Playing Chess at Full Gallop with Glen Gilmore

well tell us just a little bit about the polo because let's go back to that when you were really riding and competing and what sort of initially sparked your interest that pollard was for you what what is it about the game

look it's an amazing combination of teamwork between people so a sport that involves the team you know the people that interview the dressage riders it's all about them and the horse at that particular time they've got a huge and you know they've got not only huge teams sometimes small teams behind them but they're not out there competing with them and the thing that polo allows is you've got the teamwork aspect you can play with friends you can play with family and then you've got the horses and that relationship you have with your horses because I'm not sure if you know, but if you and I are on the same handicap when you're playing polo, but you have a better horse than me, you're going to beat me.

So you have to have that cool relationship with your horse, then team that with your team.

I tended to be the higher rated player in my team as I got a bit better.

And so I was always trying to make... my other three players play better and so if i could give them little bits of information or talk to them while the play is going on so almost multitasking where i was making a play but i was looking back to see what they were doing and and having those things set up that's i think that's probably where i excelled in um in the sport of polo at my level that i did but it was lucky so yeah we grew up I grew up in the Darling Downs playing polo.

My father was a farmer, so I'm a farmer's son from Queensland.

He was one of nine kids, and a few of those played.

Yeah, there's a lot of us.

We're like rabbits up there.

I think I've got 31 or 32 first cousins, and those 32 have already had 34 kids or something.

One of my cousins is about to have another one.

Anyway, there's lots of us.

And then polo was this way out.

I represented for cricket.

I represented for rugby league at a young age in, in my state.

But polo was this thing where it could take you everywhere.

I remember distinctly probably being 12 or 13 and a gentleman came over called Peter Baldwin from Hawaii.

And he was this larger than life character from Hawaii.

And I'm like, wow could i go he's like glenn you've got to come to maui and i'm like yep i'll do whatever you say sir i'm coming i never got to meet him i never got to go and i'm really sad about that because he passed away a couple years ago but he sparked a thing in me it's like wow i can take this sport travel meet people have fun and since then we've led a gypsy lifestyle and i'm now 55 so yeah we've led a gypsy lifestyle with the with the polar world and it's taken us to places we should never have seen and we've met people we should never have met yesterday we met the greatest um sumo wrestler he's a mongolian sumo wrestler and he's the greatest in the world like like how do you meet that guy so some fun stuff

Yeah.

Well, tell me, because when I was reading and doing my research, you have described polo as being a little bit like a game of chess.

So what do you mean by that? And do you feel that the success of the polo game is about positioning?

Absolutely.

It's about positioning.

And I think, like all good team sports, we're watching FIFA World Cup at the moment and you can see the teams that are already organised and the best players are two steps ahead of everyone.