The draw for the upcoming Queen’s Cup took place on Monday at Guards Club. Special guests and representatives from the participating teams were present at the event. Laurent Feniou, Managing Director of Cartier UK, drew the teams. Four seeded teams were drawn first (La Indiana, RH Polo, King Power Foxes and Talandracas), followed by the remaining six teams. The whole fixtures for the Queen’s Cup will be published soon. The tournament is scheduled to start on Tuesday, May 23rd.
The Leagues:
League One:
La Indiana: Michael Bickford 1, Nic Roldan 7, Tincho Merlos 8, Luke Tomlinson 6. Total: 22.
Talandracas: Edouard Carmignac 0, Sapo Caset 9, Pelon Stirling 10, Jack Hyde 3. Total: 22.
Sommelier: George Hanbury 3, Juan Gris Zavaleta 7, Fred Mannix Jr 8, Alec White 4. Total: 22.
El Remanso: Charlie Hanbury 4, Oliver Cudmore 5, James Beim 6, James Harper 6. Total: 21.
Monterosso: Alessandro Bazzoni 1, Cubi Toccalino 8, Santiago Toccalino 8, Matt Perry 5. Total: 22.
League Two:
RH Polo: Ben Soleimani 0, Tommy Beresford 4, Adolfo Cambiaso 10, Rodrigo Andrade 8. Total: 22.
King Power Foxes: Top Srivaddhanaprabha 1, TBC 1, Gonzalo Pieres 10, Facundo Pieres 10. Total: 22.
La Bamba De Areco: Jean Francois Decaux 0, Diego Cavanagh 8, Magoo Laprida 8, Rodrigo Rueda 6. Total: 22.
Sifani: Hilali Noordeen 0, Jero del Carril 6, Julián de Lusarreta 7, Guillermo Terrera 8. Total: 21.
Murus Sanctus: Corinne Ricard 0, Hilario Ulloa 10, Facundo Sola 8, Dirk Van Reenen 4. Total: 22.
Anthony Fanshawe, in his third season as Manager of Guards Polo Club, spoke to Pololine regarding the upcoming season.
About the Visas issue in the UK: “I think the visa issue has a big effect because some people are cutting off their polo; but polo is going to happen for sure. Those who have European visas, like Argentines, Australians or wherever are getting better paid, and is positive. Guards made a prediction: we thought we’d have less polo and less teams but fortunately we were wrong. Guards is that is a members club, not a private club, and if we get less money this year, it will have an effect. If this season is a disaster -which I don’t think it will be- we’ll have to look for a way to maintain this, because it is very expensive”.
About Guards’ new fields: “Currently, the club has a new field at Flemish Farm, Castle Ground, overlooking the Windsor Castle behind. We’ve already played 15-goal and 18-goal last season on this field. Every single game here was amazing, very well played; it’s a big field that allows to play fast polo. I guess we will use this ground during the Queen’s Cup for the first time this year, and we’re a bit nervous about it! We settled the field for the Queen’s Cup last winter. It will be a great high goal season, no doubts. It should be perfect! The idea is having a permission from the club to move the road that goes behind ground one along grounds 4, 5 and 6, move that road along the woods on the left, and will give a room to set four new fields where 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 currently are, all of them with drained, fully irrigated fields, wonderful fields. That’s the plan, we will start in September, with moving the road first”.
About Polo at Guards and UK: “Despite the situation, Guards have plans to get better and increase all the time, we’re very positive. But it’s not just about professional polo; I mean, it’s OK with professional polo, but in England there are a lot of people who plays polo, which it didn’t happen when I was 20-years old. No one played polo in England, there were no polo schools or pony clubs. So polo is much bigger now, and I think there is a massive problem with professional polo, that has changed in the last twenty years. No one expected that a one-goaler or a two-goaler had to be paid to play back then, and now a lot of people are getting paid to play polo. I think they have the right to be paid, but I’m not sure if I agree with that. We’re talking about it, there are too many people who the first thing they ask is about money, and that’s what polo is not about. Of course everyone need to make a living, the grooms have to be well paid, that’s obvious; but if you think you have to be paid to win a game, well, to me that’s the end of polo. It’s not fun”.
About improving Guards passion: “The nature of the club is all about the members, what they do. If the members have a bad time, they come to polo and they say: ‘oh, I’m having a bad time’. You need the members to have fun at the club, that’s why we give them the best facilities, it’s what we are doing or at least what we try to do; Guards give them the best polo fields, and you can see our efforts. This sport is very passionate, aggressive, very fast with high adrenaline, it’s a very crazy sport. And having fun within this sport is the best thing in the world”.