Polo in the Pampas

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Arena-style Formula Polo takes hold in Argentina

By Lucas Noel

Fast, entertaining and very easy to enjoy for those who are not experts in this sport. Formula Polo, a three vs. three contest, similar to arena polo, with a lot of excitement included was born in Buenos Aires and quickly began to spread to several countries until it developed its own World Cup.

Argentina is the country where polo is played at the highest level. However, the beach version was never fully developed. It has always functioned as a summer advertising attraction rather than a truly settled championship. But its potential was always there. With that vision, in 2019, Formula Polo was born in order to promote the traditional modality on sand with a fixed annual season. Its success was immediate. The key was the attractive social aspect. Located in the heart of Buenos Aires, in the Palermo neighborhood, its venue is located behind one of the most fun and popular restaurants in the city. Every night, diners come to Belisario Roldán to taste its dishes and meet celebrities from Argentina’s artistic, sports and political circles. In this way, this concept of a dinner night with polo friends in Buenos Aires managed to merge two fundamental pieces: what happens on and off the playing field.

One of the essential points of the success of this contest is the adaptation of the rules so that everyone

Rules have been adapted to make them easily understood for the spectators. For example, teams don’t change goals.

The games are held behind a popular restaurant in Buenos Aires, with a birds-eye view of the action.

can easily understand them. More than 10 formations of three members per side compete in four seven-minute chukkers with the teams always attacking in the same direction. There is no change of direction after each goal and all fouls are penalties from the spot. The referee has at his disposal yellow and red cards to book and send off players just as is done in the most popular sport in this country and the rest of the world: soccer.

Juan Bogo, director of referees for the league, admits that at the beginning they had to work on a progressive optimization of the rules.

“The truth is that we had a hard time testing the rules. Although they are simple changes, the players had to adapt. But we developed it along with them. In the first matches of the tournament we had a much more complex set of rules and we were putting them into practice as the dates passed until we found the ideal set. Surely, it will continue to have modifications as, for example, it is also implemented in rugby, in order to speed up the game,” Bogo explained.

In the same way regulations are taken care of and perfected, strict measures are also established for animal care. All the horses that arrive at the venue in Buenos Aires are checked daily by the veterinary team, that must approve their participation in the matches. In addition, the discipline is totally rigorous in the face of any impact that a player’s horse may have.

The layout of this competition is divided into two tournaments: the Apertura (Opener), which takes place between February and June, and the Clausura (Closer), which is held between August and December. July, traditionally the coldest month of the year in this part of the world, is a rest time for organizations, horses and players.

Its diffusion through the broadcasting of the matches and its impact on social networks transformed it into an event that transcended the borders of Argentina. And that is where its new plan was born: the Formula Polo World Cup, scheduled for December as a preview of the Argentine Open.

This global initiative includes teams from the countries where the league acquired a presence. In the first stage, United States, Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, England, Colombia and the Dominican Republic joined the event. Thanks to this response, the organization saw the potential and continued talks to include locations in Uruguay, Singapore, Dubai, Switzerland and Italy next year.

“Formula Polo World Cup was born with the aim that all the champions of their respective

Players debate who is going to win and how on air prior to the game, like on a reality TV show.

Umpires can send off a player like in soccer and all fouls are from the spot. countries can come to Argentina and live a week of pure sport,” said Fabián Rodríguez from IQ Sports Marketing, a company that developed the concept in South America. “Tuesday and Wednesday are tournament days, on Thursday [we’ll have a friendly] asado and on Friday a Formula Polo Party [will be held] on the eve of the of the Argentine Open final where the players will enjoy the best match in the world. With all these ingredients, Formula Polo Week is an event that even allows a fruitful networking among all the players in the league.” This tournament is strongly designed from a marketing point of view. All games can be watched live through the PoloHUB+ platform and its broadcasts are enriched with the application of technologies such as GPS on horses, highspeed drones and live music. But there are also all kinds of extras to the show. One of the main ones is the debates before and after the matches with the players themselves. Pablo Sassone, official voice of the broadcasts, explains, “It’s like a live reality show. The players debate who is going to win and how they are going to set up the duel. And when it’s over, we interview them again and they tell us how things

Ten teams are competing in the event, played on Tuesday nights under the lights.

Games can be viewed live through the PoloHUB+ platform.

went and why things didn’t work out.”

Formula Polo is played on Tuesdays and guests at the Roldán restaurant know if they book for that night they will have the sports show and will be able to meet the polo players up close once the match is over.

“Contact with people is one of the best things. Finishing the game and being able to be in the restaurant with the people who come to cheer on the teams is a great plan,” explains Mariano Etcheverry, the league’s captain. “When we started, the teams wanted to know a little more about the event. They thought it was an exhibition, but as they signed up, they realized that everyone was getting more prepared every day. They came with their jerseys, they already kept their best horses and called up better players in order to win and that is why it grew so fast.”

But the trios don’t just compete to see who wins on the field. They also compete for who has the most eye-catching presentation. For now, perhaps the big winner in this category has been the players of the Roldán Jeep team, that made their entrance in a car from the automaker that sponsored them to a red carpet where journalists and special guests were waiting for them.

Simple and dynamic. Attractive and fun. At night, on sand and in the middle of the polo capital of the world. An expanding model that began as a meeting of good friends, dinner and horses and today it is already an interesting international event. •