Published on Aug. 26, 2019

By: Steve Dorfman

Dawn Jones has been playing polo for 25 years and wants the world to know what she and the U.S. Polo Association are absolutely certain of: “Women’s polo is ready to explode.”

Jones, a champion polo player and part-time Wellington resident who’s been married since 2001 to actor and avid polo player Tommy Lee Jones, is among the prominent advocates of the sport who are thrilled with the growth of the women’s game.

“A decade ago, female membership in the USPA was 22%. Now it’s 40%,” says Jones.

“Women are the fastest-growing segment of the USPA and really are the future of the sport,” says Brenda Lynn, development director of Museum of Polo & Hall of Fame in Lake Worth.

Jones — who says she learned the game from polo pioneer Sue Sally Hale (mother of the late Sunny Hale — universally regarded as the Babe Ruth of women’s polo) — notes that the quality of women’s play has never been higher.

“The level of horses and horsemanship, the strategies being employed — the female game has evolved to the point where it’s drawing in fans of all ages and backgrounds. It’s become so popular that the best female players are starting to make good livings as professionals.”

That’s a far cry from how women were forced to play the game when it arrived in America in the late 19th century. Back then, when men even deigned to allow women to play the game, they were forced to ride their horses sidesaddle, lest their delicate lady parts be subjected to undo jostling. Of course, for creating degree of difficulty for female players, this was essentially the polo equivalent of what Ginger Rogers had to do with Fred Astaire: dance backwards and in high heels.

The aforementioned Sue Sally Hale was the one who changed everything. In the 1950s and ’60s, she famously donned a fake mustache and other disguises in order to compete alongside men.

Sally’s daughter Sunny carried a similar polo passion — and even more natural talent. In 2000, Sunny broke the gender barrier, competing alongside the best professional male players on one of the sport’s top professional teams.

Sunny’s stardom set the stage for the 21st century growth of the women’s game.

The contemporary women’s game also has benefited from digital innovation, some of which was spearheaded by Jones. Last year, she helped create and launch the Women’s International Polo Network (wipnpolo.com).

Think of it as a LinkedIn for women’s polo.

“We want it to be the one-stop shop for all things women’s polo: player profiles, tournament information, a calendar of upcoming events and lots of other resources,” Jones explains.

While the polo season in Palm Beach County runs from January to April, the USPA is getting a head start on promoting the 2020 season — and the sport in general.

To coincide with today being Women’s Equality Day — and to celebrate the sport in the epicenter of women’s polo — the USPA, in partnership with the Palm Beach County Tourist Development Council, is debuting a 30-minute documentary called Women in Polo: The Palm Beaches. The informative and inspiring film features both past female polo legends and current and future stars. It will air on the TVG Network over Labor Day weekend, and be available in Palm Beach County hotels and resorts, as well as on ThePalmBeaches.tv and via Roku.

And speaking of Women’s Equality Day...

Women’s Equality Day: The fight continues

Established by the U.S. Congress in 1973 — two years after U.S. Rep. Bella Abzug (D-New York) requested it — Women’s Equality Day commemorates the Aug. 26, 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which gave women the right to vote.

Ironically — but perhaps not surprisingly — no female leaders of the suffrage movement were permitted to witness U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby’s signing of the historic proclamation, which he did at 8 a.m. inside his private Washington, D.C. residence. There were no photos taken either.

However, in a New York Times front page story, Colby was quoted: “To the leaders of this great movement I tender my sincere congratulations. To every one, from the president, who uttered the call to duty, whenever the cause seemed to falter, to the humblest worker in this great reform, the praise not only of this generation but of posterity will be freely given.”

How sincere Colby was in his congratulations has been debated by historians.

But one thing that isn’t debatable: Be it suffragettes in the early 20th century or mallet-wielding female polo players competing astride galloping horses — throughout the ages, courageous women have been willing to risk it all to achieve what they value most.