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Schools and Universities
Polo Association
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2006
NATIONAL SENIOR SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS REPORT
2nd July 2006, RLS Polo Club
A record entry of 23 school teams (only the first teams of each school
may enter this tournament) arrived at the RLS Polo Club on Sunday 2nd
July 2006 to compete in The National Schools Polo Championships. Our
thanks go to Dr. Dallas Burston and his wife Sally Anne for allowing us
to use the grounds and to Matias and Vicky Ballesteros , Jan Wood
and the RLS staff for their hard work in helping to organise the event.
Several schools were new to the Championships and had travelled from
afar- Queen Ethelburgas from York and Bryanston from Dorset. The play
was of an exceptionally high standard and as always every chukka was
fiercely contested. The 1st Division who played 2 chukka matches with
handicaps boasted –4 to +1 teams. Division 2 and 3 had –5 to –8 teams
pitted against each other playing 1 chukka matches “off the
stick”.
Excellent polo was played in Division 3 with good spirit and
sportsmanship being displayed. Shrewsbury and Uppingham made it to the
Final. Uppingham ( Alice Parsons, Edward Foster, Johnnie Keymer and
Joshua Clover) squeezed past Shrewsbury by 2 goals to 1 and took the
Division 3 title.
In Division 2 every chukka was a close encounter. Bloxham and
Marlborough came through to contest the Final. Both teams scored and so
the result had to be decided by a “run down”. Marlborough (Matilda
Woodd, James Cooper, Oliver Powell and James Jennings) won this and
received The Millfield Schools Trophy as winners of Division 2.
In Division 1 a league system was run to decide who should contest the
final placings. All these initial games showed the skill, commitment,
bravery and high standard of all the school players involved. This was
a testament to all the schools and their polo managers for the time and
effort they put into the polo programmes at their schools.
The Plate competition was a round robin tournament involving
Radley,Millfield and Stowe. Radley ( Edward and Giles Bromley-Martin,
Edmund Parsons and Josh Nimmo) beat the other 2 schools and so were
presented with The Malvern College Schools Polo Trophy as winners of
the Division 1 Plate competition.
Third and fourth places were contested for by Sherborne School and Eton
College. Sherborne had been playing fast , flowing polo all tournament
and proved too strong for the Eton team, although they put up a good
fight and gave a good account of themselves.
The Final was between Cheltenham College (Toby Smith, Tom Meyrick,
Ollie Cudmore and Max Lopez-Valido) and Harrow (Ed Gall, Jack
Richardson, Richard Le Poer and James Jackson-Stop).These two school
teams had met in the final last year - so could Harrow gain revenge?
The match proved to be a “cat and mouse” affair with everybody marking
everybody else and few breaks being made. Cheltenham College managed to
score one goal over their opponents and were crowned The National
Champions for the third year in a row, which is a great achievement.
Cheltenham College were the receipients of the Schools Polo Challenge
Trophy. Harrow were the hard working yet unlucky runners up. A new cup
was presented this year called the Duvall Cup for commitment to polo.
This was presented to Frederica Bergren from Heathfield School. Billy
Jackson-Stop of Stowe was voted by the umpires as the Most Sporting
Player. The Worshipful Company of Saddlers prize for the Best Girl in
the Tournament went to Fifi Watson of Millfield. The Cheltenham Ladies'
College Cup for the Most Promising Player of the Tournament went
to Michael Goodwill of Queen Ethelburgas. Brook Bishop of Sherborne was
voted as the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament and was presented
with The Worshipful Company of Saddlers Cup. The Horse Head Trophy for
the Best Playing Pony went to Cheltenham College Ollie Cudmore’s pony
Pampita.
Finally many thanks are due to the numerous people who helped the
tournament run smoothly- The Burstons and RLS Polo Club, the umpires,
timekeepers, scorers, Rugby School for providing goal judges,
Cheltenham Ladies' College for setting up and printing all our
programmes this year ,the paramedics, the horse ambulance , the
caterers and Michael Chevis who took many superb shots of the day (www.michaelchevis.com). In
particular though , we would like to our sponsors-
SATS, Roxtons and The Worshipful Company of Saddlers.
Division 1
1.Cheltenham College- Winners of The Schools Challenge Polo Trophy
2.Harrow
3.Sherborne
4.Eton
Plate- Division 1
1.Radley- Winners of The Malvern Schools Polo Trophy
2.Millfield
3.Stowe
Division 2
1.Marlborough- winners of The Millfield Schools Polo Trophy
2.Bloxham
3.Milton Abbey
4.Queen Ethelburgas
5.Oakham
6.Bryanston
7.St. Marys, Calne
8.Rugby
Division 3
1.Uppingham
2.Shrewsbury
3.Pangbourne
4.Wycombe Abbey
5.Heathfield
6.Cheltenham Ladies' College
7.Godolphin and Latymer
8.Luckley- Oakfield
THE SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES POLO ASSOCIATION Bolebrook Wood Farm, Edenbridge Road, Hartfield, East Sussex, TN7
4JJ
Telephone: 01892 770591; Fax: 01892 770899;
Email:
info@supa.org.uk
