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Greenwich Polo Club

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Coordinates: 41°07′47″N 73°38′27″W / 41.1298°N 73.6408°W / 41.1298; -73.6408
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Greenwich Polo Club is a polo club in Greenwich, Connecticut that was established in 1981. It is one of only three polo venues in the United States offering high-goal polo (20 goals or above).

Greenwich Polo Club hosts public USPA high-goal polo matches on Sundays throughout the summer.

Location

Greenwich Polo Club is located on North Street in the neighborhood of Conyers Farm in Greenwich, Connecticut.[1][2][3][4][5] It is surrounded by the Babcock Preserve, Rockwood Lake the Mianus Reserve State Park Scenic Reserve to the South, and Converse Lake and the Mianus Reservoir to the North.[2]

Players

Players have included:

History

Beginnings

It was established in 1981 by Peter M. Brant, who started the White Birch Polo Team.[5][7][8] In the 1970s Brant first met polo legend Thomas B. “Tommy” Glynn at the Fairfield Hunt Club. Under Glynn’s tutelage, Brant grew to love the sport of polo and formed the polo team White Birch in 1979. Brant lived in Greenwich and wanted a place to play in the area. In 1981 Greenwich Polo Club was officially established by Brant with eight founding members including Peter Busch Orthwein, Mickey Tarnapol, Adam Linderman, Marty Gross, Charles Johnson, Henryk de Kwiatkoski, Geofrey Kent and Michael Shore. Glynn was manager of Greenwich Polo Club from 1981 until his death in 2001. Since 1981, Greenwich Polo Club expanded from one to three fields.[9][10] In 2015, Brant honored Peter Busch Orthwein, co-founder of Thor Industries and the Patron of the Airstream polo team, by naming one of the polo fields at the Greenwich Polo Club in his honor.[11]

White Birch Polo Team

White Birch captured its first US Open Polo Championship in 2005.[12] It was the team's 31st title at the 26 goal level or higher. White Birch won all three 26 goal tournaments during the 2005 season in Palm Beach. In the 1990s White Birch dominated every major tournament at Palm Beach Polo Club in Florida. The White Birch Polo Team has won more high goal polo tournaments than any other single team in the past 25 years.[13] In 2016, White Birch is playing the high-goal polo seasons at International Polo Club and at its home base at Greenwich Polo Club.

Tournaments

America's Polo Championship

In September 1987, it organized the America's Polo Championship.[14] According to author Horace A. Laffaye, "Because of its high rating, it was the most important match of the 1980s."[14] However, the match was not recognized by the Argentine Polo Association nor by the United States Polo Association.[14] The trophy was a George III silver cup made by silversmiths John Wakelin and William Taylor in London in 1784.[14] The Argentine team (Benjamin Araya, Alfonso Pieres, Gonzalo Pieres and Ernesto Trotz) won 11-10 against the American team (Tommy Wayman, Carlos Gracida, Memito Gracida, and Owen Rinehart).[14] The following year, in 1988, Argentina won again 11-8, with Mike Azzaro replaccing Tommy Wayman on the American team.[14] In 1989, Argentina won again, 11-8; while the Argentine team remained the same, the American team was composed of Mike Azzaro, Tommy Wayman, Owen Rinehart and Dale Smicklas.[14] The championship only last three years, and it was never played again.[14]

Tommy Glynn Cup

It was home to the Tommy Glynn Cup, first started at the Fairfield County Hunt Club in Westport, Connecticut in 1975.[4]

U.S.P.A. Gold Cup

It hosted the U.S.P.A. Gold Cup from 2002 to 2005.[14] The White Birch Polo Team won the trophy those three years.[14]

Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup

On May 15, 2013, Greenwich Polo Club hosted the Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup, a charity match which raised US$1 million for Sentebale.[15] Prince Harry co-founded the charity Sentebale with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to benefit the impoverished children of his small African country. The Sentebale Land Rover team was captained by Royal Salute Ambassador Malcolm Borwick with team members Marc Ganzi, Michael Carrazza and Prince Harry, one of the founding Patrons of Sentebale. The St. Regis polo team was captained by Sentebale's Ambassador Nacho Figueras with team members Peter Orthwein, Steve Lefkowitz and Dawn Jones.[16]

East Coast Open

On Aug. 23 - Sept. 6, 2015 Greenwich Polo Club hosted the USPA-sanctioned East Coast Open. Six teams competed in the 20-goal tournament. Audi Polo’s Marc Ganzi, Miguel Novillo Astrada, Nic Roldan and Juancito Bollini, defeated White Birch, consisting of Santino Magrini, Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre and Peter Brant by 14-13 in overtime to win the USPA East Coast Open championship. The East Coast Open at Greenwich Polo Club was live-streamed on Chukker TV and the final match of the East Coast Open was broadcast on NBC Sports Network on Sept. 13, 2015. The East Coast Open was originally founded in Rhode Island in 1905 and was played until World War I. It had a renaissance starting in 1978 when Donald Little, then President of the USPA and Captain of the Myopia Polo Club, resurrected the tournament and brought it to Myopia Polo Club in South Hamilton, Massachusetts where it was played until the early 2000s. Since 1905, the Perry Cup trophy has symbolized this high-goal championship and winners' names are memorialized on the trophy. The 2016 East Coast Open is scheduled to be played at Greenwich Polo Club from Aug. 28 – Sept. 11, 2016.[17][18][19]

References

  1. ^ Greenwich Polo Club: Contact Us
  2. ^ a b Google Maps
  3. ^ Scott Gargan, At the Greenwich Polo Club, crowd has a flair for high society fashion, Connecticut Post, September 5, 2013
  4. ^ a b Horace A. Laffaye, Polo in the United States: A History, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2011, pp. 286
  5. ^ a b Clint Willis, 'America's Cadillac Polo Championship', New York, September 14, 1987, p. 80 [1]
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Greenwich Polo Club: Players
  7. ^ Greenwich Polo Club: History
  8. ^ Greenwich Polo Club: Peter Brant
  9. ^ "Elegance And Toughness | WAG MAGAZINE ONLINE". www.wagmag.com. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  10. ^ Laffaye, Horace A. (2015-08-28). Profiles in Polo: The Players Who Changed the Game. McFarland. ISBN 9781476662732.
  11. ^ Brant honored Peter Busch Orthwein, co-founder of Thor Industries, by naming one of the polo fields at the Greenwich Polo Club in his honor.
  12. ^ "This Month in Polo Players' Edition". www.poloplayersedition.com. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  13. ^ Sun-Sentinel, South Florida. "White Birch expected back in the fold as Palm Beach polo season begins". Sun-Sentinel.com. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Horace A. Laffaye, Polo in the United States: A History, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2011, pp. 256-257
  15. ^ Nadia Sorocka, Ganzi has a royal game as Prince Harry's teammate, Sun-Sentinel, May 29, 2013
  16. ^ http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/Greenwich-Polo-Club-preps-for-royalty-4446454.php
  17. ^ http://poloist.net/six-teams-to-contest-2015-uspa-east-coast-open/
  18. ^ http://greenwichfreepress.com/around-town/us-polo-association-greenwich-polo-club-gear-up-for-east-coast-open-46456/
  19. ^ http://www.poloplus10.com/east-coast-open-2015-final-audi-57643/

41°07′47″N 73°38′27″W / 41.1298°N 73.6408°W / 41.1298; -73.6408

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