The crowd’s silence speaks volumes in Buenos Aires’ unparalleled polo scene
The Palm Beach Post
Saturday, Dec. 8, 2007

By ANDREW MARRA
Special to The Palm Beach Post

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Traffic and trains are blowing by, and the towers that dominate this sprawling metropolis loom on each side.

But under a blazing Saturday afternoon sun, more than 10,000 people sit hushed with all the prudence of a tennis crowd. And for a pair of peaceful hours in this oasis of green space, there is little but the sound of hooves and mallets.
 
It’s high polo season in Buenos Aires, and the 114th annual Argentine Open - the world’s most prestigious polo tournament - has attracted thousands of the world’s fanatics to this Parisian-styled capital.

They come from around the globe, from the United States and Canada, from England and Australia. And dozens each year from Palm Beach County.

Each weekend they crowd into the city’s most famous polo center, the celebrated Catedral de Polo, or Polo Cathedral, a pair of pristine fields in the city’s Palermo district that nearly resemble soccer stadiums because of their large seating capacity.

Outside the stadium they sip champagne and nibble on sushi, mixing with Argentine models and business executives, TV personalities and soccer stars. On lazy weeknights they hit the city’s famous parrillas, or steakhouses, gorging on Argentine beef and Malbec wine.

But in the stands, amid the casts of thousands, the socializing all but stops when the first ball is tossed out. More than anything, people are here to watch polo, a fact the crowd’s silence all but screams.

“In Palm Beach and in the States people go for the social aspect,” said Ryan Roy, 28, a Canadian professional show jumper who often competes in Wellington. “Here you go to watch polo. You have thousands of people all here for the same reason: to watch polo. Not to have their picture taken.”

Argentina’s three Triple Crown tournaments (the Argentine Open is the last and most important) are a polo purist’s heaven. The high season’s final match, scheduled for today, culminates 21/2 months of full-out war among the world’s top players.

These tournaments are where the world’s best players, almost exclusively Argentines, battle to make their name - guaranteeing lucrative offers to play during the rest of the year for teams in the U.S., England and even the Middle East.

Though the Argentine tournaments are not as financially profitable from a player’s perspective, they are without question the most competitive. The teams are stacked with elite players, raising the level of play beyond anything to be found in the U.S. or Europe.

It’s this fact that brings Wellington polo regulars to Buenos Aires each year.

“In Palm Beach you get to watch the great players,” said John Fulton, a member at Wellington’s International Polo Club who splits his time between Palm Beach County and Buenos Aires. “But it’s never a (high-rated) team. Here, any player on the team can pull off an incredible play.”

All professional polo players are given an official handicap, with 10 “goals” being the highest rating reserved for a few of the world’s elite.

Major U.S. tournaments limit the total goal rating a team can have. At the U.S. Open in Wellington, for instance, the sum of a four-player team’s handicaps cannot exceed 26 goals.

In the Argentine Triple Crown events, there are no such limits. The elite teams have ratings of anywhere from 34 to 39 goals, with 40 being the highest possible.

The result is twofold: higher competition and a polo scene that balances the social and sporting aspects in a way less likely to be found stateside.

To illustrate the point last Saturday, Stacey Hetherington, Fulton’s wife and fellow polo fanatic, pointed to her outfit. She attended an Argentine Open semifinal match in jeans and a tank top - and didn’t feel at all out of place in the stands amid the Buenos Aires elite.

“I would never go to polo like this at home,” she said.

That’s not to say the Argentine polo scene isn’t muy fashion.

A stroll down the main sidewalk between the two fields is a study in chic: Polo paintings on exhibit in an outdoor art gallery. Pricey polo jerseys and hats on sale at a wood-floored saddlery. Peugeot 507 Coupes on display on the lawn.

A few beautiful-people types shrug off the game entirely and spend the afternoon sipping champagne in one of the polo complex’s restaurants.

Actor and part-time Wellington resident Tommy Lee Jones, who also plays polo, is spotted in the stands some weekends. Buenos Aires’ vice mayor is in attendance another day.

Ignacio “Nacho” Figueras, a Ralph Lauren model and professional player himself, is milling about. So too Ivan De Pineda, one of Latin America’s top models. Society photographers snap away.

Adolfo Cambiaso, the undisputed Michael Jordan of polo, typifies the sport’s image with his model wife, Maria Vazquez, who lingers near the sidelines as he gallops across the field.

But lovers of the sport are quick to observe that Argentine polo has broader appeal among the country’s middle class than its American counterpart.

The sport, while far less popular here than soccer, tennis or even basketball, is enjoyed and closely followed by thousands who would never move in the same elite circles as the typical fan in America or Europe.

During each weekend of tournament play, thousands plunk down 15 or 30 pesos (roughly $5 or $10, respectively) for the polo center’s cheapest seats. Hundreds more simply watch through the fence from the road.

“And they know the game,” Fulton said. “That’s the thing about Argentina. The general population knows the game of polo.”

No less impressive is the quality of the Argentine fields.

Michael Brown, former general manager of the International Polo Club in Wellington, visited Buenos Aires last month and toured the three sites where Argentina’s Triple Crown tournaments are played.

“I’d have to say they’re the top fields in the world,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to see such attention to a field. You can tell that the Argentines’ commitment to the sport is just unparalleled.”

The world’s great players are no strangers to Palm Beach County. Some of the biggest names - Cambiaso, Facundo Pieres and Augustin Merlos, for instance - are regulars in Wellington during the spring polo season.

But Buenos Aires is where they make their bones.

In this metropolitan area of 12.5 million, the 10th-largest on the planet, they battle for golden trophies and Triple Crown glory while the world comes to watch.