Last recognized as an Olympic sport in
the 1930s, international polo has since
had to cope with a demotion in status. But
as a recognized federation by the
International Olympic Committee, the FIP
and its World Cup, played more or less every
three years, has become the world-class act
of amateur competition in the sport. Since
its premier event in Argentina in 1987 the
International Polo Federation has
successfully produced its world
championship polo events in Berlin,
Santiago, Saint Moritz, Santa Barbara,
Melbourne, Chantilly—and now Mexico
But if it sounds easy, it was not.
Organizing a polo event of this size and scale
was a gargantuan and daunting task as
Mexican Polo Federation President Rogelio
Igartua and tournament organizer
Guillermo Steta well knew it would be. And
it became even more so after two of Mexico’s
most exalted poloists and promoters of the
event departed this world before seeing the
harvest of their efforts—Pablo Rincon
Gallardo and Patricio Mujica—leaving their
surviving comrades to soldier on and try to
bring it all to a successful conclusion.
Aside from the many other logistical
problems such an undertaking entails, the
single greatest one was arguably coming up
with 240 suitable horses—30 per team—to
say nothing of devising a system to distribute
them equitably among the contestants,
many of whom are by nature suspicious of
this all-important aspect of competitive polo
on borrowed mounts.
The horses were provided by various
Mexican players and sponsors, including
Giorgio Brignone of Costa Careyes Polo
Club on the Pacific Coast south of Puerto
Vallarta. Brignone, along with Costa Careyes
regulars Alberto Ardissone, Bolko Kissling
and Jimmy Giebeler, provided more than 40
horses for the event, 38 of which made it to
the final, showing their fitness in adapting
from their native seacoast terrain to the
rarified air of the high Valley of Mexico.
Tecamac Polo Club members also
generously contributed mounts, as did
Queretaro’s el Marques Polo Club, players
from Guadalajara, Monterrey, and others.
The Mexican FIP polo fiesta ran from
April 21 to May 3, with eight 14-goal teams
from Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa,
England, Spain, Mexico, Canada and Chile
vying for the prestigious international title.
No individual player was ranked higher than
5 goals. Brazil was the reigning champion
with victories in the last two Polo World
Championships, and all of the other teams
had the Brazilian team in their sights.
On the evening of April 21 the FIP
hosted an inaugural reception at the Hotel
Nikko, one of a cluster of high-rise hotels
that tower over the Campo Marte field
between Mexico City’s posh Polanco district
and sprawling Chapultepec Park. The event
was attended by players, coaches, sponsors,
supporters and journalists. Tournament
director Farouk S. Younes welcomed players
and guests and encouraged fair play and
sportsmanship from all teams. Each team
was then presented official game jerseys in
its national colors.
In a tense atmosphere reminiscent of a
high-stakes poker game, the tournament’s
horse draw also took place at the Hotel
Nikko (which housed the official
tournament headquarters), and teams were
mounted on their strings for their first
practice game on April 22.
The first tournament game took place
April 24 at nearby Tecamac Polo Club with
Team Canada facing off against New
Zealand (unsuccessfully, as it turned out),
the latter country making its first
appearance at the World Cup
Championship after beating out Australia,
India and Pakistan to qualify. Other games
included Mexico vs. South Africa, Spain vs.
Chile, and England vs. Brazil.
Excitement began to build among the
gathering faithful by the weekend of April
26, which saw a number of exciting matches
and events. On Saturday the official opening
ceremonies were held at Campo Marte, the
historic, military polo ground in the heart of
Mexico City where the final games would be
played. Each of the eight participating
countries was represented at the ceremonies
while host nation Mexico presented an
impressive and entertaining display for the
thousands of enthusiastic polo supporters in
attendance. Above it all an enormous
Mexican flag waved majestically from a
flagpole 100 meters tall.
The Campo Marte venue is one of only
three in the entire world that occupies a
central location in a world-class city (the
others being Palermo in Buenos Aires and
Chantilly in Paris) and is certainly the equal
of either in terms of esthetic appeal and
dramatic setting. Campo Marte was the first
choice of the organizers from the beginning,
but it was by no means certain that they
would have it. There was the critical matter
of the Mexican election in 2006, for one
thing, by which time planning for the event
was well underway.
It was generally understood that only
candidate Felipe Calderón would consider
making the army field available for the polo
championship event. Calderón was declared
the victor over his popular challenger,
Manuel López Obrador, in a disputed
election result that threatened to destabilize
the entire country—and with only a couple
of months to spare, the use of Campo Marte
was finally approved.
The feature game on Saturday afternoon
at Campo Marte was Mexico vs. England.
Mexico came into the game with a
tournament record of 1-0 and England at 0-
1, making it a pivotal game in the host
nation’s bracket of the tournament. The
game was tied 5-5 after the third chukker.
England came on strong in the fourth to
take an 8-5 lead going into the last. But to
the Englishmen’s dismay a number of fouls
were awarded to Mexico, which they
converted to tie the game at 8-8 with less
than a minute remaining. Mexico then won
the final throw-in and took the ball to goal,
making the final score 9-8 for Mexico.
On April 29, Team Canada played its
final game of the tournament against Spain,
losing the contest 10-7, with Spain securing
its position in the semifinals. To celebrate
the Polo World Cup (and coincidentally
console their team’s elimination from the
competition, having failed, like England, to
win any games), Canadian ambassador to
Mexico Guillermo E. Rishchynski, and his
wife, Jeannette Portillo Tinoco, had a
reception at their official residence on April
30. All teams and their countries’
ambassadors were invited—and most showed
up for what proved to be the most successful
social mixer of the tournament.
The games continued the following day
with semifinals featuring Brazil vs. Spain
followed by Chile vs. Mexico. In the first of
these Brazil confirmed its reputation as
champion and favorite of the World Polo
Championship, defeating Spain 7-5, thanks
largely to a stellar performance by Caio
Siquini, who made four goals. In that game,
the South Americans were facing a grimlooking
0-4 scoreboard at the end of the
third chukker. But, waking like a sleeping
giant, they responded with six unanswered
goals, taking total command of the game
until the end. Brazil thus advanced to its
fifth FIP final in pursuit of its third
championship win—but were far from
overconfident about their prospects.
“It’s no slam dunk,” said Siquini. “We
had the good luck to make it to the final
once again, but anything can happen, and
we have to maintain the same level of play in
order to win.”
In the other semifinal game Chile
engaged Mexico in a rough and tumble toand-
fro contest that lasted until the bitter
end for Mexico in a 10-9 loss. The hardfought
battle saw several falls and minor
injuries as well as some controversial calls by
umpires Steve Lane of the USA and Nicolás
Scortichini of Argentina. The Mexican team
included two young players of the famous
Gracida clan, Carlitos, son of legendary 10-
goaler Carlos—and at 17 the youngest player in the tournament; and cousin Julio, 24, son
of superstar 10-goaler Memo; Ulysses
Escapite; and the ever-phlegmatic, veteran,
master poloist Valerio Aguilar as captain.
The Mexicans stayed abreast of the
explosive Chilean team but in the end the
failure of completed plays cost them the
victory. As in the earlier playoff against New
Zealand, when Chilean Matias Vial was the
nightmare of the Kiwis, his brother
Alejandro did the same to the Mexicans and
practically eliminated his hosts singlehandedly
by converting six penalty shots of
Chile’s 10 goals.
We lost some opportunities and he who
forgives loses,” said Aguilar, the popular
hometown hero who scored five Mexican
goals. “They have a lot of experience, they
stayed calm when we pressed them hard, and
ended up taking it from us.”
These results left Brazil and Chile to face
off for the championship game on Saturday,
and Mexico and Spain to slug it out for the
remaining spot on the podium for the honor
of third place.
For the grand finale on Saturday polo
fans showed up at Campo Marte in large
numbers and high style—and they were not
disappointed in the two games they
witnessed under sunny tropical skies.
he championship final between Brazil
and Chile was played first. Throughout the
first five chukkers the Brazilians maintained
their lead, although unable to increase it by
more than two goals. Chile battled back to tie
the score going into the final chukker, then
managed to turn the tables as Matías Vial
scored on three consecutive opportunities,
driving the Andean team to an 11-9,
eleventh-hour victory, taking the coveted
international trophy from Brazil. A large
contingent of Chilean supporters, whose
spirited cheering was evident throughout the
game, rushed onto the field in celebration.
“We were all so excited, but we managed
to stay focused and play as a team and finally
prevailed,” said Alejandro Vial, brother of
Matías and son of the team’s coach,
Alejandro Vial Sr. All were some time in
regaining the faculty of speech in the
emotional turmoil following the game, which
also saw the dejected Brazilians gracefully
congratulate the victors.
Because of the condition of the field,
which was a bit soft, players of both teams
had problems converting penalty shots,
Brazil missing two and Chile four.
Next came the final game of the day for
the one remaining place on the podium—
which engaged the enthusiasm of the
hometown crowd every bit as much as the
championship final. With the thundering cry
of, ¡Sí, se puede! ¡Sí, se puede! ringing from
the stands, the Mexican team, consisting of
three youngsters led by hardened veteran
Aguilar, came from a four-goal disadvantage
to shock and destroy the hopes of Spain with
a 13-12 win, a dramatic turnaround achieved
with only seconds to spare.
Aguilar scored nine of the 13 goals—
including the last four—when all seemed lost.
This is a feat he has performed more than
once in his long career—most recently in the
game against England only days earlier.
“When we were down so low we just made up
our minds to keep going after the win—it was
just essential that we do it—and thanks to our
final push, we did,” said the emotional
captain of the Mexican team. “Incredible
that we were beaten on Thursday [by Brazil]
as we were, but luckily today we took it, we
seized the win. That’s sports!” said Aguilar.
Without dispute “Vale” Aguilar was the
man of the hour for Mexico.
The other Aztec scores were attributed to
Julio Gracida for three, and Ulysses Escapite
for one. For the Spanish motherland,
meanwhile, Gonzaga Valdez scored six times,
Pascual Sainz made a hat trick, and Ignacio
Domecq and Nicolas Alvarez each
contributed two. Spain took its loss hard, and
once again the maternal lineages of umpires
Lane and Scortichini were brought forth for
critical review.
“Just another day at the office,” quipped
Lane, a highly respected U.S. umpire who
had been parachuted in to quell any
grumbling about possible bias.
Although fouls were rife in both final
games (as they were throughout the entire
tournament) this did not seem to diminish
their capacity to thrill and excite the
spectators. Aside from this, Mexican coach
Roberto Gonzalez Gracida reflected that the
one thing he could not reproach his team on
was the grand spirit it showed in its five
games. “We played with all our hearts, with
great tenacity, and with our desire to win we
were able to do so—besides playing
intelligently, as we did, I believe. Spain played
a great game, too, and so our third place is
well-deserved.
Gracida indicated that he would soon
present his report to the Mexican Polo
Federation to review his team selection and
his possible continued leadership of it. Team
selection had generated considerable
controversy and debate, mainly because of
the youth and inexperience of its younger
members.
Throughout the entire event, Argentina,
which had curiously chosen not to
participate this year, was the elephant in the
room, and many conversations were heard
speculating about the possible reasons for
the team’s absence. But the Mexicans, even
in the face of a mountain of organizational
difficulties and obstacles that extended deep
into the very complex social and political
heart of their nation, demonstrated with this
success that theirs, too, is a major poloplaying
country, blessed with top young
players, superbly bred and trained horses,
and a venue equal to any in the world.
