The Sunday Mail
Ralston Muchoko
IT was a proud for the Meikle family when brothers Corey, David and Gareth lined up for the Zimbabwe national team in last weekend’s clash against South Africa.
The tourney took place at Harare Polo Club and the hosts edged the match 13-10 with the Meikle brothers starring alongside Richard Brown, son of Polo Association of Zimbabwe president Tom Brown.
David, the eldest of the Meikle trio, and a tobacco farmer in Banket, said polo is passed down from generation to generation in the family.
“Polo is a family sport and our parents passed on this passion for horses. My father and grandfather introduced us to the sport at a very young age and we have also taken it upon ourselves to introduce our kids to the sport as well,” said the 32-year-old.
Corey plays for Bushman Polo Club, and is a film-maker and commodity broker in his other life.
He started playing polo at age six and has already faced Argentina, Jamaica, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.
The attack-minded player said that he gots his thrills from “running with the ball”.
“It’s something amazing to play in the national team with my brothers but just playing the sport if not enough for me,” said Corey.
“We need to keep the sport growing and continue to get more people involved, informed and in love with this amazing game.”
Gareth is the youngest of the three -but he is the national team skipper.
“The amount of time, energy and luck involved makes the odds against it happening astronomically high. Yet here we are, all the three of us, playing for the national team. It’s a story people will be talking about long after we have retired,” he said.
