Interview: England polo captain Tommy Beresford has his sights set on the Argentine Open

England men’s polo captain Tommy Beresford has lived and breathed polo practically his entire life. Coming from generations of polo players, Tommy Beresford has since carved his own name into this sport. In 2023, he became England’s fifth player to reach an 8-goal handicap since World War 2, leading England to wins against the USA and the Commonwealth. He was also the first English player in 15 years to be selected to play at the 2023 Argentine Open. 

Here, Tommy Beresford speaks to Tempus about his love for the sport, why winning the Cowdray Gold Cup was so special for him and his goals for the polo season.

Polo has been in your life practically since you were born. What was the moment that cemented wanting a career in polo for you?
Polo has been in my life from the day I was born; my parents, my uncles on both sides and my grandparents on both sides all played, so it was definitely from a very early age. I always loved it and wanted to be a player, but I took it more seriously from about 14. My parents saw that I had potential and gave me the option that if I did well in my GCSE’s they would give me the opportunity to travel more and study through home schooling while I was abroad. So from that moment on I really buckled down and focused on my academic side. Luckily I did reasonably well – for my standard! – and I could take them up on the offer.Polo is a sport that in the past has had a very niche audience, but that has now started to change. How do you think polo has broken the accessibility barrier and reached more audiences?
I think polo has broken into more audiences because the stigma has started to be broken down as well. People stereotypically see polo as a very high-class sport. Obviously, there are hints of that, but that is the day that’s on show, and that’s great for polo, but we all know the reality that goes on behind the scenes which gets us to playing on those big days. So slowly but surely people are seeing the other side of polo and have seen it’s more accessible than maybe they thought beforehand.  

What is it like to captain the England Men’s Polo team? What does training entail?
Being England captain is an honour. I like to think that every other English player would dream to be in my position and so I don’t take it lightly. It’s something that’s slightly newer to me but I’m really embracing and enjoying every moment. Unfortunately in polo there aren’t that many internationals, so there’s not as much training as we would like. There’s been a great step forward with the HPA now having made an England Squad and we can slowly but surely start meeting up a bit more together, create more of a squad dynamic, get to know each other a bit more and do more practices. You have previously described winning the Cowdray Gold Cup in 2023 as a childhood dream come true. Why was it so special?
The Gold Cup was definitely my childhood dream, firstly because it’s the biggest tournament to win in England – obviously the Queen’s Cup is huge but I’ve always thought that the British Open is the one to win. And definitely because I live five minutes from Lawns [the main grounds at Cowdray], so as a child it’s always been the closest thing to home and it’s always been the most accessible dream that I had. It was great to have achieved it, I’d lost the final a couple of years before, so 2023 was really special. The Lawns are so iconic, there’s so much history and I had so many family and friends that could make it that day, so it was definitely one to remember.  

What are your thoughts on the incredible rise in love and interest for women’s polo over the years?
Women’s polo has come on leaps and bounds, it’s incredible. There are few really really top professionals that are breaking barriers, that was led by Nina Clarkin all those years ago when she won the Gold Cup — she’s been a great role model for a lot of the younger girls. And now you’ve got someone like Hazel Jackson who’s really powering through and playing the high goal this year, you’ve got Milly Hine who’s a great player and a lot of Argentine girls who also compete at a very high level, so it’s great to see and hopefully it can keep on going. What are you most looking forward to ahead of the upcoming polo season?
We’ve had a great tournament so far. I like to focus game by game, and we’ll see how the season goes. I’ve been extremely lucky to be a part of the King Power Polo Team, they’ve really looked after me well and I’ve loved every moment, so I’m hoping to keep on powering through the Queen’s Cup and then looking forward to the Gold Cup. 

What’s next for Tommy Beresford?
I think hopefully I’ll keep on being as competitive as possible in England. It’s great to compete in these big tournaments, but the main thing is I want to win, I want to have my hands on these trophies. You’ve got to have that winning mentality at this level. But if I’m going to push for any bigger dreams, it’s something to do in Argentina, which is something I haven’t been able to get my teeth into as much as I would have liked. I think the next step is definitely to get into one of the big teams and really start competing for the tournaments there. 

Images: The Art of Polo

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