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ROBERT W KRANZ , EVELINA JAKOVLEVSKAJA
Opposite:
Polo Park Z
Ü
rich stables in
the early morning.
This page right:
S
é
bastian Le Page in purple.
Below:
Polo
manager
Francisco Podesta and his
wife Clara, secretary of the club
big money from a small amount of sponsors,
we either create tailor-made events for
a single sponsor or larger tournaments with
many sponsors, where we sell tables as
people do at charity events. It is much easier
for sponsors to justify inviting guests for
a fun event than to sponsor an event that
might have no return. We have tested this for
two years now, and the return from sponsors
is excellent. I have also found that it’s easier
to find sponsors for ladies tournaments, so
we organise a big one every year at PPZ, with
two levels of handicaps, the highest being
8-10 goals. The results have been excellent.
I have been asked if I want to organise
high-goal tournaments, but I think not.
I believe the world of polo is changing,
and that patrons are mostly happy to play
where they can be of use to a team. Except
for the traditional patrons, of which there
are increasingly few, I think it will become
more difficult to find teams for the
high-goal in the future (that’s also due
to fewer high-paying sponsors). So we
organise low-league tournaments and
medium-goal at the moment, up to 10-goals.
This is a level that most people are happy to
play at, but is competitive as well. Time will
tell whether I am right or wrong. I’m still
learning, after all – it’s only been six years!
nationalities at all high-profile tournaments
and I change them regularly. I also warn
sponsors they might not be in the final, and
that’s how the sport is. At PPZ there is no
bending the rules to uphold sponsors’ egos.
And finally, we now have an extra full-size
field to complement the existing two, which
means there is always a field to play on,
whatever the weather.
We offer daily lessons and games for
beginners and once in a while we include
them in the medium-goal practices,
sometimes even in the tournaments. This
gives them a taste of what real polo is like
and encourages them to improve, to play
at full speed. I don’t believe in segregating
‘good’ and ‘bad’ players – we were all
beginners once and they should have
access to the higher level once they are not
a danger. Even during beginners’ practice
chukkas, we ensure that each team has at
least one professional to make the game
more open, flowing, and interesting. This is
very successful, but strangely I have not seen
it in many clubs across Europe.
After all these investments and efforts,
we are now reaping the benefits. However,
the world we live in is making it more
difficult to secure big companies to sponsor
polo tournaments. So we have changed our
strategy for this as well: instead of asking for
