The Polo Report
By Steve Crowder

In the last 20 years it was GP, AC, FP and that is the way it was and is today. I got into Polo in 1975 and it was Juan Carlos Harriet.  I saw him play in America and he was still very good, but he was nearly 50 at that time.  He had been 10 goals for 25 years and at the time not that much better than Roy Barry or Julian Hipwood.  It wasn’t until the 80’s it was Gonzalo Tanoria, Alfredo Harriet and that might be it.  In American polo it was Wayman, Barry’s Joe and Roy, Red Armour,  The Hipwoods Julian and Howard, Celenstino Garros, Eddie Moore and I am sure a few others, but there was no one just 2 goals better.

Along came Gonzalo Pieres and he was different.  Memo was very good.  C. Laprida and several others were too,  but there was only one Gonzalo Pieres. Ten years later there was only one AC (Adolfo Cambiaso) and it has been that way for a decade or more.  History shows he may be 2nd best in the world as Facundo Pieres is now at the top and before him his Dad GP. That is sports.   Take a look at basketball. In the last 20 years there was Magic then Micheal then Shaq and today Lebaron. In polo it is all in the handicap. A perfect example is  the U.S. Open.  The team Zacara was the repeat Champion of the Open and as they stayed the same as 2012.  It was unfair what happened to the team after their second win.   Two players were raised: A Patron who is really important to Polo and a guy 50 years old, who is playing very well, but not 8-goals at this time. Why? The system is defunct. In the last 20 years it has been all about bottom to top. Yes, there is a huge difference in – 1-goal players as well as 0-goalers, but I really think if you went from 10 down it would change. There are currently not 8 players as good as Cambiaso’s and there never were. There was never two Gonzalos. Today there are not two Facundos.

Maybe there can be 2 players rated 10-goals,  but no more than that.  In the last 3 decades, look at history in U.S. polo.  You do not have to go any further. It started in the 80’s when Peter Brant hired Gonzalo.  He had money and a man named Hector Barrentes, who had already done this in the U.K. Hector knew players, but even better than that he knew horses and combos. Peter lost about 10 games in 15 years and was raised to 7-goals to stop him from winning. It was he only way it could be done. Then along came Adolfo Cambiaso and it was the same problem. Yes, someone saw him first and his name was Tim Gannon. He won it all.  Today it is Lyndon Lea and yes,  he is being punished for being ahead of the pack and that is the way it is.

Last year they had some of it right in my opinion. They did not raise the Champions, but they did not lower the losers.  This is the problem in my opinion. If a team loses, lower them. Only 1 team can be the best and this team does the most. They have the one thing that always wins … HORSES to improve every player.

This is why you start from the top. It will be tough to lower, but there can not be five or ten, 10-goalers. There might be two,  but no more than that. That is the way it is. If we are going to handicap each individual in the sport with a Top. There were never two Michael Jordans nor will there ever be two Adolfo Cambiasos at the same time. That is the way it is.

The way I see it the system needs to be worldwide. Three places are obvious that need it: Argentina, U.K. and the U.S..  In the U.K. and U.S.  There are two 10-goalers Facundo Pieres and Adolfo Cambiaso. They either meet in the finals or on the way to it.  If this were 20 years ago, you might look at the teams by family. You had Gose, Oxley, Brant, Busch , Johnston and others,  but they were main ones. In polo, like in all sports, things  have changed. It is a business, a multi-million dollar one.

Now it comes down to who does it right and the first thing is getting the best player and mounting him and his teammates. This is not easy to do, but some people do it.   All it takes is money and a lot of it, but do not expect to hear “I feel bad for you.” They will come and go so fast no family teams, no longevity and  it is the passion of the moment or as we used to say the flavor of the day.
see ya