The first ever European International Tournament was held in the Pennines on the week-end of May 27-28th with twelve participating teams from six European countries.

The countries present were Germany, France, Holland, Norway, the UK and Ireland. Despite strong UK and Irish teams, with long standing experience in this sport, a team of French players recently introduced to the sport and coached since September 2005 by Jason Burbidge of Arden Polocrosse club, Warwickshire, surprised everyone with their performance and distinctive cavalry. The French team who had never participated in any polocrosse tournament, performed admirably with their distinct Henson horses - a specific breed from the Bay of the Somme, very rustic in appearance with a distinct dun coat, gold and black wild mane and a dorsal stripe.

It is through a European-funded Interreg3 project with Toll Rides off Road Trust based in Kent that the Henson horse team became introduced to polocrosse and were able to attend this tournament. These small (15"2), apparently undistinguished ponies surprised everyone by being very fast paced, mobile and particularly apt at the sport, allowing a French team to beat longer playing nations such as Germany with a score of 12-0, but also Holland 15-0 and in the final game against Ireland losing by only one goal, to take second place alongside the UK 3 team in this first ever European Championship.

The whole week-end was a remarkable experience in camaraderie between nations and is a good omen for this team's attempt to play in next year's World Cup in Australia, alongside more experienced countries.  It is a token of true European collaboration when a British team and coach are working with French players and their indigeneous breed of horses towards a common goal!

See tournament photographs at the Henson website at http://hensonpolocrosse.free.fr. (Captions in French)