kneppcastlepoloclub

The Season kicked off a little earlier than planned due to the fabulous weather we have been having. Chukkas were played up at Coolham where those who were not playing enjoyed watching a buck or two!

This week beginning Monday 18th April we will be playing chukkas Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Monday with the first unofficial tournament the following weekend (Saturday 30th - Monday 2nd)

 

The 2011 Polo Season is only weeks away with the weather looking great for the summer. The grounds are being prepared with all the hard work over the winter months really paying off. With the sunny spell we have just had the grass is really starting to shoot both Chris and the tractor are being kept on their toes!

Dates for the Diary: First chukkas are on Saturday 16^th April and the first Official Tournament is the 8goal 27^th-30^th May.

Well the grass is finally nearing the end of its Autumn Flush but having put a lot of fertiliser over all the grounds come spring they really will flourish and be in great shape for April.

Two Members of the Club have been living it up in Argentina playing high goal. Lanto Sheridan and Jack Richardson have had a taster of the 18-22 goal Polo, so hopefully this is an insight into the not too distant future...Gold Cup maybe???

 

With an entry of ten teams, the final tournament of the season was the one to win. The first final on Sunday saw local team Goringlee take on the up-and-coming youngsters of Locksley. Ollie Pritchard and Jamie Scott making their debut in the world of polo shared a space in the Locksley team and they defiantly didn't let the side down playing with their brothers Charlie Scott and Chris Pritchard. Goringlee had a fantastic start to the tournament coming back from 6-1 down against Pluma Negra to win 10-9. Unfortunately on the Sunday the Goringlee team suffered from the post End of season Dinner Blues and Locksley were there to take the trophy.

The Second Final of the day was fast and furious with both pros from Los Bandidos and Bakers batteling it out from end to end, but unluckily for Bakers the goals kept going wide. Some great team play from Katy Bernard and James Purvis saw the Los Bandidos team stride ahead once again and even the reliant backhands from Mark Burrell could not halt the relentless attack from Los Bandidos coming out winners 10-4 and winning the scrumptious chocolate from sponsors Cocoa Loco.

The End of Season awards held at local pub The Crown Inn was fantastic. Warren Scotts' team Grange came out on top for the Team of the Season. Jack Ashton won Most Improved Member and Ned Armstrong from Somerton received the U21 Cup.

All in all the 2010 season was a huge success and we look forward to 2011 for some more action packed polo.

Last week the Smith and Williamson 2 goal got underway with an entry of eight teams, including a sponsoring team all the way from Dorset. All teams played on the Friday with the Smith and Williamson team narrowly losing to Hoes Farm, ROK Energy beating Bremont, Hayman Negra beating TLC and Bakers just losing out to Grange.

Saturday saw the semis and sub semis. First up was Bremont vs. TLC in a game that ended up going into extra time. Bremont's Bud Sorby clinched the game not long after the fifth chukka started. The second game was ROK Energy vs. Hayman Negra which was also close and went to an extra thirty seconds when Jack Richardson scored from the lineout in the last seconds to take his team into the final. The third game was between Hoes Farm and Grange. Grange never really looked like loosing this game despite the hard efforts of the Hoes team. Grange went through to the final with quite a convincing score line. The final game of the day was between the sponsors and Bakers Farm in which Bakers captain Caio Sorzana had a brilliant game scoring four out of five penalties among numerous field goals. Despite playing really well, the young Smith and Williamson team could not overcome their opposition.

The finals took place on the Lake ground in front of a large crowd. The first game of the day was the final between ROK Energy and Grange. Both teams had to put out substitutes. Grange's Charlie Scott was replaced by Dan Rawlins and ROK's Jack Richardson by Lanto Sheridan. ROK were first onto the scoreboard with a great individual goal by Ralph Richardson taking the ball from one end of the field to the other. Grange weren't far behind them despite a couple of early misses from the penalty spot. ROK looked stronger throughout most of the game but Grange came back strong in the last chukka with some great team play and managed to level the scores. It looked as though an extra chukka would be needed but right before the final bell Ed Winterton picked up a pass from teammate David Morley and scored a fantastic goal winning his team the game. Ed Winterton picked up the Most Valuable Player award and Lanto Sheridan's Tornado won the Best Playing Pony prize sponsored by Falcon Feeds.

The biggest 6 goal of the year got underway last week at Knepp Castle with an entry of 4 teams. Games began on Saturday on the Coolham ground with the Richardson based team, ROK Energy taking on Silver Fox, Patroned by Parke Bradley. The game was extremely close to begin with as both teams scored a run away field goal and a penalty within the first few minutes. The game carried on much the same until the last Chukka when ROK began to pull away and eventually win the game by two goals earning them a place in the final. The second game took place on the Sunday afternoon and saw Robert Van Den Bergh's Pluma Negra play Sciurus Walking with the Wounded. Sciurus started the game strongly and were quick to score. It didn't take long for Pluma to retaliate scoring a couple of nice penalties. The game remained quite close until the fourth chukka when Sciurus outplayed their opponents and booked a place in the final.

The finals took place on the Lake ground on the Monday in front of over four hundred people. The first game was the final and was being played for the Sotheby's and Lycetts trophy. ROK Energy had an awesome start to the game with Jack Richardson flying up and down the field. By half time the score was 5 - 1 to ROK leaving Sciurus with a lot to do in the second half. Sciurus came back hard with new tactics that definitely worked. With forty seconds left on the clock Sciurus had managed to pull the score back to 5 - 5. It looked as though it would go to extra chukka but ROK were awarded a forty yard penalty which was converted by Jack and won them the game. Horse Charity ROR were there awarding the best playing pony prize which was given to Jack Richardson's Elliebow, an eight year old grey mare that was played in the first chukka.

The second game was played for the Savills Trophy between the other two teams Pluma Negra and Silver Fox. Silver Fox started strongly and were first to score with great team play from brothers Caio and Bauti Sorzana. Pluma managed to score a few goals but were very unlucky in front of goal. Despite the score being close at half time, the final score was 7 - 4 to Silver Fox.