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8 | THE POLO MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2008

David
Woodd
David Woodd is known to the polo community as the Chief Executive
of the Hurlingham Polo Association. He has held this esteemed post
since 1999 and of course is a regular fixture at polo nationwide as a
result. We met with David at the HPA offices to talk a bit more about
the man behind the role.
So, we found out that he was a career soldier, reaching the rank
of Colonel in the Army and has travelled around the world as a result.
Having played polo throughout adulthood in the forces in some
far-flung locations he reached a handicap of 4 goals (he is the second
highest handicapped player in recent army history). He lives in
Faringdon with his wife, Fra and two teenage daughters, who also
now play polo.
In our lengthy interview we did get his views on polo politics,
handicapping, umpiring, pro-am and so much more, but we decided
that maybe that polo-based content will be included in another issue
of The Polo Magazine – for now we just wanted to let our readers find
out more from David himself.
“My family rode and because of this I was made to ride as a child, which,
of course I loved. I started in the Ashford Valley Pony Club, with lots and lots
of trotting around in circles and hopping over little jumps. My father always rode
and, like me, was in the Army – he too was in the 14th/20th King’s Hussars.
He played polo and reached four goals, although the Second World War was
pretty much the end of his polo career. He was much older than
most fathers, so by the time us children came along that was pretty much that.
There was not a great deal of polo in Kent when we were young, my father and
some other parents did try to get polo going at Ashford Valley PC, but I recall a
very fierce woman in charge who would not have any of it, so I didn’t really start
until later when I joined the Army.
In fact, it wasn’t until I started the second year of my officer training at
Sandhurst that I got immersed in the game. We used to go off to Tidworth and
play one or two chukkas if we were lucky, then drive all the way back to Sandhurst.
I was pretty unpopular as I dropped out of the cricket XI for my second year.
But, apart from my father’s connection with polo, I also recognised fairly early on
that cricket would take all day, whereas polo was all over pretty quickly – and well,
it was just more fun! Also, with cricket you’d have to travel down to somewhere
like Portsmouth to play the Navy, travelling down the day before and staying the
night – it was all pretty boring really.
I rode quite a lot at Sandhurst, especially as I whipped in for the drag hunt, and
I was very lucky to be really put through my paces by Tarjic Kopansky, a Company
Commander whilst I was there. He wanted me to take up eventing but my father
was horrified, I remember him saying: “There are three things an officer should
never be involved with: buggery, morris dancing and show jumping” and so I
stayed well clear of that!
The polo at Tidworth was very relaxed; I don’t think anyone particularly gave
lessons, you were just plonked on and got on with it. It was all very informal – if
you had two ponies you were thought of as quite smart; if you had three, you
were clearly a pretty big wheel. Let’s just say I had a very exciting summer of ten
chukkas maximum.
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From Sandhurst I was stationed in Hong Kong
where they had a great system in operation.
You put your name on a list and the next pony that
became available (because somebody had been
posted away etc) was yours – whatever it was.
They cost £30 and then £7 to keep a month.
You were only allowed one pony and they were
usually these little tough Borneo ponies – absolute
little buggers with no shoes on! I remember one
stallion in particular that you really didn’t want to get
near in the line up. I suppose we played enough to
learn the rules and still have fun.
Then I was sent to Germany, with my brother,
who was in the same Regiment. We bought a pony
each and would decide which of us would play
each week.
When I arrived in 1973, I was still minus
two and it was from then that I started to play
properly: I mean I could ride having done a bit of
hunting as a child and of course those Pony Club
forays, but as for polo – let’s just say there was
definitely no chance of me passing the Junior HPA
tests back then! The standard in Germany was
pretty good and there were quite a few decent two
and three goalers around. It was all organised in a
very Regimental way by Peter Vickery and at the
same time Hugh Dawnay was cruising around the
place telling us what to do. It really was a great time
though, one I remember with great fondness;
tournaments were run over a Friday to Sunday.
Friday night would be a grooms’ bbq, Saturday night
was the officers’ dance and come Sunday you had
no idea where the ponies had come from!

There are three things an Officer
should never be involved with:
buggery, morris dancing
and show jumping
They were invariably stabled at the various
polo clubs but I think it always felt a bit touch and go
as to where you were going to be…I remember
turning up to Düsseldorf still in the previous
night’s dinner jacket, hoping to God the horses
were going to turn up, which isn’t great by today’s
standards is it?
Anyway, in 1976 I returned to the UK with the
Regiment to run Tidworth Polo Club, I think at that
stage I was playing off a handicap of one or two.
I oversaw the building and design of the 3-Day
Event course and then went on to run the polo.
The Club was annexed to the army and everything
used to belong to them and was paid for by
Her Majesty. I was the Polo Manager with two
soldiers helping me to run the stables and so on,
so I was very much working for the Army, but I
didn’t have to put on uniform, which you could do
in those days. Whilst I was at Tidworth, of course I
played polo, as much as the three horses I had
brought back from Germany would allow me to.
Polo was very much army-based and that had
its advantages because we all knew exactly where
we had to be throughout the year, so there was a
real structure to it all. By that, I mean we couldn’t
have training until late September when the harvest
was finished and we were able to drive tanks across
the farmland again; so you knew you had a summer
relatively free for polo. We tended to move around
the country a lot; a weekend in Hamburg, a
weekend in Munich and so on. It was a bit like a
travelling circus, where everyone wanted to make
the weekend they were hosting bigger and better
than the one before. No one seemed too
bothered about who won or lost, although it was
always an incentive to qualify for a later game on
the Sunday to allow time to recover from Saturday
night’s excesses!
After running Tidworth, in 1980 I returned to
Germany. Despite the time spent in the country,
I don’t speak much of the language; I can say:
“Can I park my tank in your garage?”– although
I’m not 100% sure what that means innuendo-wise
– and luckily I don’t think I ever had to use it!
During my posting in Germany I got to travel a
great deal too, particularly during the winter, so I’ve
played in America, Kenya and Brunei to name but
a few. Luckily I managed to steer clear of the
Falklands (although I have been there subsequently
to the crisis). I have particularly fond memories of
Zim’ in 1983 where I was stationed for seven
months – I travelled out there with the British
Military Training Team. Many people were very kind
to me and I played a great deal of polo too – it was
after playing there that I was put up to four goals.
I returned to England, to go to Staff College and
whilst there met, and married, Fra. I played out of
Guards for the next five seasons whilst in the MoD
and at Catterick; it was quite a long commute but
I had a very tolerant Commanding Officer.
After another two stints in Germany, I returned to
England in 1994, but by ‘95 I’d all but given up.
By then we were living in Oxfordshire and
Kirtlington was the local club. I think that last season,
Fra came to watch me twice and even then had to
leave early with the children. Also I was running out
of ponies and I would’ve had to start looking at
investing in new ones – also my excellent,
long-standing groom, Ian Kennedy, who had
worked for Memo [Gracida] was off to
New Zealand, so it just seemed like a good point
to finish. No horses, no groom, young children,
wife not that interested – why bother I thought.
Actually, fast forward a couple of years and I’d got
the HPA post and the children were playing, so it
turned out that I wasn’t out of it for longafter all.
So my daughters Tilda and Tabba started
playing when they were about eight years old, a
couple of years after I’d finally hung up my sticks,
so I thought. I have fond(ish) memories of charging
about on foot, leading them as I’d given up riding at
that stage. But inevitably enough, I could not keep
away from the saddle, or the polo sticks, for long
and as the girls improved it seemed they were
having too much fun not to join in. Now I play
occasionally, mainly with them at home but
sometimes in tournaments where we can play
together (that’s if they can’t find anyone else and
don’t need my ponies) or when we are on holiday
in Argentina.
All my ponies had pretty much gone. I kept a
couple of the old ones in retirement – I remember
receiving a postcard when I was away, in which
Fra said that one of the old-timers, Doug, was
playing polo somewhere. I thought: “Bloody hell,
what’s Fra doing letting old Doug out on the field?”
Then of course I realised that she meant he was
playing polo in the sky – it was a sad moment.
We still do have one of my old ones who the girls
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have got back into work, he’s 26 and loves every minute of chukkas, but we won’t let him off the
farm – he has to die at home if anywhere you see!
I then went on to the Joint Staff College, and later, the High Command and Staff Course, which is
meant to be your ticket to getting to the top; I then went on to the Royal College of Defence Studies.
It was a very civilised affair, based in Belgrave Square, where you started at eleven and finished at one.
From there, you are meant to go on to be a General; but I was married and by that
stage we had two daughters and were based on the farm here at Faringdon. It was at that point
that I had an interview with our ‘manning’ people who told me that I probably was not going to
be a General, which came as no surprise, and that if I wanted to be promoted I may have to think about
returning to Germany or even the Falklands, which met with a rather muted response from me
and the family. Then they proposed a posting to Lancashire and again I replied with a lack of
enthusiasm for the move. Fra, the children and I had all we wanted in Little Coxwell and I
wasn’t prepared to start yanking them out of school and on to a new life.
Also, frankly I don’t think Mrs Woodd would have come with me and I’m not a very good cook!

Easter 1986 – RAF team tour to Jordan &
Cyprus. From L to R: John Gates, David, David
Walton-Masters, David Wildridge
1980, Hamberg – Alexander Schwartz, Calou Gallardo,
Klaus Gehaar & David
1982, Germany – Peron, David & Dietmar Kirsch
1993 – with President George HW Bush
1987 Finalists of the Royal Windsor.
Will Lucas in possession of the ball
challenged by David at No.1 for Sladmere.
Unfortunately they lost to Brent Walker
but went on to win the Harrison
County Cup
1989 – Windsor team in St Moritz
There were not many positions vacant in Oxfordshire, so it was good timing to hear from Buff Crisp at
the HPA.
Buff had approached me previously about the HPA Chief Executive job and then I heard from him
again in 1999. I think the position had got too big and he was getting older and a bit grumpy – a bit
like me now! I know there were quite a few applicants, but I think there were about four or five
who were the serious contenders. Some had no polo background, not that that needs to be a
handicap – just look at [Andrew] Tucker he’s doing a fantastic job [with the England team] without a
polo background. So, anyway, I was delighted to get the job, bearing in mind the mooted postings
to Germany or Lancashire – but then there was a bit of a panic on, as the Army wouldn’t release me
due to the fact that they wanted a better return on their investment. At that stage, I was actually on the
staff at the new Joint Staff College which, rather ironically was about to move to Shrivenham,
2 miles from here at Faringdon. Anyway, we had to rush through an appeal and luckily things turned out
in my favour and to cut a long story short, I became the Chief Executive of the HPA in 1999. The rest,
as they say, is history!
May 1985 – David played back
for Alfursan to win the Rodney
Moore Cup
1979 – Inter Regimental Winners, David with Gerry Maylor
1982, Washington – David Woodd, Jack Shed,
Jasmine & Ian Forbes-Cockell, Maragret Heckler,
Nigel & Bumble Haddon-Paton & entourage
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