Fitting Finale

The 2007 Senior Schools Arena Championships took place on Sunday 18th March at Longdole Polo Club. The competition was a fitting finale to the SUPA Arena polo season. Both divisions were keenly anticipated as the teams were all so closely matched. The standard of play was excellent - it was fast yet controlled and very entertaining to watch. The players, coaches, managers and ponies are all to be congratulated on achieving this. Also we must thank Bridget and Christopher Hanbury for the use of their wonderful arena which is really conducive to excellent play.

Division Two “kicked” off the event and the matches were all closely contested - several with only one goal deciding the result or the match having to go to “sudden death” penalties. Great for the spectators but not, I suspect, so much fun for the parents or managers! The final was between Harrow (Harry Wentworth -Stanley, Bertie Cayzer and Ed Gall ) and Hurstpierpoint (Sam and Ben Ventham and Dan Rawlins). Harrow had got better and better over the day and Hurstpierpoint found it hard to contain the Harrow boys who played excellent team polo. Harrow won the Division Two final convincingly.

It was then the turn of Millfield (Saffron Hutchinson, Fifi Watson and Jack Tucker) and Sherborne (George Franklin, Freddie Horne and Patrick Selfe) to do battle for the 2007 Arena Championships. To get to the Final both teams had had very close matches in their semi-finals- Millfield squeezing past Cheltenham College 2-1 and Sherborne sneaking through to beat Wellington 4-3. Both Millfield and Sherborne were well-drilled teams consisting of skillful arena polo players. Unfortunately for Sherborne, Millfield came into the final on a “high” and were not going to be dislodged from top spot. Freddie Horne was the pick of Sherborne marshaling his troops very well with George Franklin and Patrick Selfe working hard for him. Saffron Hutchinson and Fifi Watson for Millfield were everywhere in attack and defence and gave no quarter to their male adversaries. Jack Tucker was the lynch pin around whom the girls worked. In earlier rounds, he was there in defence and set up attacks and in the final scored several goals as well. Millfield were the winners by 5 goals to 2 and duly became the 2007 National Senior Schools Arena Champions.

The SUPA Arena season has been successful due to many people. We thank the Hanburys for allowing us to come to Longdole and Rob and Sue Cudmore and their staff for all their hard work. We say a big thank you to Tony and Jilly Emerson of SATS, our sponsors, for all the wonderful prizes that they awarded. Also to The Worshipful Company of Saddlers who sponsor our cups. Also to , the prestigious make-up company who sponsor the Girls' Tournament. Tournaments don’t happen without excellent umpires (Dan Banks and Glen Henderson) and efficient timekeepers and scorers (Pam Cowley and Jilly Emerson). Without programmes everyone would be in the dark (!) so thank-you to Caroline Ralph of The Cheltenham Ladies' College for creating and printing the programmes. Rowan Medical provide our paramedic cover and we really like it when all that they have to do is sit and watch the polo. Kerry Maxwell (www.kerrymaxwell.com) has taken many excellent shots of the action, so do look on her web site and buy some photos! Charles Whittington not only provided us with an informed and lively commentary on this Sunday’s matches, but he works hard behind the scenes creating the draws and chukka lists and putting them on the web site so that everyone knows what is going on.

So thank you to everyone involved with all the tournaments, not least the young players themselves who are a great advertisement for school polo.

SUPA looks forward to seeing you on grass in the summer.

Kate Beim