VII French Open

Glamour” and “charme”, French words that are very often closely related to polo. Much more so in France. But the National championship in that country poses two paradoxes in this regard: in the first place, the tournament has only been played seven times, despite the tradition of this sport in that country, and secondly, glamour and charm, even though they are present there, seem over-shadowed by the criollo atmosphere. Or rather, the

Argentine atmosphere.

Mate, berret, alpargata. Such gaucho items on either side of the Chantilly polo fields. Chantilly, a name that recalls la crème de la crème . This doesn’t mean that the French Open has lost its sophistication and refinement there, but those characteristics seem to be losing ground in favour of the Argentineness of players and grooms, as compared, for example, to the top tournaments in England, not so far from there, but very far from the South American country.

But of course, the Argentine influence over the greatest Gallic polo tournament is not restricted to the side of the field. The Argentines, as everywhere else, were the main protagonists of what happened on the different fields. And as may be expected, they did away with the Championship title. Although it could also be said that the title of Champion did not do away with them.

The Club

The scenario of the French Open is one of those that turn polo into a special sport. There are nine fields distributed over the 250 enchanting hectares belonging to the Polo Club Du Domaine, which means something like the “Polo Country Club”. Very restrictive in its construction code, it is located in Chantilly, a district of about 10,000 inhabitants, very peaceful; ideal for a family in search of peace and quiet. For those seeking more activity, they have only to travel for half an hour to be in Paris. For those needing a quick connection with other countries, the Charles De Gaulle airport–the main airport in France–is close by. And for those who love horses, not only polo ponies, the Chantilly race course, one of the most important in France, is ten minutes away.

The club belongs to Patrick Guerrand-Hermès, president of the Federation of International Polo (F.I.P.), and hosted the World Cup of up to 14 goals in 2004, for which no Argentine team qualified. It’s emblem of identification is the “Ferme D’Apremont”, which is the farm of Apremont. Its polo fields have a lot of clay and, as in England and contrary to what occurs in Argentina, they improve the more it rains because the ground is hard.

Even though there is a lot of low handicap (4 to 8 goals) activity, with this championship, which brought together 8 teams of 13 to 14 goals and a few more of this same level, the club has placed itself among the four main clubs in the country, together with Deauville (that hosts the Gold Cup with teams from 18 to 20 goals), Bagatelle (the Paris Open is held there, in the Bois de Boulogne, and where the French Tennis Open is held at Roland Garros) and Saint-Tropez (in the South).

The Tournament

The competition took place with a new main sponsor, the prestigious Hermès (belonging to the club owner’s family) among others, and very good general organization. Naturally the event was enriched by the best local players: Brieuc Rigaux, Thierry Vétois and Clément and Matthieu Delfosse, all competitive professionals who, in order to progress in this sport, are sent by their National federations to play for one month in the year to Argentina, where their stay is made easier by their fluency in Spanish. And in relation to the Main Polo Nation on the planet, there were 15 representatives (14 regular team members): Francisco Bensadón, Guillermo Willington, Tomás Goti, Darío Musso, Martín Aguerre, Fernando Reynot Blanco, Juan and Clemente (grandson) Zavaleta, Pablo Guiñazú, Pablo and Martín Sirvent, Sebastián Petracchi, Marcos Mocoroa, Martín Donovan and Matías Columbres as stand-by.
It is only fair to say that we are talking here of a medium goal tournament, much less ambitious, with less tension and power than the big circuits abroad like the United States and England. Most patrons take part in the competition for the fun of it rather than to win, and prefer the professionals they hire to pass the ball on to them even if it’s not as effective for the team, instead of allowing them to monopolize the game and risk less. The atmosphere in general is very good natured, cordial, rather than demanding. Almost like polo among friends.

There are two team owners, specifically, whose priority it is to win. One is Philippe Fatien, from Castel, and the other, André Fabre, from In The Wings. The latter, in turn, trains racehorses. And of the good kind. He travels to Dubai where some of the most important horse races in the world are run. As a polo player he plays a 0 rating, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t aspire to more. He and Fatien are, in fact, the only patrons in this championship who provide their hired professionals with ponies, which is becoming increasingly rare in polo. And above all, it is they who generally win the French Open Cup.

2007 was no exception. Their teams came up against ea

ch other in the final after two good semi-finals. In the first, Castel (14 goals), with Gaétan Charloux (3), Mocoroa (4), Willington (7) and Fatien (0), played a rather individualistic game, based on Temy Willington’s skill, against Tres Marías (14) with Hugues Morin (0), Juan (6) y Clemente (n.) Zavaleta (4) and Vétois (4), who displayed team-work which was much nicer to watch, in particular in the Zavaletas’s case. But in that duel of styles, not always the nicest to watch is the most efficient, and success went to Castel by very little: 8-7. The other semi-final brought together In The Wings (14), with Pierre-Henri N’Goumou (3), Donovan (3), Bensadón (8) and Fabre (0), and the Swiss team, Marquard Media (14, with Thomas Rinderknecht (0), Aguerre (6), Goti (7) and Albéric De Coulange (1). Victory went to the first team again by a small margin: 9-7.

Out of those four last matches that were the most important, only the match in which the third position was at stake ended on a marked difference: 10-7 in favor of Tres Marías over Marquard Media, where they won the Hermès cup.
The final of the VII French Open took place on the same day as the famous Diane Hermès Grand Prix, at the race-track close by. The much less publicized polo venue (when compared to that of the horse race), was attended by 2,500 spectators who watched the final that was less attractive than the semi-final. Naturally: the two most self-obliged-to-win candidates met, and sacrificed style in favour of efficiency. So there was a clash between Pancho Bensadón and Temy Wellington, the main fighters for the ball. The latter ended up in the lead almost as a prize for having shared the ball a little more with his mates than his rival.

There was the risk–almost the fear–that the less skilled forwards should lose the ball, but Castel was more disposed to take the risk and was compensated, as occurred with Mocoroa’s three goals. In fact, Fatien’s team didn’t do well during the greater part of the game, because In The Wings was winning 7-5 at the end of the fourth and one-but-last chukka. But Bensadón missed some penalty shots, even one at 40 yards, at decisive moments, instead of allowing his reliable team mate Pierre N’Goumou to do so, and they had to contend with Gaètan Charloux in the last chukka, where he made two of his total three, added to a goal by Wellington, which put the score at 8-7. Thus Castel retained the trophy it had won in 2006, won at the time thanks to a goal by Pancho Bensadón.

The Heguy’s cousin, who despite having lost the match was the most outstanding player in the 2007 competition, was not the only previous winner of this tournament. In 2004 Willington himself had won it playing for Castel, who that year was defending its title successfully which it had won twelve months before with another Argentine, Matías Mac Donough. What’s more, Philippe Fatien’s team never lost a final of this tournament.

 “It was very tough and very even. We were doing well, and half way through the game we seemed to sink into an endless pit. After that we started crawling out . It’s incredible. This title is very important to me”, said Wellington happily. Born in Entre Ríos and raised polo-wise in 25 de Mayo (like the Aguerre brothers and Lucas Monteverde) he is now Ellerstina’s standby in the Argentine Triple Crown.

After every French Open there is an exhibition match between a French and an Indian, Pakistani or Morroccan team. This is a classic, related to the international links created by Guerrand-Hermès as President of the F.I.P., and this time it again took place Lastly there was the party; that celebration that is commonly held at the end of any important championship abroad. It is as common as seeing one or more Argentines on the podium raising the cup after having displayed outstandingly. In part, thanks to their feeling about polo. Because, as a French journalist said, they are “truly passionate” about this sport. And when one does anything with passion…