The game of Royalty comes to the Gold Coast.
Being a bit of a fan of the game of Polo I jumped at the chance to have a chat to Dean Caulfield, who after only 7 years of playing this extreme, high impact sport, has been given the honour of representing Melbourne in the State of Origin game at the upcoming Polo By the Sea.
Polo is one of the fastest growing spectator sports in the world and in Argentina is second only to soccer in popularity. Polo By the Sea is a chance for new and existing fans to get up and close and personal to the  some of the best players in Australia and the world.
Dean has come a long way in the sport in a relatively short period of time playing both locally and internationally. In the State of Origin game Dean will be betraying his new home town and returning to his roots to play for Melbourne. Playing alongside him in the team of 4 will be one of the best international players in the world, Ruki Baillieu. Dean is excited about the event as it’s the “first time the event has been played in this environment on the Gold Coast”.
Dean started out his horse riding career as a youngster at his local pony club. From there he progressed, to of all places, the rodeo where he “got a little too old” so found his place in Polo, which he says is “a sport you can play up until you’re 70 and beyond”.
The inaugural Polo By the Sea is a sister event of the well-known Polo In the City which has been held for a number of years will great success. Polo By the Sea, was originally to be held on 13 April 2013 but due to torrential rain, has been rescheduled for this Saturday, June 1 at Doug Jennings Park, The Spit. Saturday will see 2 games with the second feature game being seen as a State of Origin, between home town team, Gold Coast and Melbourne. The first game will be a corporate game between Pimms and Blue Sky Beer.
As an interesting tid bit of information, in talking to people in the writing of this article I found out that the insurance premium for players is second only to Formula 1 race car drivers. This sport is definitely not for the faint hearted.
Tickets are still available for this great day out head on over to www.polobythesea.com.au or Ticketek
Pictured: Ruki Baillieu thanks to polo enterprises for the image