Polo & More 2014
Kiwi pro Mike Henderson of team Veuve Cliquot, executing
a tricky maneuver, while Oliver Taylor of team
ICBL can only look on
David Ashby of team CGI in command, whilst Jason O’Selmo (left),
and Salvador Sanchez-Duggan of team Range Rover try to catch
up to the play
Six of the seven teams that took
part featured a British, or at least
British-based, player and the majority of teams consisted of two patrons
and two professionals. Rhys Odle,
who is a familiar face at Kirtlington
Park Polo Club during the summer
seasons, and Jeff Evelyn formed the
Mango Bay team, employing Nico
San Roman and Bobby Dundas as
their pros. CGI featured two more
Kirtlington Park-based players, patron Max Kirchhoff and four-goaler Dave Ashby. Bajan patron Bruce
Bayley, who once sailed catamarans in the Olympics, and Argentine
Christian Chaves made up the remainder of the team.
Range Rover, which comprised
Barbados Open first-timer Jason Jeff Evelyn of team Mango Bay put Gary
O’Selmo, Philip Tempro, Martin Shepherd the Patron of The First Group,
Teddy Williams of team ICBL goes head to head
Juaregui and Danny Atwell, played team under some pressure as he takes an
under the neck shot
with Richard Gooding of team Veuve Clicquot
CGI in the semi-finals. It was clear
Range Rover was the stronger side but they did provide CGI with plenty of penalty opportunities, which could have seen the tables
turn in CGI’s favour had they been converted. The chosen penalty taker, Ashby, managed to miss an eye-watering number of shots
at goal, and the side had to make do with a place in the subsidiary final.
Meanwhile, with Michael Henderson scoring six of the eight goals for Veuve Clicquot in the second semi-final game, they
pounded Mango Bay to put them through to the final. With Range Rover and Veuve Clicquot through to the final held at the stunning setting of Apes Hill, brothers Marc and Danny Atwell were pitted against each other. Marc Atwell, the youngest of the two,
impressed throughout, helping bring Veuve Clicquot up to level-pegging with their opposition early on. But ultimately it was his
elder brother that took home the title of Most Valuable Player after scoring Range Rover’s winning goal.
“We played what we set out to play and it paid off,” Tempro said. “Veuve Clicquot were a tough opposition but we played well
together as a team. Danny and I work together and play a lot together so we really understand each other well. All the teams in the
competition were a similar set-up so the games were really man-for-man. However, I would rather see it go back up to 10-goals,”
Tempro concluded.
It was a fiercely contested game between two well-matched teams, keeping spectators on the edge of their seats. And the subsidiary final was no different. In similar fashion to the main final, CGI went up by two goals in the first chukker but with two penalty
conversions by Nico San Roman in the second, the scores were tied 2-2 at half-time. The third chukker remained scoreless but a
60-yard penalty awarded to Mango Bay in the final chukker provided the team with the perfect opportunity to claim the lead. Despite it being successfully defended, Rhys Odle swept into action to regain possession for Mango Bay and slotted the ball through
the goal posts, ending the match 3-2 in Mango Bay’s favour n
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