Obituary: Tim Keyte

from Polo Times September 2020

Cotswold Forager: The Humble Blackberry

Photograph by Kathrin Gralla Over 10,500 CHF has been raised so far for Basti On 11 August 2017, Bastian ‘Basti’ Fernandez, an Argentine groom in his mid-twenties, working in Switzerland, fell from a polo horse, and sustained major injuries to his fifth cervical vertebra. He is now quadriplegic, which is a paraplegia involving all four limbs, (arms and legs). Despite good Swiss accident insurance, his full costs are not covered. This is why Adolfo and Poroto Cambiaso joined with Michael Husted of Performance Polo and the Le Page family of Polo Park Zürich to organize a fundraising for Basti to help cover some of his disability costs, and reintegration. Each ticket was CHF 50 and gave an equal chance to win a polo helmet designed and signed by Adolfo and Poroto Cambiaso.

The draw was made by Basti himself on 16 August in Polo Park Zürich during the Swiss Medium Goal Tournament; In a single month 10,500 CHF was raised and the lucky winner was Tomas Leguizamon from Argentina, Tomas decided to re-donate the helmet so more funds can be raised over the following months. Basti’s story can be seen on Bastifund.org.

Tim Keyte passed away aged 67 on Tuesday 11 August at home with Gail by his side. Tim was a respected figure within the polo community, heralding from a prestigious polo playing family in New Zealand and in the early days of his professional polo career won New Zealand’s oldest trophy, The Savile Cup. Having hung up his polo sticks, Tim has filled positions such as Executive Polo Manager at Cirencester Park Polo Club and following the sad news, the Club held a two-minute silence before The Gouldsmith Bowl league game in remembrance for Tim and his contribution to the polo community.

Tim was an amazing person and contributed greatly to the polo as a whole. He was an inspiration to many younger players all around the world and he will be greatly missed for the positive energy he imparted to all.

Oli Ellis remembers a dear friend: “Luckily for me, I got to spend quite a bit of time with Tim. We did plenty of travelling, from Thailand to Switzerland and places in between and he was the best company you could have. He and I umpired in St. Moritz and Veytay for many years and we sorely missed him in 2019 when he first felt that all wasn’t well. As Polo Managers we would regularly discuss the state of polo and I’m sure he was destined for more important roles in the hierarchy particularly where umpiring was concerned, a subject he was passionate and very knowledgeable about. While we took our umpiring duties very seriously, we also took our time off in the same spirit. An evening in his company was worth its weight in gold and I, for one, will miss him very much.”

Everybody at Polo Times would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to Gail and the Keyte family