The English Season – from High Goal to International in a few short days
By Victoria Elsbury-Legg
Time as they say is a relative thing, especially in the life of certain polo players in June and July, whose participation is hugely significant in many of the top matches played in the English season. Within the space of a few short days players’ gladiatorial combats to take the ball from each other and charge off to score at the opposite end of the pitch have switched to one of teammates.
If you look at the statistics for the 2014 Cartier Queen’s Cup and Verve Clicquot Gold Cup games which have been played on Smith’s and Cowdray Lawns it is Ollie Cudmore, the youngest player on the English team, who has most times in the 2014 English High Goal season (five) met the other players taking part in Saturday’s Audi International at Guards Polo Club. Due to ‘luck of the Draws’ it is the English Captain Luke Tomlinson who has had the least meetings (one) so far in 2014. Ironically in fact, the only International player on the pitch this Saturday he has previously come up against in the 2014 English High Goal season is fellow teammate Ollie Cudmore (UAE) who started the season by beating Lucchese (Luke Tomlinson) at Guards 14-13 on 24th May. Cudmore then went on to meet Facundo Pieres (Zacara) on 29th June at Cowdray losing by just a goal 7-8.
Next it was the turn of Cambiaso on 4th July (9-14 to Dubai) then Cudmore and Cambiaso battled on the pitch once again at Cowdray on 13th July, ending UAE 10 -11 Dubai. In between these meetings, a quarter of team England (Cudmore, UAE) lost to half of team England (Beim and Mark Tomlinson, Halcyon Gallery) 12 – 8 on 9th July.
It is also only UAE (Cudmore) and Lucchese (Luke Tomlinson) who have previously this season shared a ground at Guards in the Cartier Queens Cup; all the other International players’ encounters have been ‘golden’ moments at Cowdray. July 2nd was Beim and Mark Tomlinson’s (Halcyon Gallery) first of two battles with Facundo Pieres (Zacara), which the English boys lost 7-8, only to ride to glory in the quarters 10-9 after their subsequent 13th July meeting. There followed a semi-final featuring Beim and Mark Tomlinson against the world’s number one and Argentine International player, Adolfo Cambiaso (Dubai) on 16th July with Halcyon Gallery only just losing out 9-8.
Argentine International players Facundo Pieres (donning a black shirt) and Adolfo Cambiaso (wearing white and green) might between them already have lifted the silver and gold cups (albeit on opposing sides) this season, but putting statistics aside (especially if we keep Messi and his teammates well out of it), although the team riding underneath the flag with the blue sky and summer sun could well be lifting the Coronation Cup skywards on Saturday, one simply must retain one’s loyalty and say it would be so much more patriotic to be cheering on the English gentlemen (especially as they are now all teammates) whilst stirring my afternoon tea and buttering my scone.
Saturday 26th July 2014, Guards Polo Club, Queen’s Ground
11am Final FIP European 8-Goal Qualifier: Apache v Chester Racecourse
3.15pm Potrillos Game (under 12s)
3.30pm Audi England v Equus & Co Argentina will be playing for the Coronation Cup
Teams:
Audi England: Luke Tomlinson (7); Mark Tomlinson (6); James Beim (7); Ollie Cudmore (4)
Equus & Co Argentina: Adolfo Cambiaso (10); Facundo Pieres (10); Julio Ruggeri (3); Francisco Belaustegui (3)