Peach Castle
Molloy, Steve
Collins,
Brett Badder
and John for the sport. John’s gap year experience made sure he didn’t schedules as military people and you suddenly realise how little
Kirkwood
want to give up this new hobby in a hurry. As a result, he is a few time there is to get out there and hit those white balls. For the
months out of Sandhurst and already playing for the Corps Polo Corps Polo Team this year, Janet Johnson wanted us to focus
Team. upon the three big military tournaments. The Royal Artillery
The Polo Season Cup on 28th May 2018, the Captains and Subalterns tournament
Alika Peach Molloy commissioned into the Reserves in December 21-22nd July 2018 and then our own tournament held on 27th
When the wind is howling and the radiators are turned up 2016 and is currently serving at 253 Company Royal Military August 2018. For each of these tournaments, we were lucky to be
high, the new polo season with its balmy days and endless Police in Brixton as a Platoon Commander. Alika was part of able to field two fantastic teams. In all three tournaments, both

sunshine always seems such a long way away. Then it creeps Glasgow & Strathclyde University Officer Training Corps for teams played incredibly well and often narrowly missed out on

up upon you and before you know it, you are dusting off five years and it was during a taster polo day that she became taking home the silver, which in the Captains and Subalterns

your boots, trying to find your polo whites and then trying to instantly hooked. Alika found her way to the Corps Polo team tournament would have been a massive upset for the Cavalry.
remember where on earth you put your polo mallets and by through Steve Collins, when he joined her platoon at 253
the way how do ride a horse again? Company Royal Military Police. With Steve’s encouragement Adjutant General’s Corps Cup
Alika began to play regularly and now she is in the Corps team
New Season Members and absolutely loves it. The highlight of the year is always playing in our own
tournament, a tournament which has now been running for
This season we were blessed to welcome four new members Steve Collins is a former Irish professional boxer who competed over eight years and is a key fixture for all military teams. Our

to the Corps Polo Team, Major Brett Badder, Second Lieutenant from 1986 to 1997, as ‘The Celtic Warrior’, Steve was the most tournament attracts a record number of entries and this year
John Kirkwood, Second Lieutenant Alika Peach Molloy and successful Irish boxer in professional boxing history, having 14 teams wanted to play, with teams from the Royal Navy, the
Lance Corporal Steve Collins. held the World Boxing Organisation middleweight and super Royal Air Force and a great number of cap badges and Corps
middleweight titles. Not one to go easy in retirement and from across the Army. We are always delighted to host and

Brett Bader first took up polo with the Royal Artillery playing putting aside cameo appearances in well know films, in 2017 welcome Colonel Frances Castle, the Corps Colonel, who is
in a number of Captain and Subalterns Cup tournaments and Steve joined the Royal Military Police in London. Steve owns his always very generous with her time and her support for what we
club chukkas at Tidworth Polo Cup. He has returned after own polo club and has made a fantastic addition to the Corps do, which has never gone unnoticed.
an impressive ten year gap to now represent the Corps after Red team.
transferring to the Educational and Training Services. Brett is Endnote
a player who likes to read the game from the rear and quickly The 2018 Season

exploit opportunities pushing himself to find the extra metre. As the nights draw in and the temperature cools, the 2018 Polo
The United Kingdom polo season runs from April to September, season is coming to an end. This year the Corps Polo team
John Kirkwood rode a little whilst growing up and then started which gives you about 6 months to remind yourself how to ride, have welcomed four new fantastic members and continued to
playing polo at University. Like flying, he got the bug and perfect your swing and remember those little things, the rules. represent both the sport and the Corps through teamwork and a

wanted to carry it on, but it was during a trip to Argentina on Add in to the mix military deployments, exercises and our busy can do attitude in the best possible light.
a gap year, that he got to play regularly and cement his love Steve Collins
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