p18-19 First Person Hurl Iss04
29/9/06
15:35
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hurlingham [ first person ]
head honcho A polo manager is key to the smooth running of the game at every club. Veteran Jimmy Newman looks back on his 30 years in the business, including riding herd on no fewer than 16 US Opens ILLUSTRATION JAMES TAYLOR
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The job of polo manager has to be the best one going in the sport. You get involved in every single aspect of the game when you’re running it for a club, and you get to know the players really well in the process. Many of the close friendships you make in the world of polo are friendships for life. Over the past three decades, I’ve been privileged to serve as polo manager, or to help organise tournaments, at several of the biggest and best clubs in the world: Retama Polo Center in Texas, Palm Beach Polo & Country Club in Florida and, more recently, Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club in California and International Polo Club Palm Beach (IPCPB), where this past winter I was involved in my 16th US Open Championship. The era between the wars is often referred to as the ‘golden age of polo’, with legendary players like Tommy Hitchcock and Cecil Smith; team patrons such as Jock and CV Whitney; 40,000 spectators in the stands at Meadow Brook on Long Island; and polo in the Olympics. But for my money, the last quarter of the 20th century and where we are now in the 21st century have been even more impressive for the sport. We have more countries involved in polo, more players, more and bigger polo clubs. The fields are better, as are the quality of the ponies, and there are more teams than ever playing in the major tournaments. We’ve had our share of superstars too, like Juan Carlos Harriott Jnr and Adolfo Cambiaso, not forgetting to mention enthusiastic patrons like John Goodman,
