The Grand National

Playing the 14 goal International League is a huge ask in terms of horses and organisation, not to mention playing skill and team-work. We had someone pull out of the team, leaving us 10 horses short. That is half the number of horses we had. Each team is allowed 20 ponies to be registered for the tournament. All other teams have filled their quota. We kept on going to try not to mess up the tournament. We beg, stole and borrowed and have about 16 playing ponies now, including an RSPC school pony called Nellie.

There were other issues: team name change to Premier Pitch, jerseys (we used Hookahs jerseys), fitness of ponies, playing style and teamwork, gelling as a team, losing to Thailand Polo in our first match, losing more horse to lameness and injury…

My partner in the Premier Pitch polo team likens it to riding the Grand National: 30 huge fences. Despite the huge hurdles, we have kept kicking and kept going. Yesterday, in beating La Sarita 8 1/2 - 8, we felt like we had got past the Canal Turn. Our progress in the tournament will be determined today by the outcome of the BRDB vs Ranhill Polo match. If either team gets a result, they should go through to the semi-finals. We are hoping they draw, in case Premier Pitch would get a spot in the last four.

We are still six fences from home, but we are still kicking and hanging on, hoping to get to the finish line.

Having Fun in 14 Goals

This morning I am playing with Dato’ Brian Miller in his Premier Pitch polo team in the Royal Selangor International League Tournament. This weekend’s matches have been shifted from Royal Selangor to Putrajaya because of a rain-soaked ground in Ampang. (For more information on this please hit http://www.rspc.org.my/news/news_body.php?id=95.)

I played in the 12 to 14 goal tournaments last season, but it is actually the first time I am playing an RMPA International League match. The RMPA Polo Leagues were started in 2005 and I played in the National League (4 to 6 goals) in 2005 and 2006. (I am playing there again this year with the Rebels team.) While I played in the 12 to 14 goal series last year, there was actually no league.

Brian and I will have +7 Juan Agustin Garcia Grossi and +4 Andres James as our professionals. Agustin played for El Paraiso in the Argentine Open last year, so he is considered one of Argentina’s rising stars.

Our team is rather makeshift on horses though. New teams are always short on horsepower. You don’t really know which ones are really up to 14 goals till you try to take them a step up. We are playing for fun, and to learn how to get better as a team. Isn’t that what it is all about?

RM100,000 Raised for RDA Malaysia

The target has been met. RM100,000 has been raised for RDA Malaysia by the Hookahs Polo Tournament 2008. We were going to come up just short at RM97,500 but when one auction buyer heard this, he very generously topped up the balance to make it an even RM100K. Pretty magnificent.

Everyone who has been involved in the tournament deserves congratulations, from the polo players who accepted the entry fee and conditions, the RDA Ladies, Club Staff, the Tournament Organising Committee, all donors, purchasers of lucky dip, raffle tickets and auction items, and even those who just attended the event. Everyone contributed to making this a special event.

The Hookahs Polo Tournament merited a 5 minute mention on NTV7’s Breakfast Show on Tuesday morning. I was interviewed as a organiser, and some of the players. I’ll try to get the DVD and make it available on Equestrian.Com.My.

Really Happy Hookahs Auction raises RM76,500

We are now known as the Really Happy Hookahs as the Hookahs Auction alone raised RM76,500 for RDA Malaysia. The nine lots were sold in quick order by polo commentator John Bell, who showed off his auctioneering skills.

The RM76,500 raised in the auction far exceeded last year’s amount of RM42,000 from 10 lots.  A total of RM68,000 was raised for RDA Malaysia at last year’s Hookahs Polo Tournament.  With the excellent results at the auction last night, the  Happy Hookahs are bound to exceed that this year.

Congratulations to everyone who was involved in putting this auction together, especially Sandra Cooper and the RDA Ladies, and the Happy Hookahs who also sponsored the night’s dinner.

With income from the sale of dinner tickets, raffles, lucky dip and outright donations, the Hookahs hope the tournament will hit the RM100,000 target of donations to RDA Malaysia.

A Great Explanation of Polo

Polo Wives

Someone sent me this poem. I don’t know the poet or its origin, but it is too good not to share with you.

Polo Wives

Polo Wives - O Polo Wives
Ours are truly dreadful lives
We fly around from ground to ground
To try to keep their ponies sound
We sit and shiver in the stand
A precious stick in frozen hand
If ponies cost just slightly less
I might have had a nice warm dress.

Look - he’s missed it - O dear me
Now he’s hit the ponies knee
As none of them can hit the ball
I wonder why we’re here at all.
A broken stick - I try to run,
“Not that you fool - a fifty one ! ”

He says the Umpire should be shot
I’d like to shoot the flipping lot
The game is lost; they mostly are
The men have vanished to the bar
O pity us poor polo wives
We really lead most dreary lives

Reply:

We love you dearly, polo wives
It’s due to you the game survives
So slog away and tend the fire
You’ll get that dress
When we retire!

Happy Hookahs

The Hookahs tournament just keeps growing.  It’s not just about the 43 players who are entered.  The social events are just as important, if not more so.  The list of prizes for the auction, raffle, lucky dips and treading-in is very impressive.  The Hawaiian Nite dinner has had so much interest that we have extended the number to 300 pax, which bigger than any catered event we have ever had at RSPC.  If you haven’t got your tickets yet, you’d better hurry…

Yesterday we got the news that TV3 is interested in covering the event.  Not bad for a little ole 2-goal polo tournament.

Colour by numbers

I’ve had a thing for old sports cars ever since I got my first MG at the age of 19. It was an 1963 MG Midget that I drove for a couple of years before landing it on it’s side one late night. When I went to university in Canada, I bought an MGB complete with snow tyres and drove her all through the winters. In the 90’s I had a short-lived MGB GT too.

My radio DJ friend PK got a great deal on an old ‘B’ which he bought and started to restore. After doing a some work on the engine, he decided it was time to get rid of the faded old cream colour. So he went to a choose a new colour for his beloved B without his wife. This was a mistake in itself, but when you are colour blind, it borders on disaster. He chose what he thought was a “Ferrari Red” colour.

This is what he got. When I saw it I said “Wow, it’s orange.” PK was pretty devastated when I called it orange. Which of course is quite funny if you aren’t PK. He half-heartedly insisted it was “Ferrari Dino Red” and is possibly hoping it will get redder as the days go by.

The moral of the story is that you should always let your wife choose the colour of your car. The reverse, of course, should be said when you choose the colour of your horse.