Nigeria Content Online

The Emir of Katsina Charity Shield has been named winner of the prestigious Polo Aficionado Tournament of the Decade award.

The statement, officially posted by Polo Aficionado, a media organisation, which has organised the award for years, is the latest to emerge from the decade 2001-2010 best achievers roll.

This prize surely is a major fillip to Fifth Chukker Polo and Country Club, which inaugurated the tournament in 2003 in honour of former Emir of Katsina, Muhammadu Kabir Usman, and Access bank which has sponsored the tournament for the past four years.

Eight years on from that maiden edition, and more than N100m in philanthropy mainly to UNICEF, the Emir of Katsina Charity Shield has decidedly made its mark as the premier polo charity event, which this award has superlatively authenticated.

In a triangular contest with its closest rivals, Lagos and Kaduna tournaments, the choice of the Charity Shield in the end, apparently looked easy for the Polo Aficionado panel. For competition, content and added value to Nigerian and international polo, the Charity Shield at handicap 22 out of a possible 40 has been in a league of its very own as Nigeria’s highest handicap polo tournament in the past decade.

Such dizzying handicap level also means it has consistently attracted the very top players from around the world, including stars of the mighty Argentine Open such as Silvestre Donovan (handicap +8), Diego White (+7) and Alejandro Astrada( +8). In the 2006 edition, superstar Augustin Merlos (+10) became the first ever premium rated player to play on Nigerian soil.

Altogether more than 150 foreign professional and amateur players from more than ten different countries have participated in the Charity Shield since 2003, a number five times greater than those of its rivals combined. About 30 foreign players (male and female) played in the 2008 tournament alone while visitors from more than twenty countries have also attended through the years.

When it comes to projecting Nigeria on the world polo landscape, Charity Shield is top of the bill. The distinction doesn’t end there. With a regular pool of five to six teams the Charity Shield also poleaxes its rivals for entries. Car prizes for Most Valuable Players and cash rewards for winners and runners-up definitely make other tournaments look somewhat inferior but when you consider that the Katsina Charity Shield also commands a N1m entry fee, you begin to understand why it is up there alone, not only as the most prestigious polo event in Nigeria but also as the most exclusive tournament in Africa.

As has been the case in the past, this award is expected to significantly increase the sponsorship value of the Charity Shield. Fifth Chukker polo captain, Babangida Hassan Usman Katsina concurs: “The award is clearly a validation of our efforts through the years in trying to create a world class facility for world standard polo. Nothing has been more gratifying than having all these well travelled players and visitors come to you and say how wonderful their experience at Fifth Chukker has been. I believe our sponsors will also be elated for this tremendous recognition of their support”

Man of the decade

In another development, Polo Aficionado has also posthumously given the Man of the Decade award to the late Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Muhammadu Kabir Usman who passed on in 2008.

Usman was an iconic figure in Nigerian polo for much of his life having played and retired at the highest levels of the domestic game with a +5 handicap. When he succeeded to the Katsina throne in 1981, he also inherited the life presidency of the Nigerian polo Association from his father Usman Nagogo, arguably Nigeria’s greatest polo legend.

His reign and tenure witnessed the biggest ever expansion of polo in the country especially with the establishment of private clubs and the hosting of continental and world polo championships largely by Fifth Chukker.

The last decade of his eventful reign also witnessed his 25th coronation anniversary in 2006. Incidentally, a lifetime achievement award scheduled for 2008 was scuttled by his demise early that year.

In 2009, The Kaduna Polo Club unveiled a massive pavilion named after the late royal father. The Man of the Decade award celebrates the momentous polo career of the emir’s life as well as his last decade during which record milestones were achieved and surpassed mostly at his instance.

The 2011 Emir of Katsina Charity Shield is scheduled to gallop off from May 26 to June 5; again teams and players from Nigeria, Argentina, the United States and South Africa will be matching talents and wits for the different prizes on offer.

But, inevitably, it is the Charity Shield with another scintillating parade of world class professionals that has got polo fans salivating at the guaranteed prospect of yet another high goal extravaganza.