Joe Barry Memorial Trophy

The longest season in the world (almost three and a half months), organized wholly by the Palm Beach International Polo Club belonging to patron John Goodman and located in Wellington, Florida, included two competitions for teams of up to 22 goals and the Triple Crown of up to 26. And between the two first and the three last, the protagonists usually vary. Such is the case of Cambiaso, who wore the La Dolfina shirt only in tournaments of up to 22 goals; he then went on to play for another team.

But he was able to give himself the pleasure–which does not occur with other players–of wearing the shirt with the name of his own club, its colours and even the same sponsor, ShowMatch, to play on the team with which he played outside his country. The champion team, no less. There were six other competitors for the Joe Barry trophy, in honour of a great American 9-goal back, six times winner of the National Open and member of the Hall of Fame. There were 13 Argentine polo players playing on the seven 21 and 22-goal teams, almost half of the total amount of 28 players.

Cambiaso, Matías Magrini and Martín Valent played for New Bridge-La Dolfina, belonging to patron Russ McCall, and Gonzalo Von Wernich and Tomás Goti for Pony Express, in one group of four teams of which the other two were Privilege Gracida International (with Carlos Gracida) and Skeeterville (Julio Arellano and Owen Rinehart) and no other Argentines; the other zone had three teams featuring Juan Ignacio Merlos, Alejandro Díaz Alberdi and Santiago Allaria for La Lechuza Caracas; Gonzalo Pieres (Jr..) for Audi Polo, and a very special participant: Patagones, a completely Argentine team, made up of patron Gonzalo Avendaño, his brother Carlos and professionals Michel Dorignac and Guillermo Agüero.

After the stage in which each zone played all against all among themselves, came the semi-finals, in which New Bridge-La Dolfina and Pony Express qualified for the finals, the latter being the recipient of the advantage of 1 goal. They had already come up against each other in the qualifying round, with the former winning 16-9 and the final being very similar: it ended 15-9, with 8 goals converted by Cambiaso which crowned him the goaler of the tournament, thanks to 32 goals made in five games (Magrini was a close runner-up with 7 goals made in the final and a total of 30). And, not content with that, the man from Cañuelas was also handed the Most Valuable Player award, having mounted José, distinguished as the Best Playing Pony.

NEW BRIDGE-LA DOLFINA                                         PONY EXPRESS
15                                                                              9
Russ McCall                           0                                 Bob Daniels                           0
Matías Magrini                       9                                 Tomás Goti                            6
Adolfo Cambiaso                   10                               Nicolás Roldán                      8
Martín Valent                         3                                 Gonzalo Von Wernich           7

TOTAL:                                22                               TOTAL:                                21

Progression: New Bridge-La Dolfina (0-1), 4-2, 6-3, 7-5, 8-7, 12-8 and 15-9.
New Bridge-La Dolfina goalers: Magrini, 7 (3 penalty shots), and Cambiaso, 8 (2 penalty shots). Pony Express goalers: Daniels, 1; Goti, 5 (1 penalty shot), and Roldán, 2.
Most Valuable Player: Cambiaso.
Best Playing Pony: José, property of Cambiaso.