POLO MANAGER’S REPORT
Polo Manager’s Report
The coronavirus pandemic has, understandably delayed the 2020 season. However with the new, high-goal Princes' Ground looking superb and the Club's own Covid 19 guidelines adopted by the governing body, Antony Fanshawe is in positive mood
T
his was not the sort of Polo Manager’s Report that I thought I would be writing at the start of the
season. The new Princes’ Ground was looking amazing and I was gearing up for a fight with the Board to be allowed to start planning the work on grounds 4, 5, 6 and 8. Now in late May I am just focussed on getting any polo played as soon as possible. Isn’t life strange? We all know how terrible the
coronavirus pandemic has been and any worries about polo pale into insignificance when considering the huge impact on people’s lives around the world. So I would like to start this article by thanking all of our patrons and players who have been so supportive of the Club during this crisis. Their patience and understanding has been incredible and the feedback they have given me and my team – Tara Bown and Nicola Taylor – has been invaluable. We have successfully taken
small steps to get play underway – our initial stick & ball sessions were well received, with everyone following our Covid-19 guidelines to the letter. Special mention must go to Ali Simpson, Rosie Hall and Chief Umpire Howard Smith who have been fantastic in supervising the new rules and restrictions. I am also grateful to Dickie Henderson and his Polaris ambulance team. Their knowledge of the medical background to the pandemic has allowed us to start training sessions at Guards Polo Club with confidence. The good news is that Guards Polo Club
has never been in better shape to play polo and so a big thank you to Head Groundsman Peter Svoboda and the grounds staff who have worked tirelessly over the winter to ensure that all the grounds at Smith’s Lawn, Flemish Farm and Coworth Park are in the best condition possible. This is despite little
The magnificent Castle Ground at Flemish Farm
Antony Fanshawe with umpires Leon Allen, Tim Bown and Adrian Wade
rain recently and some unexpected late frosts. The Princes’ Ground is definitely ready
to play. Congratulations to AFB patron Clive Reid who paid an incredible
CONGRATULATIONS TO AFB PATRON CLIVE REID WHO PAID AN INCREDIBLE £10,000 TO CHARITY TO ENSURE HE IS THE FIRST PERSON TO STICK & BALL ON NEW THE PRINCES' GROUND
£10,000 for charity to ensure he is the first person to stick & ball on this field. I look forward to catching up with Clive after this historic session to find out exactly how it played. Clive’s generosity means that we can donate a really substantial sum to two amazing organisations who have done so much to help
people locally during this pandemic - the nurses at our local hospital, Wexham Park in Slough, and the domestic abuse charity, The Dash Charity. Thanks to support from the Crown
Estate we are looking at running a full season in 2020. We are unsure of an exact start date at this time but we have scheduled some 26 tournaments for the 2020 season already, running through until October. Some hard work behind the scenes from both Guards Polo Club and the Hurlingham Polo Association has created a set of effective rules that ensures that polo will be played competitively in
GUARDS POLO CLUB OFFICIAL YEARBOOK 2020 81
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