director of polo’s report

Non-stop polo delivers fantastic season

Antony Fanshawe, getting ready to celebrate his 10th year in charge of all polo at the Club, reflects on a packed season where a record number of matches were played, invariably on a new polo field

Guards Polo Club played a staggering 604 games last season. A particularly impressive tally as although three fields were out of contention due to the Grounds Development Plan, the quality of the grounds that we could play was superb. Of course this meant that the Polo Office, headed up by the Director of Polo Antony Fanshawe and brilliantly supported by Polo Manager Tara Bown and Polo Secretary Shannon Stephenson worked flat out, constantly juggling the weather and teams’ no-play dates. Despite the pressure Antony recalls several highlights in 2023.

“ The standout of last year for me was an incredible Cartier Queen’s Cup final. We played almost three weeks of non-stop, two games per day polo in this tournament concluding in an awesome final [Murus Sanctus v La Magdeleine]. This is what the top end of polo is about; fast, furious polo where the players have huge respect for each other but winning is everything. It was an insane game of polo – fantastic stuff.

“In addition to acknowledging these players’ incredible passion and dedication to the game, I would also like to give a big thank you to to our ground staff, headed up by Paulius Kuklinskas. His team worked 24/7 and ensured the grounds were match-fit for every game. Running 10 games per day was very tough and the work that had to go on behind the scenes was just crazy.”

Antony added: “Thinking of the grounds recalls another highlight for me - the seeding of Ground Four at the beginning of September. I have to admit it was such a relief to get that done despite the weather.”

The work on Ground Four was the final part of the Club’s impressive Grounds Development Plan which had started back in 2014 with the creation of the new fields at Flemish Farm. The completion of the development of Grounds Six and Eight will, in years to come, reiterate that the Players’ and Club’s commitment into taking these steps was the right way to go.

“As a player – well an old player – the new fields make it much easier to hit the ball,” explained Antony. “You know where the ball is going to be, not in a hole and is easier for the horses. If they are properly prepared, great fields make faster polo with less stops and sharp turns. Last year the average amount of goals scored on the new fields almost doubled as compared to the old fields.

“With my Director of Polo hat on I would say that I can remember playing on Kerry Packer’s fields at Stedham [in West Sussex] and the positive difference to the game that they produced. Our new fields are a massive step forward for British polo and the production of British players. Guards Polo Club has produced five new high-goal fields in the last seven or eight years. Wow!”

Antony continued: “Cowdray Park did a massive resetting of its fields 30 years ago and they became the centre of world polo. We cannot expect players to invest in the sport if we, the people who run it, don’t back the game ourselves. The future is built from where we are now and the start point is looking much better than it was five or 10 years ago. Now, thanks to the successful redevelopment of these grounds Guards Polo Club has just set the bar even higher.”

Of course such a grounds improvement plan does not come cheaply. In a previous Yearbook it was said that the project was going to cost around £3million. Remarkably, the Club did not turn to its players for financial support. “Of course we did think about asking our Members and high-goal teams to contribute but we felt that this would compromise our tournament relationship,” explained Antony. “So thanks to the passion of the players this Club was able to successfully build a business model that would enable a bank to financially support us.

“Since 2016 we have transformed how we charge for polo games, how we try to guarantee the best available field for the level (even if we have to rent fields), treat every team the same and demonstrate to all players the improvements that (by playing here) they are paying for. This has resulted in a huge upshift in teams entering our tournaments. The policy is clearly working. That said, every player also knows that if we want great polo fields then we all have to pay for them. We are all responsible for how things improve.”

So with the massive Grounds Development plan almost completed, what is next on Antony’s to do list at Smith’s Lawn? “Not surprisingly, there is an ever-moving argument about what to invest in next,” revealed Antony. “As Guards Polo Club is a non-profit organisation money is always short. Of course we are already focusing on our sustainability; getting greener with our machinery replacements and modernising our irrigation systems. It is brilliant how much cheaper and cleaner new machinery runs, but as a result we do need a proper machinery yard for all the kit. I would also like to plant more trees around the polo fields; create a polo paradise here in Windsor Great Park.”

With the season just a month away when writing this, what is Antony most looking forward to it 2024? “I cannot wait to see the new fields come into full action. I am not sure that we will play 22-goal on Grounds Four, Six or Eight but it will be close. I also love the return of so many people who share the same passion as me - fast clean polo.”

For a man who is about to spend the next few months mostly in the office or on a polo field and rarely at home his answer to the next question, what is the hardest part of your job, is something of a surprise. “October,” replied Antony without hesitation. “Suddenly the phone stops ringing and you definitely experience a moment of mental change.”

Antony is clearly someone who loves his job – ironically he also lists October as what he loves most about being the Director of Polo but with a caveat: “only if it’s been a good season”! He remains as passionate about polo at Guards Polo Club as he was when he first joined the Club in 2015. “I try to live by the adage ‘do what you know’. Horses were a massive part of my childhood. I left school at 16 and came to polo by chance whilst working on a ranch in the middle of Brazil. I became a polo groom, then started stick and balling, then playing and by the age of 24/25 I was playing high-goal. I was a ‘pilot’ to some of the best players/teams of my generation, and managed teams, built fields and did all kinds of jobs to make polo happen in my life. Without fail, I wintered in Argentina for 20 years and worked for teams that played and won the Argentine Open.

“I know most aspects of this sport and this Club has given me the opportunity to carry out what I know. It has been a brilliant combination. Since 2015 we have identified where to improve, dragged polo through Covid, and still managed to keep our grounds project on track. To be honest it is almost a miracle. From the Castle Ground at Flemish Farm through to today, where fields Six and Eight – two fields that weren’t even flat, drained or rectangular – are now high-goal grounds is a great testament to all who work and play at the Club.

“It has been a bumpy road and the job is never over but I love seeing what can be achieved by people with passion. And I love that something so silly as whacking a ball off the back of a horse can produce so many opportunities for so many people from the great and the good, to the grooms, truck drivers, farriers, groundsmen etc – all of us who put our hearts into this mad sport. It’s brilliant and makes me pleased every day that I turned down the sensible school path when I was 16!” u