Polo Tournaments in New Zealand
October to March, NZ Open in February
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SA Ladies Inv Tour to New Zealand
The South African Ladies Invitational Tour to New Zealand is an international women's polo exchange between two of the southern hemisphere's strongest polo nations, sending a South African women's squad to compete against their New Zealand counterparts during the New Zealand summer season. The tour is part of the growing international calendar for women's polo that has developed over the past decade as the sport's governing bodies invest in creating regular international match opportunities outside the biennial FIP World Championship cycle.
Milford NZ Polo Open
The Milford NZ Polo Open is New Zealand's premier polo tournament and the flagship event of the New Zealand Polo Association's national calendar. Held at the Clevedon polo grounds south of Auckland, the tournament draws New Zealand's top teams and regularly attracts visiting squads from Australia, ensuring competition at the highest level available in the Southern Pacific outside of Argentina. The event showcases the best of New Zealand polo talent — particularly the players from Canterbury and Waikato who form the backbone of the national circuit. The Clevedon setting, with its pastoral New Zealand landscape overlooking the Hauraki Gulf, creates a backdrop unique to New Zealand polo. The Milford Open has grown steadily in prestige and organisation in recent years, reflecting the ambitions of the NZPA to raise New Zealand's profile in world polo.
South Island Championship
The South Island Championship is New Zealand's premier polo competition for clubs from the South Island — the extraordinary landscape island of fjords, Alps, and high-country sheep stations that provides one of the world's most dramatic polo backdrops. Typically held in the Christchurch area or the Marlborough wine country during the New Zealand summer, the South Island Championship draws the competitive best of South Island polo in a relaxed, spectacular rural setting that is characteristic of the New Zealand polo experience.
New Zealand Open
The New Zealand Open is the national polo championship of New Zealand, crowning the country's finest polo club team each season. Held during the New Zealand summer season (November–March) at one of the country's premier venues — typically in the Waikato region, New Zealand polo's heartland — the Open is the competitive culmination of the NZ domestic calendar. New Zealand polo punches well above its weight internationally, producing world-class professionals like Chris Hyde (9-goal) and maintaining a polo culture of exceptional quality given the country's small population and remote geography.
NZ Womens Polo Championship 2027
The NZ Women's Polo Championship is the national women's polo title for New Zealand, typically held during the New Zealand summer polo season (November–March) at one of the country's premier clubs in the Waikato or Auckland regions. New Zealand polo punches well above its weight internationally — the Hyde family dynasty, Chris Hyde's international career, and a strong club culture have created a polo nation whose women's game mirrors the quality and passion of the broader national polo culture. The championship is the competitive peak of the New Zealand women's season.
Waikato Gold Cup
The Waikato Gold Cup is New Zealand's premier polo event, staged at the Kihikihi polo grounds in the Waikato region of the North Island — New Zealand's polo heartland, where the deep agricultural roots of the Waikato farming community have sustained one of the southern hemisphere's most genuine grass-roots polo cultures. The tournament attracts New Zealand's strongest domestic teams alongside visiting professionals from Australia and occasionally Argentina, competing during the New Zealand summer season on grounds maintained to a high standard by the country's committed polo community.
Trans-Tasman Challenge
The Trans-Tasman Challenge is the premier international polo competition between Australia and New Zealand, bringing the two great southern hemisphere polo nations into direct team competition across a series of matches played alternately in each country. The Trans-Tasman rivalry mirrors similar sporting rivalries between Australia and New Zealand in rugby, cricket, and netball — deeply felt, historically rooted, and always intensely competitive. Both nations produce world-class polo players, and the Challenge provides the primary vehicle for bilateral international polo competition in the Antipodes.
Polo in New Zealand
Tournaments in New Zealand are governed by New Zealand Polo Association.
Playing Season: October to March, NZ Open in February
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