March 2004 

An article written by David Quarmby on his trip to Argentina this month for the Honorable Artillary Company Newsletter.

Polo Argentino con Carlitos Gonzalez

Regular saddle club newsletter readers may recall last Spring’s article describing our hugely enjoyable Argentine polo holiday. I am pleased to say that this Winter a total of six Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) Saddle Club members followed in our footsteps and joined Carlitos Gonzalez and his partner Kim Sherman in Mar del Plata. In fact Kim and Carlitos were extremely busy this year looking after nearly 50 visitors (as well as some 30 horses). Their industry did not go unrecognised by the Argentine Tourist Authority, who appointed Carlitos, Argentine Ambassador for Tourism in London.

As many members will know, polo is primarily a summer sport in England, with winter being confined to outdoor ‘arenas’. A winter escape to the Argentine sunshine provides many aspiring British players with the opportunity to top up their skills, suntans and take advantage of the generous hospitality this country has to offer. Whilst polo will never be a cheap sport, once again the Argentine Peso’s weakness has ensured an excellent standard of polo is affordable to many. A two-week trip is comparable to the cost of a European skiing holiday.

In Argentina polo is popular amongst the farmers and Gauchos, with little or none of the formality sometimes associated with the game in England. Most of the players have been riding all their lives and playing polo as soon as they can touch the ground with a mallet on horseback. Argentina’s benign climate, its large open spaces and abundant pastures provide an ideal environment for the horses to thrive in. When they are not playing many ponies are simply left to roam free in herds. Kim and Carlitos’ holidays provide an ideal opportunity to really get to know the culture, share a common passion for horses and polo, and to pretend you are in a Jilly Cooper novel!

I am certain HACSC Members Jean, Andrew, Trisha, Melanie and Michele will be happy to talk for hours to any readers interested in their pictures and stories, but in case you miss them, I am happy to recount my experiences. In March this year, after transferring from Buenos Aires, we began our holiday in Mar del Plata but soon moved on tour traveling to two local polo tournaments. The first tournament was a three-day event in Balcarce, the home of five times F1 grand prix racing champion, Juan-Manuel Fangio. The second was in the City of Tandil, home of the 1^st Armoured Brigade, who kindly hosted an eight-team tournament played out over four days.

A typical evening involved dining out in groups of 25 or more in the best restaurants in town. Copious amounts of the delicious ‘bife’ and lamb were consumed washed down with a number of famous Mendoza wines. In a vain attempt to burn off that evening’s meal a rigorous regime of late night dancing was initiated. Fortunately, the first game would start at 3:00 pm giving us just enough time to recover!

The Balcarce tournament was played at the El Rincon estancia. El Rincon is owned by Snr Baudrix and is not an untypical farm of some 120,000 acres providing some 5,000 bovine spectators. The two pitches were laid out on an old grass airstrip, which provided a level-playing surface comparable to most club grounds. At the end of the tournament our hosts put on an ‘asado’ (B-B-Q) catering for over 100 guests where three lambs, half a cow and a considerable amount of ‘refreshment’ was lustily consumed.

The Tandil Moving Stone
The following day we moved our traveling band of ‘Ingleses’ headed off 100 kms west to Tandil, together with accompanying four grooms, some 25 horses including assorted and substantial bags of playing and personal gear. As excited as we were at playing in Tandil, it seemed that the whole town knew of our presence. Each day the ‘Voice of Tandil’ ran a page on the Tournament’s progress and the Argentine press seemed particularly interested in the four female players. ‘Was polo popular amongst the English ladies?’ was a question they were most often asked, including the radio talk show and television appearances (video copies are available free of charge from Michele Williams)!

The standard of polo at Tandil was particularly high and we were pleased to be playing alongside many high handicapped players. No one seemed to mind our at best ‘novice’ standard of play, not even our patient mounts. There was an enjoyable camaraderie between ourselves and the Argentines from Mar del Plata, engendered by traveling away from home. There was no sense of English / Argentine rivalry, rather we were competing together against teams from a different town. The trip provided many fond memories, but I will certainly remember the good sportsmanship shown by our hosts. I am definitely not used to having the captain of the opposing team conceding a goal and racing up to me, fist clenched with a shout of “Goalasso!” and a big smile on his face.

However, my team’s attempts to win the Tournament were undone by a rather too excessive late night team-bonding session after our victory over Tandil Polo Club. We were soundly routed the next day, and to quote Hernan Muzzio: ‘David, I tell you when you play well and today you play terrible’…. actually ‘terrible’ is my word; his was unprintable.

The Argentine Army provided a full military band for the Finale and rolled out a rather intimidating TAM tank. We were aware that people would to some extent be judging us on our behavior, so I was delighted to receive the ‘fair play’ medal. I think the sight of a main battle tank next to the pitch had a lot to do with this and I can promise to again be on my best behavior should the HAC decide to do the same for future Saddle Club tournaments!

The Finale itself was very exciting with the Army equalising in the dying seconds of regular time. Rather sportingly the Army then conceded the Tournament to a Mar del Plata team including Kim. The game was tied at seven goals a piece with no winner found after two extra chukkas and in failing light. 

 The Generale

After the prize giving we were invited to the Officer’s mess for a civilised post-Tournament drinks, where we all enjoyed swapping stories. On our return to Mar del Plata we were left with just a couple of days to relax by riding on the beach and we were off back home.

A special thank you to organiser of the ‘Copa de Gloria’ tourneo Juanito Baudrix, everyone at 1^st Brigade Armour Tandil, especially Major Roberto Casares and Generale Laciar, 4-goal professional; the long-suffering Hernan Muzzio, the patron of the winning team and dinner host Gustavo Cardinale, our grooms Max, Norberto, Fernando and Jose and of course Kim Sherman and Carlitos Gonzalez.

Email address is info@playpolo.co.uk .

Carlitos is based at The Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club for the summer months (April-September). Call Carlitos and book in for a complimentary polo lesson and he can advise on when would be the best time to go to Argentina for your own playing level. Complete beginners are very welcome.