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Your views – letters
Jubilee high-jinks for Ghanaian José
Hooked young Sir, I have attached some photos I shot at the St Regis Test Match in late May. The game was between England and the USA, and played at Cowdray Park Polo Club’s Ambersham ground, Brooksfield. England won. It was the first full game I have ever watched and I absolutely loved every minute. Olivia Haworth (aged 10), Bagshot [See also page 50]
Charity climb Sir, I would like to challenge your readers to climb the aweinspiring Mount Kilimanjaro to help save lives from meningitis. Like polo, “The Big Trek” to the highest point in Africa (5,895 meters) promises to be adrenelin-fuelled. It takes place from 17-27 January, and I invite you to contact me to take part. Liz Gough, Meningitis UK – 0117 303 3343
When Prince Charles visited Ghana in 1977 as part of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations, a polo match was organised in his honour. As the only Englishman with an eligible handicap (a modest zero), I was selected to play on his side. The game went without incident until José Beckley, a young Ghanaian, tried to ride off the Prince. Prince Charles maintained his line. And so José came in for a second attempt. At the third attempt, Prince Charles used
El Sadig Musa, Michael Camm, Prince Charles and Pucci Fileppi in Ghana in 1977
an Anglo Saxon expression that contains a four letter word – which I believe starts with an “F” – and supplemented it with the word “Off ”.
An ashen-faced José withdrew. The game went to extra time and José, recovering his composure, wreaked his revenge by scoring the winning goal. Now aged 71, having gone on to enjoy 14 happy years playing at Cheshire Polo Club at the end of the last millennium, I am still playing polo. I get full marks for consistency, as my handicap is still zero. Too late to improve? Michael Camm, via email
Four-goaler Philip pulls rank at Guards Sir, you asked for polo reminiscences of the royal family, and so I wondered if the following tale from 1963, when Prince Philip was a competitive four-goal player, might be relevant. As a young officer at that time, I was playing at Guards Polo Club on one of their hirelings (£5.00 a chukka!), when my pony hit one of my opponents, absolutely enfilade. The next thing I knew, the rider was lying spreadeagled on his back, and a torrent of explosive rhetoric was being hurled in my direction. At which point, the
umpire – General Pert – rode up to me and explained that “His Royal Highness has committed the most terrible foul against you, but he is rather more senior than you”. Whereupon he blew the whistle against me! A few years later, I was an ADC to the Governor of Tasmania, when Prince Philip came on a visit to Hobart, and we – the staff – were lined up to meet him in the hall of Government House. HRH came down the line, and stopped opposite me. “Don’t I know you?” he asked. “Yes Sir”, I
rather sheepishly replied. “I knocked you off your horse”. To which he exclaimed, “Yes, so you did!” Decades on, I was at a reception at the Cavalry and Guards Club in 2010 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Guards Club, when I was introduced to HRH, and reminded him of his involuntary dismount. Quick as a flash, and to the merriment of all, he asked “And were you sent to jail?!” John Drummond Moray, Crieff, Scotland
Life begins at 40 in Germany, though not for the Veterans Sir, the Deutscher Polo Verband (DPV) – the equivalent of the HPA in Germany – held a tournament recently at Polo Club Bayern Holzkirchen Thann, near Munich, to celebrate the association’s 40th birthday. We arrived in glorious weather on the Friday (11 May). However, evidently it doesn’t only rain on the parade in England and, in the event, Saturday’s polo was cancelled and, sadly, there was a curtailed programme on the Sunday. This meant the Veterans’ Cup fell victim to the 30
Polo Times, July 2012
PT p28-31 Letters JM MB PJ.indd 4
weather but the other main tournaments, including the 6-goal Bucherer Polo Cup, went ahead on a reduced basis. The accompanying photograph shows the teams for the Veterans’ Cup at the prize giving during the party on the Saturday evening, the smiles of many of us revealing plainly that the more elderly players were actually pleased not to be playing in the conditions. Polo in Germany continues to flourish and the DPV maintains close contact with the HPA, not least as part of their umpiring
programme. We wish them well for the future and as they move on to the next milestone. Brigadier Arthur Douglas-Nugent, Midhurst
Veteran players (l-r in the back row): Brigadier Arthur Douglas-Nugent, Clemens von Wedel, Major Hugh Pierson, Dr Cornelius Grupp, Colonel David Woodd, Wolf Jage and Freiherr Hans-Albrecht von Maltzahn, with (l-r in the front row) Dr Günther Kiesel, Theo Kersche, Dietmar Kirsch and Helmut Seidel
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21/06/2012 13:57