Interview | TENGOAL
“I thought we would have a bit of fun
– two patrons, Adrian Kirby and me, Jaime and Piki. Nobody gave us a chance especially when Adrian and I had a fight after the second chukka which had to be stopped by Jaime and Piki! Adrian plays back and I play number one and he kept getting into the no 1 position. Then we all calmed down and went on to win the tournament! In 2002 I decided to try the high-goal.
My team, called Symbolic, was Henry Brett, Glen Gilmore,
Jaime Huidobro
and me. Nobody had tried three sevens at that point and we were told we had no hope. I really enjoyed it. In our final league game, for the Richard Watt Cup, we were playing against Oaklands Park and were losing 5-1 and Henry gets sent off for six minutes in the fourth chukka. This turned the game psychologically. Glen, Jaime and I won the chukka as we scored the only goal and went on to win the game 9 – 7 so we got to the quarter- finals. Here we were then drawn against Bobby Aguirre’s
team, Los Tamaraos
featuring Bautista Heguy and Memo Gracida. They were favourites and, but we beat them in torrential rain to get to the semis where we had to play Labegorce at Les Lions. We were killing them 8-3 at half time, but lost that game (umpiring!). Although I also played in the Gold Cup that year I decided to stay away from high-goal in future - too many shenanigans!” But it was not this that kept John away
from the game in recent years. “In 2008 I was galloping and thought I had been shot. Earlier in the year I had been sideswiped by a truck in Arizona and although I was a bit sore I was given the all clear. I didn’t realise that it had cracked my vertebrae which snapped when I was galloping. With Brian Morrison's injury and Gabriel Donoso's death in my mind I thought I don’t want to end up in a wheelchair. I have had a lot of fun, I broke the record at Guards and been it, seen it, done it and so retired.” So what tempted him back into the game? “I was watching
some polo
last year and saw this kid playing and I thought he was a bit handy and it transpired it was Jack Hyde. Then a few people said that young UK players don’t have as much chance these days with all these international players with their Spanish, Italian and all sorts of passports.
“So I thought OK, I will do something
for polo that will mean something and will last. It was important that Jack was the first recipient as I had seen him play the year before and it did not seem fair that he should miss out. Going into the high- goal should not exclude a young player. Yes Jack was lucky that he got the Zacara job, but that £15,000 Talacrest Guards Young Player of the Year prize got him a horse. I can see Jack becoming a seven- or eight- goal player and I would like to see someone I helped get to the top.
“The Talacrest sponsorship gives
me renewed interest in the game. My only regret is that I didn’t keep up the umpiring. I got my C grade umpiring certificate some 20 odd years ago and umpired a few games at Guards and the Berkshire. Brian Morrison once said to me you are the first person who has come into polo who knows the lines of polo, especially in the arena. I said its simple – it’s to do with the motor racing. It’s the same thing – you could be dead in a split second."
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