November 2021 Polo Players' Edition- Leading The Way

Leading The Way

Townsend Kickstarts International Arena Competition

John R. Townsend was a big supporter of arena polo. He died on Sept. 29, 1923 at 62, just months after the first Townsend Cup was played.

John R. Townsend was an established social figure in New York City and consummate horseman. He served as a director of the National Horse Show Association, vice chair of Meadow Brook Polo Club and Master of Foxhounds in England and Ireland, and premier hunts in Goshen, New York, and The Plains, Virginia.

His eclectic equestrian interests were broad, however, it was promoting indoor polo at the national and international level that he left a unique and lasting mark.

Well-known for his exploits in the hunt field, Townsend, and his friend, E.H. Harriman, founded New York’s Orange County Hunt Club where he became Master of Foxhounds in 1900. He became president of the hunt club in 1918, with polo player W. Averill Harriman as vice president. Townsend made the Virginia Piedmont his second home and maintained a farm in The Plains. According to author Vicky Moon in her book “The Middleburg Mystique,” the name for Virginia’s famous Orange County Hunt came from Townsend and Harriman who brought their New York friends to The Plains where Harriman would bring his private pullman rail cars and park on the tracks.

As one of the country’s leading foxhunters, portraits of him by nationally famous artists, such as Lynwood Palmer and Richard Newton, have left a lasting legacy in equine art.

An all-around horseman, in 1913, Townsend won a driving competition with horses Muskateer and Belle Gratton, making headlines in the N.Y. Times sport’s section.

When World War I broke out, Townsend supervised a cavalry division of 300 horsemen, trained in Central Park as an adjunct posse and was committed as part of the Home Defense League of the New York Police Department.

Trophies donated by Townsend recognized everything from the highest-quality Foxhounds with custom silverplate to providing unique trophies for hunters and institutionalizing one of his Challenge Cups at the National Horse Show. Moreover, he was an innovator and leader in what today we call crossmarketing. As early as 1897, the high-society magazine “Outing” described an equestrian event promoted and judged by him:

“… a potpourri, made up of a glittering array of richly-caparisoned horses, snatches of four-in-hand, tandem and country-club meets, with a little trotting, steeple-chasing, cavalry-parading and polo-playing thrown in to give zest to the collation and render it palatable.”

A supporter of arena polo, he was considered a credible commentator and good for insightful press quotes.

USA’s R.A. Granniss, H.B. Blackwell and A.W. Kinny were the first to defend the Townsend International Cup.

In 1920, Townsend arranged for two-chukker exhibition polo games held at the National Horse Show in Madison Square Garden, which proved to be one of the most attractive features of the show, according to a report in the New York Times.

That popularity sparked an idea to produce a significant polo championship at the 36th National Horse Show in 1921. The show moved to Squadron A Armory, which regularly held high-goal matches. Townsend had to ensure the games met the national level competition requisite for the show and needed a way of both attracting top teams and organizing their selection.

The games were held under the auspices of the Indoor Polo Association, which selected six teams: The Riding Club; New York Riding and Driving Club; West Point Polo Club; Squadron A; Brooklyn Riding and Driving Club; and Durland’s Polo Club. The competition was popular among indoor players and drew press coverage and a positive reaction from other equestrians.

The Townsend Challenge was expanded the following year to five levels (Class A Seniors, Class B Juniors, Classes C and D and Intercollegiate). Townsend donated the trophy for the Intercollegiate Championships. The New York Times reported 40 tons of tanbark footing was brought in for the tournaments. The event drew 24 teams representing clubs, military organizations, and colleges. The highgoal matches were four chukkers of 7½ minutes, while the other games were two 10-minute periods each.

The event’s success led to an interest in an international competition. Charles Lang, secretary of the Indoor Polo Association, traveled to London in 1922 empowered to negotiate with foreign teams. According to the New York Times, the English players initially proved receptive but later decided it would be impossible to get together three players with sufficient experience to make it worthwhile to cross the Atlantic.

The French cavalry had shown some interest in competing, having played arena polo for training and public presentations, however, it later invited the U.S. to compete in France rather than traveling to the U.S.

Capt. K. McMullen, F.W. Egan, Capt. L.W. Walford and Capt. W.F. Holman played for Britain.

Townsend’s British friend, F.W. Egan, an arena polo enthusiast managing the Deauville Polo Club, helped influence a British team to make the trip. A series of cables were sent from England, the last declaring a team was ready to set sail. The Indoor Polo Association set up a committee, chaired by Townsend, including W. Averell Harriman, George C. Sherman, Robert Granniss and other leading figures of New York polo to iron out the event’s details, including funding the visitor’s traveling expenses. The event reportedly cost about $17,000 to stage. Townsend offered a challenge trophy, which was said to cost several thousand dollars to make.

According to the deed of gift, the tournament’s formal name was the John R. Townsend International Indoor Polo Challenge Cup, played in conjunction with national and intercollegiate championships. Overall, the action included 46 games in 11 days, attracting more press coverage and spotlighting the arena game.

A very scarce program from the first Townsend International Cup, from the collections of Dennis Amato.

With Townsend’s encouragement, in 1923, Thomas L. Leeming donated a cup for the 7- to 12- goal Class C Championship, while Wilson M. Powell Jr. donated a cup for the 2- to 7-goal Class D Championship.

The following year saw almost a 100% increase in Indoor Polo Association membership.

In its coverage of the Challenge Cup, the New York Times wrote about a new form of the arena game tried in France. The article said, “Still another form of the game has now been introduced which seems destined to achieve great popularity. Some distinctive name will have to be found for this game, which really is only indoor polo out of doors. It has been developed in France, where it has jumped into instant favor, and the coming summer will witness an extensive trial in the United States.”

When the organizers of the Concours Hippique at Le Touquet introduced outdoor polo as a regular feature but didn’t have time to build a regulation field, it constructed a 200 x 100-yard wooden enclosure with 4-foot high walls. Using American indoor rules provided by the Indoor Polo Association, teams had three players each and a larger ball was used. Every detail of the play was able to be seen by the 5,000 spectators that watched the match. And the game offered other advantages—it is easier to learn, does not require as much time to play and the expense of ponies and grounds is far less than outdoor polo.

It was a perfect way to train players and ponies and was ideal for army officers’ development in the sport. The references to the Army were not idle comments. With many officers in the cavalry and field horse artillery registered as players with the Indoor Polo Association, military units represented more than a third of the member clubs and, with its large armory halls, provided some of the best arena venues in the country. Moreover, a West Point cadet team won a national championship in 1922. The military coach of the West Point team was none other than Maj. George S. Patton. The 1923 Polo Association Year Book included an editorial about army polo, writing, “The War Department then in encouraging polo is doing a very economical thing; the civilian polo player by helping and supporting the army in the same line is not only doing a very sporty thing but is also of vast assistance in rendering more efficient a body of men on whom, should war recur, the honor of his country will depend.”

The Indoor Polo Association also used the stature of the international championship and interest in the visiting British team to propagate the potential of arena polo outside of New York with a series of demonstration matches. Not insignificantly, the first two demonstration games were against military teams at West Point. Matches in Detroit, Chicago, Cincinnati and Philadelphia followed. These matches also served as practices for the British team.

The Brits, arriving on the Olympic, sent seven ponies on the Mississippi. Bad weather delayed the arrival of the players and the ponies came two weeks later. They were stabled at Squadron A and did not travel with the players to the Midwest.

Official score sheets from the first Townsend International Cup series.

Official score sheets from the first Townsend International Cup series.

Official score sheets from the first Townsend International Cup series.

In their first match, the visitors trounced a 101st Cavalry team in Brooklyn, 21-3, riding borrowed ponies. In the first game on their own ponies, the Brits routed an American trio captained by W. Averill Harriman, 10-4.

For the defense of the international trophy, the Indoor Polo Association selected top arena players, including two of the highest-rated indoor players in the country:

• 9-goal Archer W. Kinny, star of the 1921 Townsend Class A Championship, playing No. 1

• 9-goal Dr. Hugh B. Blackwell, a member of the 1922 Townsend Class A Championship, playing No. 2

• 4-goal Robert A. Granniss, winner of the 1922 and 1923 Townsend Class A Championships, playing No. 3. Indoor Polo Association President George C.

Sherman and R.K. Cooke, a member of the association’s executive committee, were alternates. The British team included:

• 5-goal Capt. F.L. Walford playing No. 1

• 5-goal Capt. W.F. Holman playing No. 2

• 6-goal Capt. F.W. Egan playing No. 3

• 4-goal Capt. K. McMullen filled in for the ailing Holman and was the star of the British team, doing brilliant work, according to reports. Despite its cosmopolitan identity, the International Challenge Cup—by daring other countries to come to take it away—also brought out native nationalism. Even the New York Times described the English team as invaders coming to seize the Townsend. This, as much as the rhetoric about Olympian sportsmanship, seemed to fuel the intense local interest in New York. Thanks to continued coverage for a month leading up to the game and daily coverage during the matches, the event drew a capacity crowd.

The first evening began with a Class C game between The Riding Club and First Philadelphia City Troop. After, the Seventh Regiment Band led the British and American teams into the arena. The Americans prevailed 4½-1. Kinny scored three goals; Blackwell made several accurate passes; while Grannis contributed several deep drives, scoring twice. Egan scored the only goal for England, a lone goal in the third.

Two days later, the second game before the largest and most enthusiastic audience saw the Americans ahead 7½-1 at the half before winning 11-2. An interesting note is 12 goals were scored, however fouls were deducted from the total.

The English saddles were held up in transit, so they played on borrowed American saddles. Half of their string developed sore backs and were not able to play in the last match. Instead, they had to borrow some American mounts. A New York Times headline read, “Visitors Poorly Mounted.”

The third match was do-or-die for the Brits, but the Americans proved too experienced, winning 10-4 to ensure the trophy remained in the U.S.

The last two games in the five-game series were played as exhibition matches. After the competition, the British team remained in the U.S., playing several indoor and outdoor matches. Their horses remained in the U.S. indefinitely after being purchased by the Cincinnati Polo Club.

The Townsend International Challenge Cup raised the overall visibility of the sport both domestically and internationally for arena and grass polo. One of the most immediate impacts of the Townsend competitions was a significant expansion of the U.S. Army’s interest in indoor polo and its support with ponies and outdoor fields.

Townsend had become a leading advocate of indoor polo. He was not only instrumental in bringing the English team to the U.S. but helped popularize a new version of a century-old sport. Sadly, he passed away after a brief illness just six months after the Challenge Cup at the age of 62. That might account for why, despite its success, the Townsend Challenge Cup was shelved for 71 years before being played in 1994 in Somers, Connecticut.

The original International Indoor Polo Challenge Cup trophy. Its whereabouts remain unknown.

The whereabouts of the original Townsend International Challenge Cup trophy is unknown. Some trophies were lent or given to country clubs around New York for safe keeping, but if records were kept they have not been located. The trophy currently being used for the Townsend Cup was also donated by Townsend, originally for the Class A Championships. He also donated the Intercollegiate Trophy, which is played for to this day.

Phil Karber and Dennis Amato contributed to this article.