Y E S T E RY E A R S
intrigued by the contests that Saturday evening, April 5, that they then asked the Indoor Polo Association if they could try their hand at the game! Needless to say, the IPA willingly obliged and did the Argentines one better by orchestrating a special informal exhibition match up before the Wednesday evening finals for the Association’s Class A and Class B Championships. The Argentines would play at the 8 p.m. opening on April 9 prior to the official games. The special event generated so much excitement that the
game affords them that chance.” Ironically, it was this exhibition game that generated the most excitement as the two official matches were pretty much foregone conclusions. As expected, Winston Guest’s Optimists demolished their opponent, Yale University, for the Class A trophy by a lopsided score of 13-6 despite conceding five goals on handicap (13-1 on the flat). Guest alone managed to score nine goals in what turned out to be a virtual teaching clinic. Moreover, his team achieved the astonishing distinction of an undefeated season.
The Argentine-American indoor match took place in Squadron A in early April 1930. Despite the enormity of the armory (190 feet by 300 feet), the Argentines found it difficult to adapt initially to the indoor format, particularly the placement of an inflated polo ball that often had to be played on the rebound off a wall. They nevertheless turned in a “brilliant performance.”
Madison Avenue armory attracted some 3000 fans that night. As the famous sportswriter and polo aficionado Robert F. Kelley wrote in The New York Times “the largest crowd of the season jammed every corner of the armory.” He accurately anticipated the pent-up enthusiasm for the upcoming encounter in a column he wrote prior to the game itself: “The exhibition of the South Americans, despite the fact they are green at the indoor game and cannot be expected to turn in a really fast game, has aroused considerable interest. Polo followers here in the east have heard of the fine play of these players in winning the California open title, but there has been no opportunity to see them in action and tonight’s 60 POLO P L A Y E R S E D I T I O N
In a later recap of indoor play in the 1929-30 cycle, Kelley in the May issue of The Sportsman, was to remark rather glibly: “In the outdoor game there is Mr. Thomas Hitchcock Jr., who sometimes plays at least twelve-goal polo, and indoors, there is exactly the same situation with Mr. Guest. The problem then seems to be what to do with the rest of the field.” Similarly, in the second official game that evening, the Brooklyn Riding & Driving Club routed its opponent, the New York Athletic Club 11-6½ to retain the Class B championship for the third consecutive year. Thus, in a case where the appetizer was perhaps better than the entrée, the warm-up game featuring
