Kano International Tournament
26th June to 4th July 2009

The ancient cultural city of Kano, Nigeria was in an excited frenzy the weekend of the 3rd of July, when Nigeria's top players all came to compete in the coveted emir of Katsina cup.

The games had gone on for 2 weeks, deciding what teams will play in the semi finals and then the finals, with other smaller cups being played on the same field, it hosted a record breaking over 50 4-chukka games in a week, with 6-chukka games being played for the high goal games, on the legendary Murtala Mohammed Polo ground.

An interesting fact about the Polo grounds- it played host to the first airplane to ever land in Nigeria, with the grounds previously being a run way in the 1920s. One of the few polo tournaments world wide were wealth is not considered a prime factor, the Kano polo tournament hosts over 15,000 locals, who know everything about the game of polo, they yell even before the whistle is blown at the sight of a foul, and support their teams with seemingly accurate strategies, cries in the native language, hausa of "Tare Shi"- stop him, or "Bi Shi"- follow him, can be heard.

The weekend also played a historic date in the history of Nigerian polo, as the Nigerian Polo Federation was being reinstated into the FIP, and thus the President of the FIP, Patrick Guerrand-Hermes, was hosted in Kano for the weekend.

The 16 goal final kicked off under the intense Kano sun, the city had not seen rain in 2 weeks, and the grounds were beginning to show, the dust from the field when hooves scattered gave the final a more dramatic feel. Rubicon made up of Hadi Sirika, Bashir Dantata, Diego White, and Jamilu Mohammed faced Kaduna's Trappco, with Ibrahim Abba, Suleiman Abubakar, Dangaye, and Nigerias current highest handicapped player, Bello Buba, at 5 goals playing.

In an intense match, Trappco came out on top, winning 7-5.
An exhibition match was then held in honour of Patrick Guerrand-Hermes' attendance. The two best players in Nigeria, brothers Hamisu Buba and Bello Buba captain each team. After the first nail biting chukkas, the skies opened, and the farmers' prayers for rain was granted. You have not experienced rain till you have seen rain in Nigeria, horses rear, roofs are torn open and carried away, the ground thunders, vision is near impossible, and in all this the pure passion of polo was shown as the player's played through the rain, not slowing down.

The ambulance turn on their engines ready for a dire trip, the rain gets worse, the crowd clamper for shelter, grooms take shelter in horse trucks, play becomes absolutely impossible, and so a decision is made for the players to wait for the rain to calm, and then decide the results of the match through penalties.
Hamisu shoots the deciding penalty, the ball seemingly goes in, the crowd cheers, his grooms and supporters behind the goal post go ecstatic, then everyone watches in horror as the ball stops inches in front of the goal mouth, literally inches. Older brother Bello Buba wins.

The cups are presented by various Emirs, with Patrick Guerrand-Hermes looking on. The stadium takes hours to clear out the huge crowd, and the weekend ends with a sumptuous lebanese dinner with the NPF dignitaries, Patrick, and the players.

After the tournament, the FIP President, Patrick Guerrand-Hermes said "I have loved Kano. This is the most exciting tournament, with full crowd participation I have been to. It was truly spectacular to see all classes of people come to watch polo being played. Over 15,000 people knowing when the line of ball is crossed! Amazing"

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By Uneku Saliu-Atawodi
+44 (0)78 25151 765

http://npapolo.com/