Introduction from Town and Country Polo Club President, Mr John Patterson
It gives me great pleasure, along with Mr Chris Murphy and Mr Brendan Fahey, to re-form the Town & Country Polo Club. By re-forming the Town and Country Polo Club, we hope to bring together the old and new, city and country players and provide a good social setting for those who just want to be part of the polo family.
John Patterson
John Patterson is a polo player, horse trainer, cattle breeder, father of two, devoted husband and character of repute and was, for many years, a councillor of the Victoria Polo Association.
John has spent more than 35 years playing polo and assisting with its administration and one of his greatest joys is playing the sport astride one of his home-bred horses.
Having grown up in a rural environment (Wellington, NSW), John was introduced to the sport of polo at an early age, by his father, also a keen polo enthusiast. Polo was played by many of the neighbouring farmers purely as a form of social relaxation and the horses were not of today’s polished standard. However, they were very fit and bold as a result of working stock in that rough country.
During his school years, polo did not hold a big attraction, with other pursuits taking precedence. On leaving school, John met a person who would have a profound effect on his life: Sinclair Hill. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his era, Hill was the ultimate mentor for a budding polo player/horse trainer and a chance encounter at one of Wellington Polo Club’s annual tournaments resulted in John securing a position at Moree, where the majority of the Hill horses were bred and broken in.
For any young person wishing to gain experience from the ground up in the horse industry, this was a tremendous start. There were horse breakers, horse trainers, polo players, vets and farriers all very willing to pass on their knowledge in response to never ending questions. It was here that the foundations were laid and, after two years, John had gained a reasonable polo handicap and a position as a player/coach with a Melbourne polo club, probably the first position of its type in Australia.
John went on to play all over the world, on some great and some not so great horses, and achieved an international handicap. He has also bred and trained some of the top Australian polo horses and has seen a number of these go on to compete in many other countries.
John’s very accomplished polo career has not come without a price: he has sustained countless injuries along the way, some of which would have turned most people away from the sport. These included a broken neck (C1 and C2)! However, John has a commitment to put back into the sport which has given him so much.
With his beautiful wife, Sally, John now breeds, breaks in and brings on horses for racing, polo and showjumping, breeds cattle and operates the family farming interest in Victoria.