Kihikihi Polo Club are extremely proud of the high standard they voluntarily manage their prestigious grounds.
The Kihikihi Domain has been the club’s “home” ground since 1946. (Prior to this they played at various venues in the district including Te Awamutu race course. See History page for details)
The Kay family played a leading role in raising the funds to hire a contractor to level the domain area good enough to play polo and achieve the required 300 x 200 yard area for a polo ground. A lease was drawn up for the club which also agreed to maintain the grounds. The lease was from 1st December to 31st March and is still in place today with Kihikihi club members still being the primary entity maintaining the ground. The grandstand was moved from its original home at the currently situated Kihikihi tennis courts and placed on the half way line of the polo ground. It was recorded as being the first club in the Auckland province to have a halfway grandstand providing fantastic viewing and is still enjoyed by spectators of the game today.
The ground is now also enjoyed by many sporting codes and a very popular destination for the general public.

The club have also utilised “flat” paddocks out at Korakonui as practise (chukka) grounds since the 1960’s, firstly at Brian Kay’s farm and then more permanently at Tony Kay‘s, once Stephen leveled and paddock to the rough size of a polo ground in the early 1990’s.

The club stepped up a notch when Paul Kay purchased the property on Arapuni Road and decided to develop his own private ground. This was to be a labour of love and he created the first couch grass polo ground in New Zealand back in 1993. This has been re-turfed, re-sown and continues to demand strategic measures to maintain the level of high performance it currently upholds . Other clubs have followed in Paul’s footsteps, whitnessing the achievements from this ground. The surface allows both player and horse to showcase top polo skills. It’s “springy” nature is very kind on the ponies legs and provides a polished surface for the ball to run smoothly, speeding the game up considerably. So popular was this turf that Kihikihi club have now resown all their grounds using this couch grass. The last one being their “Chukka” ground at Stephen Kay’s farm in 2003, which, in itself, would compete with any other polo ground worldwide. No longer then used just for practises !
The Nicholson Glen Ground, located at the Kihikihi Domain, currently home to the Waipa Equestrian Group, can also double up as a fourth ground if need be for bigger tournaments, although is slightly smaller than the standard polo ground measurements.

Kihikihi Polo Club is one of the oldest sports clubs in the Waipa region – “The home of Champions”. Superbly situated right at the centre of “Heartland” polo country, the club have always displayed genuine loyal community pride. They have a sincere desire to promote the community and a deep appreciation of established local support.

The current club sponsor, Bayleys have made an outstanding contribution to the success of the club and we wish to continue a long and steadfast relationship with them into the future.

The Kihikihi club are truly grateful that over the years, they have had such a dedicated following from local social club members, businesses and local community groups. The Waipa District Council have also been a generous support to the club and in return have reaped the benefits from visiting players and spectators to the region. The council realised that the clubs tiresome work in creating top class venues has paid off with everyone in the polo world extremely keen to play on the club grounds and in return, the council have shown a degree of encouragement for all the grounds in the Waipa region to be continued to be maintained to such a high standard.
Indeed, it was Gus Maunder, who was the chairman of the Kihikihi Town Board back in 1946, that suggested that the club members make the Kihikihi Domain their headquarters and requested they play under the name of Kihikihi Polo Club rather than Te Awamutu as previously known.

Sports clubs world wide are always eternally grateful for any support shown, whether it be through game attendance, social interaction or sponsorship. The real impact of sponsorship was not experienced by the club until the 1960’s when Hallenstein Bros. Ltd. supplied the club with a set of shirts.
Kihikihi polo now have many local businesses and some national businesses that have come on board in various capacities to show their support and love of the game. The club also puts out a fixtures calender which is distributed locally and completely sponsored by local business. We wish to express our continued gratitude.

Looking back over the clubs history of noted local support their have been a few documented accounts which may of be some interest. Two poems in particular both convey a sense of sincere and steadfast support shown to the club and the players over the years. in particular, the one dedicated to the “Polo Wives”, in my opinion sometimes forgotten as the silent heroes !!!

At Kihikihi Polo Club we encourage everyone to be the best they can.
To excel is a quality that is admired, respected and treasured.

With the assistance of the country’s top grounds and some of the top breeds of horses, all a player needs is the passion and desire to play the game and the self discipline and control to gain the knowledge and the skills requred.
Encouragement comes from the clubs spirit and attitude. Positive breeds positive.

The club run practise afternoons every Wednesday (Chukkas) and welcome everyone to join them. They also have a youth/kids coaching program to inspire and motivate young riders. Stick and ball co-ordination is a great skill to possess at an early age.

The club endeavor to play as club teams in as many tournaments as possible over the season.
It is said that for one to succeed you should set goals and aspirations.
The club play host to the annual International Test Match which is the “showcase” of top polo on the New Zealand calender. New Zealand are generally asked to field the best four players they can and as a spectacle it is both exciting and exhilerating to watch. To whitness such a display of “excellence” right on your doorstep is all the incentive our club players need to build their determination to succeed at the pinnacle of club tournaments each year, The Savile Tournament.

The Kihikihi Polo Family

Kihikihi Polo Club holds Traditional Family Values –
The club has an historical generation of polo culture and social values dating back to 1892.
The Kay family in particular has been associated with the club since its formation.
Andrew Kay, a founder member, had a family of 16 – 10 boys and 6 girls.
Eight of the sons played but the whole family participated.

Nowadays, the game is not just popular amongst privilaged men, but also woman. In 1997 the International Woman Polo Association was founded in England and now has 33 offices in different countries. Polo is also perfectly suited for children, improving their coordination, endurance, reactions and comraderie.
Polo has now therefore become a sport for the whole family.
Husbands, wives and the kids can now all club together to make up a team and be a force to be reckoned with!
Contact the club if this sounds like something for your family.

Everyone is welcome as polo family members at the club.

Kihikihi players are historically renown for their home horse breeding with generations producing acclaimed polo ponies. To this day, players can generally go back through the family tree of their paricular good line of breeds for many generations and are reluctant to part with a mare that is able to still produce top class progeny.
The polo pony is the backbone of skillful, talented polo.
There has been an interesting and some might say colourful evolution of the polo pony, although since its inception, Kihikihi Polo Club have had ponies of a reasonably high standard. The district was scoured for suitable ponies, many purchased from local Maori settlers or rounded up from the back country surrounding Te Awamutu. Horses were in high demand for the Boer War and later, for the Mounted Rifles in WW1.
From a fairly helter-skelter beginning, with large groups of men astride small ponies, polo evolved into a more organised and skillful game. Mallet technique also evolved from dribbling the ball whilst leaning over the pony’s neck to full swings taken at speed and to be well mounted soon became very clear. Smaller, hunter type ponies gave way to larger, faster ponies and small thoroughbreds. The standard of polo pony increased markedly from the turn of the century and in 1919 the English authority, Hurlingham Polo abandoned the height restriction law. Today, most polo ponies stand around 15.1 hands.
Ideal ponies show speed, stamina and agility. The best are responsive, intuitive and have a calm disposition that enables them to focus all their energy on the game.

There have been many top ponies in the club. Allan Elliott won the Champion Pony trophy the first year it was presented at the A.P.P.A tournament in 1961 with his legendary mount “Drake”. The first winner of the prestigious “McKelvie Trophy” at the Savile Tournament for a team of three top ponies was John Kay. Many club members have gone on to win trophies for champion pony and team of ponies.
The club members all have stories to tell you of memorable ponies that have gone on to produce excellent lines of ponies over generations. Ask any of the Kay family about “Maud” !