Whilst horse polo has one of the longest histories of perhaps any sport in the world, it also conversely has one of the newest world championships of any major sport.
After a relatively fallow period for polo following the Second World War, the Federation of International Polo set up a World Polo Championship played every three or four years since 1987.
During that time, England’s team has been rather consistent, only placing below the top four once in 35 years.
However, it has become the most successful team to never win it all, and the two final matches the national team took part in slipped away in absolutely agonising fashion.
The first was in Berlin, Germany during only the second FIP World Polo Championship in 1989. At the time each of the eight teams played each other and the two teams with the best record would play each other in the final.
After Argentina shockingly did not make that final game despite their utter dominance, the United States took on England in what proved to be a surprisingly tight game that was only decided by one goal late in the sixth chukker.
Whilst a devastating loss for England, the team endured and posted a consistent record of placing either third or fourth at the next four world championships before finally having another chance at the gold again.
Hosted in Chantilly, France, England managed a fairytale run, making it to the semi-finals and shockingly upsetting a Chilean team that would win in Mexico City 7-6, ironically the same score they lost by in 1989.
Unfortunately, they were up against an utterly formidable Brazilian side that had won two of the last three World Championships. England were exceptionally game and shockingly managed to push the game into sudden death, only to tragically lose at the last moment 10-9.
The next year, England would be eliminated in the preliminary round and whilst they have returned to some level of consistency, they have not managed to reach another final game yet.