Since 2005 The Dutch Polocrosse Association is official. It started with former South Africans Richard and Martine Griffiths who introduced polocrosse in 2003 at their stable. Everybody was wondering what they were doing with that net-stick-thing and the rubber ball. But after trying to pick a ball up and play a bit, riders got hooked to it and polocrosse was born in the middle of Holland! Through an internet-horse-forum they contacted other people who got enthusiastic for polocrosse and created an internet homepage which proved an important step in developing polocrosse in Holland. Peter Cross from the UK Pennine club found the webpage and invited us to the Pennine tournament in May 2005. From this first sighting of real chukkas, Dutch inspiration grew to develop polocrosse in Holland. At the beginning we didn’t have a field to play at, only an inside arena. Holland is so crowed that the farmers use every part of there land and don’t want that to be destroyed by galloping horses.
In 2007 the Dutch polocrosse Association became an associate member of the IPC.
European Polocrosse
Since the beginning we have a very international calendar every year; tournament in France, Germany and EU-challenge in the UK. It is great to meet all players of different nations every time with one passion. We have close contact with France, Germany and Norway (also “new-european-polocrosse-countriesâ€) and get our knowledge from players from the UK and Ireland who help us a lot.
Promoting the sport in Holland
Promoting polocrosse in Holland is a bit difficult, because most people ride dressage or jumps and are afraid of a contact sport with horses. Also pony clubbing or gymkhana is not a big thing here; at most pony clubs they get dressage or jumping lessons. Western, barrel racing etc is also not big in Holland. Also polo is not very popular;  that is played by around 90 players, with around 35% professional players from New-Zealand or Argentina.
But once somebody had a stick in there hand and played a chukka… they are addicted to the game!
