PTJan/Feb 2010 p18-19 letters YC JM PJ MB 22/1/10 11:41 Page 2
Comment Your views
Letter of the month
My memorable game with Juan Carlos
I very much enjoyed your article on Juan Carlos Harriott and his team’s run of victories in the
Argentine Open. You invited comments from readers who had watched some of these victories.
I cannot comment as a spectator but I do have a brief experience of playing with Juan Carlos.
Letters
I played at the number one position for the Windsor Park team when the Duke of Edinburgh
invited Juan Carlos to play for his team at Guards Polo Club.
My overriding memory of playing with this genius of the game is of his passes to his number
letters@polotimes.co.uk
one: up and past my offside three to four feet wide heading towards the enemy goal every time
and from wherever he was on the field! All I had to do was to position myself between him and
goal and make an offside forward shot, and find the flags.
A genius who made You were told to play offside behind the opposing back and start turning as soon as you saw
a lasting impression
any of your team forming up to hit a backhander. If you waited to see the backhander hit – perhaps
I saw Juan Carlos Harriott play many
to see where it might be going – you were too late to pick up the pass. You would be taken out by
times at Palermo during the 1970s.
the back, usually a much more experienced player, who would then take his own backhander.
Also I had the privilege to play
You knew where the backhanders were going from any part of the field by playing the “Diamond
against him twice, once in a 14-
Rule”. Here your team hits towards the centre in the enemy half and towards the boards in your
goal tournament at Windsor and
own half. But Juan Carlos knew where you were, and never failed to make the perfect pass.
once in a practice at the Indios
Polo in those days seemed so simple and was certainly fun and exciting for players and
Club in Argentina.
spectators. There was no question of tapping and turning on the ball and trying to claim a foul by
Watching him left a lasting
hitting the ball at the opposing player.
impression on me. His anticipation
was unbelievable, especially because
A tapper-and-turner is impossible to play with because you never know what he is going to do,
he so clearly applied it to make his
and it gives the opposition time to re-position to their advantage. Tapping and turning is only done
team outmanoeuvre their opponents,
by the best player on the ground at whatever level of handicap, who wants to keep possession of
rather than shine individually himself.
the ball and does not trust his team-mates to pick up a pass. It is a sort of “ego trip” which gives
At number three he was a classic
no consideration to members of his team or spectators.
pivot, so that observant spectators
Juan Carlos kept things simple and effective, as demonstrated by the string of victories
could see that he was controlling both
of his team in the Argentine Open. As he says in the article, his brother and the Heguy
defence and attack, from which his
brothers were all Indians and there was no chief; they played as equals with well drilled
team normally achieved the majority tactics. He was able always to think two shots ahead, which gave his team a valuable
of possession. tactical advantage.
His tactics definitely embraced It is interesting how the state of the game today can draw lessons from the game as
the speed of ball over the velocity
played 50 years ago. It was a pleasure and privilege to play with Juan Carlos, and I have
of pony, although he did have fast
many happy memories of that summer on Smith’s Lawn all those years ago.
ponies. He did make individual runs
to score, but only seldom, when it
Mervyn Fox-Pitt
appeared none of his team was
Fife
available for a pass.
I remember Juan Carlos
The writer of the letter of the month wins
scoring after galloping nearly the
a bottle of La Chamiza Argentine red wine
length of the field, hitting on the
nearside. He was chased the
whole way by an opponent trying
to hook him, hence he could not
change sides to take a forehand.
There was something magic about
Juan Carlos’s smooth pony control and
the harmony between him and all his
steeds. He struck the ball with an
economic and relaxed style in all
required directions.
The crowd frequently applauded his
accurate passes, long and short,
forehand and backhand. He never
turned the ball and instead was very
effective with backhands.
Each successive year it was
obvious how much his brother Alfredo
and the Heguy brothers, Horatio and
Alberto, gained from playing so much
with Juan Carlos, because of their
equal involvement, and it seemed
inevitable that all three would reach
a 10-goal handicap.
I do not remember seeing Juan
Carlos appeal for a foul, although
Our interview with 20-time Open winner Juan Carlos Harriott, as published in the November/December issue of Polo Times many were awarded in his favour,
18 January/February 2010 www.polotimes.co.uk
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