[7][8] During the winter months, matches took place on the Bullingdon Club cricket ground, Cowley, as the summer pitch in Port Meadow was subject to flooding from the River Isis.

[10] During the first decade, teams consisted of five members until the set up was replaced in 1883 by the modern game of polo.

[14] With a high standard of teams up to 18 goals this tournament was a highlight of the British polo season until the First World War.

As a 10-goal player he led the U.S. team to victory in the 1921 International Polo Cup, one year after his time at Oxford.

Previously, the English regarded the back's role as similar to a goalkeeper in football, i.e. to stay by the goal and defend.

[21] Amongst the club coaches were Captain James Pearce,[22] Lord Cowdray and Winston Churchill, who was a keen polo player himself and who came over to Port Meadow frequently from Blenheim Palace to play polo and to help the Oxford Varsity team "by giving them a good gallop and a pipe-opener before the inter[-Varsity].

"[23][24] After the Second World War, the OUPC made a fresh start with the help of Henley Polo Club.

[25] The Varsity match was revived in 1951 and played at Woolmers Field through the courtesy of the former Cambridge player George Lucas and at Cowdray Park through the courtesy of Viscount Cowdray, an Old Oxonian who had represented the Dark Blues in the 1930s and who represented the Hurlingham Polo Association as steward and chairman from 1947 to 1957.

General Sir Redmond Watt played off a two-goal handicap while at university and subsequently became one of the highest rated Old Blue after the war when he peaked at five-goals.

[29] Claire Tomlinson (née Lucas), who was rated at nought-goals at university, became one of polo's few true masters of the number one position and the first woman in the world to rise to five goals.

She swept away the rule forbidding women in British high-goal and became the first to compete on equal terms with men at the top tier.

[31] Another milestone was reached in 1994: for the first time in the history of any mixed university sport, the Varsity match teams were both captained by women (Jacqui Broughton, Oxford and Emma Tomlinson, Cambridge).

The 2013 Varsity Match was won 11–3 with the help of new addition Lanto Sheridan, who holds the highest handicap (+4) reached by post-war players while still at university.

2016 also saw the launch of a Winter Varsity Match for arena polo and a renewal of the Atlantic Cup (previous established in 1920[32]), bringing together university teams from Cambridge, Harvard, Oxford and Yale, with Oxford coming out the winner, and for the first time winning the University Challenge Cup at the Goldin Metropolitan Club in Tianjin, China.

Max Rumsey [Captain] (1st Year, Balliol) achieved 3 accomplishments, previously unattained throughout OUPC history.

[37] Athletes have the opportunity to attend additional theory lessons during term time as well as an intense training camp during the vacations.

The club genuinely desires to broaden public participation in the sport, both to increase the standard of play and to go against the traditional social and economic exclusivity associated with the game.

The original conditions were: "No player eligible who has been a member of his University for more than four years, or who has not been in residence during the term in which the match takes place.

[41] A maximum of 4 Half Blues can be awarded at the discretion of the captain with regards to the impact made in the 'A' Varsity team.

In Michaelmas and Hilary Term (Arena Polo Season) it stages an intercollegiate Winter League.

In Trinity Term (Outdoor Polo Season) it conducts an event on grass as a knockout competition on one weekend only.

[47] Active members and alumni compete all over the world, most recently at the British Polo Day in Dubai,[48] Singapore, Nihiwatu, India, Mexico[49] and the Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup.