There is a particular kind of occasion Johannesburg does well and it has nothing to do with size. It isn’t the festivals that spill across entire weekends, or the stadium events with their sponsored everything. It is something quieter and more considered. The Nedbank International Polo, held on May 16 at the Inanda Club in Sandton, is one of those afternoons. I arrived expecting elegance. I left understanding why the tickets sold out so quickly.
Guests entered through a colourful arch, a plush green carpet offsetting the navy, terracotta and saffron accents. Inside the marquee, sofas, futons, carpets and couches were scattered throughout the space, bringing colour to the airy, white tent. All around me, guests floated from the bar to their seats in a flurry of prints and bold colour, having fully embraced the theme.
I had been at the Inanda Club the night before. Each year, on the eve of the match, the South African Polo Association hosts an exclusive cocktail event that brings together both national teams and a select gathering of invited guests. It is quieter than match day and at 7.30pm, the official shirt presentation took place. Rather than a serious, heavily orchestrated event, the handover felt joyful and familial, the families of the polo players grinning proudly as each team member received their shirt.
The occasion had history behind it long before the first chukka. Three wins each in their past six encounters on South African soil made this the tie-breaker both nations had been building toward, with the US team returning for the first time since 2014.
“The United States is probably one of the best polo-playing nations in the world,” said Guy Slater, president of the South African Polo Association, at the cocktail party. “For us to test ourselves, we need to pick the best nations so we picked America.” The line landed not with anxiety, but with passion. As much as this game was heavy with history, these were two new teams. The rivalry was patriotic but not personal, undertaken with a reverence for the sport.
“We haven’t been here in so long that I feel like we need to reignite [the rivalry] a little bit,” US captain Steve Krueger said. “Representing the country adds a little flame to the fire in itself.”
On Saturday, the field was everything the setting promised. The swathes of green were enhanced by a perfectly sunny Johannesburg day. Standing within the marquee feels further from the action, the size and strength of the athletes dimmed by the distance. But the real exhilaration is found on the sides of the field, where Nedbank had crafted a picnic area that played host to families and friends alike.
For the uninitiated, polo has a reputation for being impenetrable. In practice, it is one of the most viscerally exciting things you can watch. I found myself standing just behind Selby Williamson, the highly decorated South Africa team coach, which offered a viewpoint where the goals and near-misses became immediate rather than distant. Admittedly, I have the hand-eye co-ordination of a person who has dropped their phone face down every day for a decade, which made the movements even more impressive.
South African team captain Tom de Bruin’s team was an interesting mix of youth and experience with Jean du Plessis boasting seasons on the Argentinian and English circuits and Adrian Lavarinhas and William Gilson being the youngest members of the side. Across the field, the Americans arrived with their own quiet authority, calm and focused.
At some point during the third chukka, I heard the hitched breath of the pony handler next to me. Gilson was magnificent atop his steed, chasing the ball as a US player nipped at his heels. He slammed his mallet into the ball with deafening force, the small white object screaming towards the goalposts. With a final tap, it was through, Gilson thundering after it. The crowds in the marquee didn’t roar, but those on the sidelines, the friends, the families, had a tangible energy. The grin on the pony handler’s face next to me was proof enough.
The US took the match 13–8 in the end, a final score that reflected their clinical precision in the moments that mattered most, even as South Africa pushed them hard through every chukka. Steve Krueger, named MVP for his leadership on the field, marshalled his side with the composure of a team that had come a long way to win. At the final whistle, the result settled over the marquee with a particular kind of quiet, the kind that acknowledges a good competition and a hard-won victory.
But the polo is only one half of what makes this event worth attending. The theme for 2026, “Africa in Full Colour”, never felt like a dress code, becoming a collective agreement to arrive as the fullest version of yourself instead. “It’s the recognition of the creativity and inspiration that Africa brings,” said Khensani Nobanda, Nedbank’s Chief Marketing Officer. At an event like this, that philosophy becomes visible.
South African model and actress Zozibini Tunzi looked resplendent in a short Imprint dress crafted in a Monarch butterfly print and trimmed with yellow feathers. Model and entrepreneur Sarah Langa arrived in a long grey and blue dress by Rich Mnisi, effortlessly glamorous in the afternoon light. Elsewhere, guests tapped into something deeper, arriving sleek and patriotic in mokorotlos, umqheles and colourful Basotho blankets.
The Nedbank Marquee was the private story to the field’s public one: curated and unhurried. Harvest tables teeming with fruit, bread and cheeses; roaming plates of sushi in silver goblets and carpaccio on wooden-handled spoons. The dishes circulated constantly; the drinks were never far behind.
According to Nobanda, it’s the experience that truly makes it worthwhile. “You come to the Nedbank International Polo, that’s the sponsorship,” she said with a warm smile. “But actually, what you’re experiencing is more than that. Last year, we had Oskido perform afterwards, and if you grew up with South African kwaito and Oskido comes on and plays the jams, it took everyone to a different time period. It goes beyond just a sponsorship, because that’s just delivering a game. It’s the experience around it that’s much more important.”
“We get to give South Africans an experience of a sport that is not as culturally known here,” she adds. “And it’s a great way for clients to just enjoy themselves.”
I asked Nobanda to describe the event in three words. “Adrenaline. Creativity, because when you walk into the space, how they’ve taken the theme is going to be very creative, and obviously how people show up in it. And inspiring. When you see South African brands pull something like this together, hopefully it inspires other brands to do great things also.”
It was hard to argue with that.
