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As chairman of the Hurlingham Polo Association’s International Committee, John M Tinsley is flying the flag for world-class polo, says Herbert Spencer

ILLUSTRATION PHIL DISLEY

At the dawn of the 21st century, high-goal competition between national polo teams was in the doldrums. The venerable Westchester Cup between the USA and Great Britain had been played for only twice since the war and had not been hosted in the US since 1939. The Copa de las Americas between Argentina and the USA and the Camacho Cup between Mexico and the USA had not been played for in decades. There were occasionally test matches between nations in South America, Australasia and South Africa, but they were few and far between.

In England the only ‘international’ was the Coronation Cup at the annual Cartier International of the Hurlingham Polo Association (HPA). England had played a succession of countries since the HPA’s international day was inaugurated in 1971, but the home team’s win-loss record was not impressive.

That was before John M Tinsley came on the scene. In 2000 he became chairman of the HPA, also serving as chairman of the association’s International Committee, a post he still holds today. Over the past decade, from the time John became responsible for its international activities, the HPA has led the way in the growth of internationals among the major polo-playing nations. Not only that, but England’s own national polo team has gone from strength to strength and is now the most professionally organised squad of any representing a country anywhere in the world and it is winning the majority of internationals it plays at home and abroad, both at high-goal and lower levels. John will tell you that the HPA’s leadership in the field of international competition has been a ‘team effort’, but in reality he has been the key man, the prime mover and shaker.

John Macfarland Tinsley was born on 8 August 1941 in Essex. His father had become a land agent after the war and when John was 21 gave him a 350-acre farm in Lincolnshire. Not content with just farming, however, John also went into business and built a Glasgow firm into a public company listed on the stock exchange, enabling him to buy more land.

John took up polo around the time he married his wife Judy, an Australian ballerina who immigrated to the UK to dance with the Royal Ballet. ‘In 1970 Colin Seavill invited some of us to knock a ball about on a farm,’ he says. ‘John Hine, father of Andrew who was England’s captain and now the England team manager, had started playing a couple of years earlier and helped spark my interest. I joined the newly-formed Rutland Polo Club near my home and have never looked back.’ He shared his Branston team with his son George, who achieved a 2-goal handicap.

Having eventually relinquished control of his Glasgow company, John has concentrated upon managing his many thousands of acres of agricultural and wilder land in England and Scotland as well as commercial and residential properties throughout the

country. His main home is Ashfield House at Branston near Lincoln where he has a private polo ground. His pride and joy, however, is his Corrybrough estate in the Scottish highlands, where there is no polo but excellent salmon fishing, deer stalking and pheasant and grouse shooting.

When he took up the reins as HPA chairman in November 2000, John was a 0-goal amateur player at Rutland, one of the country’s smaller low-goal clubs. Once a twogoal player, he has competed in 28 countries.

‘Although I was a low-goal and mediumgoal competitor,’ he says, ‘I’d seen enough polo around the world to realise that there is a tremendous amount of high-goal talent out there and that countries like England, the US, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa all had enough higher-rated players to put together national teams of around 25 goals or more and to play one another in internationals. That’s why I volunteered to head our international committee, to see what I could do to encourage such competition.’

John got a real baptism of fire in his first year as HPA chairman. ‘The foot-and-mouth epidemic in 2001 devastated the farming community and hit all the country pursuits and sports,’ he recalls. ‘The HPA kept polo going only by instating strict hygiene controls at all the clubs and stables. What did hit us, however, was the closure of Guards Polo Club for that season to protect the deer in Windsor Great Park. We had to move our international day down to Cowdray Park and Cartier withdrew their sponsorship for a year because of the change in venue. It was a great day at Cowdray, but the HPA’s income was substantially reduced.’

Meanwhile John began turning his attention to the international scene. ‘It was obvious,’ he says, ‘that staging more internationals here and making the England team more professional would require significant additional funding, so we began looking for more corporate sponsorship.’ In 2003 Audi UK signed up to sponsor the England team in three home international tests, injecting a welcome £100,000 into the sport. This support has continued and this year Audi, despite the recession, has agreed to again renew its sponsorship with £125,000 plus the loan of six cars for the team.

‘We also have additional funds to top up Audi’s contribution, for example when we send England teams overseas to play,’ says John. ‘Our annual Cartier International now brings in more than £300,000, of which £160,000 went to the Polo Charity Trust with the rest available as required for financing our international efforts.’

‘This funding has enabled us to put together the kind of professional team organisation one sees in other sports,’ says John. ‘Last year the support team included Andrew Tucker as chef d’equipe, manager Andrew Hine and coach Javier Novillo Astrada. We have also brought in trainers for physical fitness and sports psychologists to work on mental attitudes. I know of no other national polo team in the world with such a holistic approach to team excellence.’

Although England had a reasonable supply of young players with handicaps of 5, 6 and 7 for high-goal competitions, John says, ‘they lacked the opportunity to gain enough high-goal experience in our short 22-goal season.’ So, as international chairman, he first experimented with a grant of £5,000 to England player Tom Morley to help him spend the winter months in Argentina. This led to the HPA’s present formal programme of subsidising pros from the England squad, up to £10,000 each for several players training and playing at a higher level in Argentina. ‘This has paid off,’ says John, ‘with England players increasing their handicaps – and winning tournaments in Argentina.’

In 2008 England teams won seven of their eight internationals at home and abroad, playing at different handicap levels against Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Italy and a Southeast Asia squad in Thailand. In the 8-goal European Championship of the Federation of International Polo (FIP) in Germany, England swept the boards.

For John, however, the culmination of his 10 years leading the HPA’s international efforts came this year when England defeated the USA in a revival of the Westchester Cup rivalry, the oldest and most famous of all contests between countries, dating back to 1886 (see The Action, page 48).

‘When the US Polo Association (USPA) issued the challenge,’ John said, ‘we responded with enthusiasm. Julian Hipwood, who was a 9-goal player and England captain for 20 years before he moved to the States, agreed to act as our master of horse and did a great job sourcing ponies in Florida together with our team members through their contacts with other players there. The Ganzis (prominent American team patrons) were particularly generous in offering mounts.

‘Our whole support team made the trip. So did David Woodd, the HPA’s chief executive, along with our current chairman, Nicholas Colquhoun-Denvers, and three former chairmen: me, Mark Vestey and John Tylor.

‘I don’t want to take anything away from our American hosts,’ says John Tinsley, ‘but it was obvious that the HPA is light years ahead in the way we approach international competitions and the support we give our teams. It was a great day and a tribute to those who have worked hard to put England at the forefront of international competition.’